93-Year-Old Certified as Survivor of Both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Attributes Longevity to Being in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time
Yes, I know, this is the Chinese symbol for longevity, and he's Japanese, I know, I know -- GET OFF MY BACK!
[Tsutomu] Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a business trip on Aug. 6, 1945, when a U.S. B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on the city. He suffered serious burns to his upper body and spent the night in the city. He then returned to his hometown of Nagasaki just in time for the second attack, city officials said. “As far as we know, he is the first one to be officially recognized as a survivor of atomic bombings in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” Nagasaki city official Toshiro Miyamoto said.
To have survived one blast is astounding. To have survived both blasts is a miracle. To have lived to 93 — and counting? That’s … Yamaguchi. That will be the new word for a phenomenon that’s simply not possible. And yet, it is.
Can you imagine his longevity if he had not been exposed to that much radiation?
I know what you’re thinking: the radiation gave him superpowers. That’s only in comic books. In real life, radiation only gives you diarrhea — and that’s if you’re lucky.
This guy was more than lucky. He was … Yamaguchi.
Posted in General Strangeness, It's Like a Miracle
Even though 壽 is normally used in Chinese, it doesn't mean that it couldn't be used in Japanese as well. Even if 壽 is not in the official everyday-used list, there's a Japanese word: 頌壽 shou[juu] which means "celebration of longevity" and since 壽 is also a non-standard form of 寿 [kotobuki], 壽 can be used in any compound word which uses 寿.
ReplyDeleteThat's for those who get on your back.
I first found out about this Yamaguchi (used as an adjective) story, from your blog, so thanks for posting it.