Oishi Matashichi

Oishi Matashichi was born in 1934 and went to sea as a boy of fourteen. On March 1, 1954, the ship on which he was sailing encountered what one crewman called "the day the sun rose in the west." The Bikini test ("Bravo") of the U.S. hydrogen bomb contaminated the ship and its crew with radioactive fallout. Once he had recovered from the dire immediate effects on his health, Oishi left the sea and became the proprietor of a laundry shop. Late in life he became a peace advocate--telling his story...See more

Oishi Matashichi was born in 1934 and went to sea as a boy of fourteen. On March 1, 1954, the ship on which he was sailing encountered what one crewman called "the day the sun rose in the west." The Bikini test ("Bravo") of the U.S. hydrogen bomb contaminated the ship and its crew with radioactive fallout. Once he had recovered from the dire immediate effects on his health, Oishi left the sea and became the proprietor of a laundry shop. Late in life he became a peace advocate--telling his story to groups of schoolchildren throughout Japan. In 2010 he traveled to New York to appear at the nuclear non-proliferation treaty conference. Richard H. Minear is professor emeritus of history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a prominent translator of survivor accounts of Hiroshima. See less