Densho Digital Archive - Jim Tsujimura Interview (denshovh-tjim

<Begin Segment 14>

MR: You have continued to do other useful works. I'm thinking about Hiroshima Medical Team?

JT: Yes. The national JACL introduced a bill to help the atomic bomb survivors, many who were American citizens, for one reason or another were caught in Japan. On several, several years, we tried to pass something, but it died in committee or sub-committee. I think they felt that if they pass such a law or bill, that would open a whole can of worms. I don't know what they're thinking, but the Hiroshima Medical Team volunteered to come over every two years since the '70s to examine the survivors. Now, some of the survivors were timid about that because they didn't want the life insurance company know; otherwise, they wouldn't renew their insurance, but they slowly came out. When I went to Seattle, the first year was 1981; the last was about '93. Every two years, I went up there on my own, paid my own expenses to assist the medical team. We saw about fifty to sixty over the Fourth of July weekend which took about three, four days. And I still remember some of that medical team that came over to assist us, to help the survivors. They passed away from radiation sickness. The reason I thought I would give it up in the '90s was because most of the damage that would occur to the eyes are found earlier or immediately after exposure to the radiation; therefore, I stopped going in '93.

MR: You said that the medical teams helping you had passed away?

JT: Some of the medical assistants or doctors who came over to examine the people or statisticians that came over with them. It was some of those people that passed away.

MR: I'm a little confused. Were they from America and they --

JT: They were from Japan --

MR: They were from Japan.

JT: Exposed to radiation.

MR: Okay. So they were already there?

JT: Right.

MR: Okay.

JT: And many of the survivors passed away, too.

MR: What kind of an experience was it to go over and see the damage every other year?

JT: Well, every other year, the team came to America. The only chance that I had, went to see the actual site and the monument in Hiroshima when I was invited to visit Japan in 1981. It was a beautiful park, but a horrible incident that occurred. Over two hundred thousand people that passed away, and I always would think to myself why did it have to be two cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Why couldn't it have just been one? Well, that was up to the government to decide.

MR: I'm a little unclear about the logistics of this. I was under the impression that you went to Japan every two years?

JT: No, no, no. The medical team came here every two years to examine the survivors.

MR: And the survivors were here?

JT: Yes. They were caught in Japan but had moved back. But many were American citizens that were caught over there.

MR: Thank you for making that clear. I was mistaken.