..April 2020.. ..Nagasaki..
I received sad news that Mr. Tsukasa Uchida passed away on April 6th 2020. He was 90 years old and had been in the hospital for months.
Mr. Uchida experienced the atomic bombing of Nagasaki when he was 15 years old. He was rescued from underneath rubble at the Ohashi Plant of the Mitsubishi Arms Factory about a mile north of the hypocenter. Using a broken stick as a cane he struggled to get away from the burning factory and found refugee on a mountain.
When I photographed Mr. Uchida in 2016 he was in fragile condition but had a sharp mind. He spoke about his experiences in exact detail for two hours.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to have met such a brave person. Mr. Uchida has taught many people about the horrors of nuclear weapons. His passing is a great loss to humanity.
“I was heading to the rescue train using a wood stick.
There were rice fields on the way, I found something in there.
On first sight, I thought they were pumpkins, but they were human heads.”
-Tsukasa Uchida
私は木の棒をついて救援列車に向かった。
そこまでの道に田んぼがあり、その中にかぼちゃかなと思ったら、
人間の首が5つか6つ転がっていた。
内田伯