1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to step you missed in History class from how 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:14,160 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 1: I am Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Frying. This 4 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:22,800 Speaker 1: is our one thousand episode, kind of, it's really episode 5 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:26,640 Speaker 1: nine ninety nine. Part two will be episode one thousand 6 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 1: and if your podcatcher numbers episodes and you're like, wait, 7 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:32,280 Speaker 1: that is not right. I have more than a thousand 8 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:35,920 Speaker 1: episodes already. There are some straight up reruns in the 9 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:38,480 Speaker 1: archive that we didn't count because those are not new, 10 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:41,640 Speaker 1: And we also didn't count Saturday classics since the whole 11 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:43,760 Speaker 1: point of those is that they are not new they're 12 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:46,839 Speaker 1: from the archive. But we did count updates that we 13 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:49,360 Speaker 1: did consider to be new episodes back when we did 14 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: them back in the archive as well. So we had 15 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 1: a hard time trying to decide what's a cover for 16 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: our thousandth episode. We started out with things that happened 17 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: a thousand years ago or how up in the year 18 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: one thousand and nothing was really grabbing us. So back 19 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: at the start of February, we put the question out 20 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:11,000 Speaker 1: to our listeners on social media. We got literally hundreds 21 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: of responses, maybe even a thousand total. Responses. There were 22 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:19,280 Speaker 1: a lot um and a lot of them were just 23 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:22,640 Speaker 1: someone said something one time, but a few things came 24 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:25,679 Speaker 1: up over and over, and one of those repeat submissions 25 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:29,680 Speaker 1: was the Japanese tradition of folding a thousand origami cranes, 26 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:33,240 Speaker 1: or maybe the story of Sadako Sasaki, who died of 27 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: leukemia after the bombing of Hiroshima and her effort to 28 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:39,800 Speaker 1: fold a thousand cranes became part of a grassroots peace 29 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:43,200 Speaker 1: movement among Japanese children. Uh, and that was the one 30 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:46,839 Speaker 1: we decided to do. From those repeat requests that we got, 31 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 1: this is ultimately a hopeful story because a thousandth episode 32 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 1: seems kind of like a little bit of a celebration 33 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 1: and it did not seem right to have a complete downer. 34 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 1: We did get some very very tragic requests that we 35 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:08,320 Speaker 1: we thought seemed a little too heavy. Today's episode number, though, 36 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 1: does start off with some horrific wartime details and we're 37 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:16,160 Speaker 1: going to be talking about a child with cancer. Um. 38 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:19,520 Speaker 1: But episode one thousand is a is more optimistic in 39 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 1: its tone and just for the sake of clarity. Generally, 40 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:26,840 Speaker 1: in Japanese names are typically presented with the family name 41 00:02:26,919 --> 00:02:30,560 Speaker 1: first and the given name second um. In English, they're 42 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:34,079 Speaker 1: often presented the other way around. So in these episodes, 43 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: we've used that western order of given name first, primarily 44 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: because that's how they were presented in the Japanese resources 45 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 1: that I had that were either written in Japanese and 46 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:47,400 Speaker 1: translated into English or written by Japanese people in English. 47 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:52,079 Speaker 1: So although uh Satoko Sasaki story begins with the bombing 48 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 1: of Hiroshima, we really need to go back a little 49 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:57,720 Speaker 1: bit farther than that to put that bombing in context, 50 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: and that's to the Second Sino Japanese War. This is 51 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 1: generally marked as stretching from nineteen thirty seven to nineteen 52 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:07,560 Speaker 1: forty five, and then in its later years it became 53 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 1: the Pacific theater of World War Two. The Second Sino 54 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:15,400 Speaker 1: Japanese War started after years of Japanese incursions into Chinese 55 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 1: territory and then into other parts of Southeast Asia. This 56 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:23,920 Speaker 1: included the horrific Nanjing Massacre, in which Japanese troops killed 57 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:27,480 Speaker 1: as many as three hundred thousand people, most of them civilians, 58 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:31,040 Speaker 1: and raped or sexually assaulted tens of thousands of women. 59 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:35,480 Speaker 1: Japan and Germany were allies, and after France fell to Germany. 60 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:38,360 Speaker 1: In nineteen forty one, the Visi government agreed to allow 61 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 1: Japan to take control of the colonial territory of French 62 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 1: Indo China today that's Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. And in 63 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: response to the Japanese occupation of French Indo China and 64 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:52,240 Speaker 1: in the hope of checking its advance into other parts 65 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 1: of Southeast Asia, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt froze all Japanese 66 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 1: assets that were held in the United States. Other name 67 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 1: sations followed suit, and the United States ordered an embargo 68 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 1: of steel and oil exports to Japan as well. These 69 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: were major sanctions, and the goal here was to pressure 70 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: Japan and to backing out of French end of China 71 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:17,159 Speaker 1: and stopping its imperial expansion into other countries. Instead, it 72 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 1: really had the opposite effect. Japan continued its push, attempting 73 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:23,920 Speaker 1: to reach territory that could supply it with these resources 74 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:27,280 Speaker 1: and capital that it no longer had. These sanctions are 75 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:29,960 Speaker 1: also cited as one of the factors that led Japan 76 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:32,960 Speaker 1: to attack Pearl Harbor, Hawaii a little more than four 77 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:36,880 Speaker 1: months later, on December seventh, ninety one. Fast forward to 78 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 1: nineteen forty five at the end of World War Two. 79 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 1: The Allies accepted Germany's unconditional surrender on May eighth of 80 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,359 Speaker 1: that year, ending World War Two in Europe, but the 81 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: war with Japan continued. As we discussed in our episode 82 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:54,360 Speaker 1: on the US as Indianapolis. By the summer of nineteen 83 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:57,880 Speaker 1: forty five, most American troops believed they were preparing for 84 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: a full scale invasion of Japan at self. Meanwhile, Japan's 85 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:06,000 Speaker 1: navy was nearly destroyed and the Allies had started fire 86 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:09,920 Speaker 1: bombing major Japanese cities. It's estimated that more than three 87 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:13,479 Speaker 1: hundred thousands of Japanese citizens were killed in fire bombing 88 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:16,800 Speaker 1: attacks between January of nineteen forty four in August of 89 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:21,000 Speaker 1: nineteen forty five. In Tokyo alone, more than a hundred 90 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:24,119 Speaker 1: thousand people died in a fire bombing over March ninth 91 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:27,520 Speaker 1: and tenth, nineteen forty five. In addition to the deaths, 92 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:32,760 Speaker 1: these incendiary attacks were incredibly destructive. Japan had started to 93 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:37,040 Speaker 1: westernize its architecture in the late nineteenth century, and at 94 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:39,200 Speaker 1: the same time, a lot of Japanese buildings that were 95 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: still standing were historic wooden structures that were extremely flammable. 96 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 1: During all of this, ordinary Japanese citizens faced huge hardships, 97 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:53,239 Speaker 1: including a critical food shortage that stemmed from disrupted supply chains, 98 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:57,560 Speaker 1: crop failures, and destruction of its merchant marine fleet. In 99 00:05:57,600 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: the summer of nineteen forty five, much of the pop 100 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 1: elation on the Japanese home front was facing starvation. The 101 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:07,480 Speaker 1: Japanese government had to continually work to convince its civilian 102 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:10,760 Speaker 1: population that the war was still in the nation's best interests. 103 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:15,479 Speaker 1: In spite of all of this, on July ten, days 104 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:18,680 Speaker 1: after the first successful test of a nuclear bomb, the 105 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:22,440 Speaker 1: United States issued the pot Stem Declaration, calling for Japan 106 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:27,280 Speaker 1: to surrender unconditionally or faced quote prompt and utter destruction. 107 00:06:28,480 --> 00:06:30,880 Speaker 1: As we now know, this was a threat to use 108 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:34,360 Speaker 1: nuclear weapons, which at the time we're still a military secret. 109 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:37,320 Speaker 1: And there are two main trains of thought about this 110 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:40,800 Speaker 1: point in the war. One is influenced by how dire 111 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:44,200 Speaker 1: conditions were in Japan and how destructive the fire bombing 112 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:48,040 Speaker 1: campaign had been and how Japan was increasingly out of options. 113 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:51,640 Speaker 1: This train of thought is that Japan was headed towards surrender, 114 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:56,200 Speaker 1: although not necessarily an unconditional one, and that conventional methods 115 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:59,240 Speaker 1: could still bring the war to an end. The other 116 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:03,039 Speaker 1: point of you was influenced by Western perceptions of Japanese 117 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:06,040 Speaker 1: culture and the tactics that had been used by the 118 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 1: Japanese military during the war. For example, the Japanese military 119 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:14,960 Speaker 1: included kama Kaze suicide bombers and an infantry that demonstrated 120 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:18,880 Speaker 1: an almost fanatical fight to the death mentality. The list 121 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:22,320 Speaker 1: of war crimes committed by Japan during World War Two 122 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:25,640 Speaker 1: is long and horrifying, and this just did not seem 123 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:29,480 Speaker 1: like a fighting force that would ever surrender, no matter 124 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:33,080 Speaker 1: how certain defeats seemed to be so. Under this train 125 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:36,720 Speaker 1: of thought, continuing the war, especially if it involved an 126 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:40,400 Speaker 1: invasion of Japan itself, would cost far too many lives 127 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:43,920 Speaker 1: on both sides, so the Allies needed to take decisive, 128 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:46,920 Speaker 1: dramatic action to bring the war to a faster end, 129 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:50,760 Speaker 1: ultimately preventing that loss of life. And it was the 130 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:53,360 Speaker 1: latter point of view that led the United States to 131 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:56,920 Speaker 1: drop an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima 132 00:07:56,960 --> 00:08:02,400 Speaker 1: on August six. Which point of view was correct and 133 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:05,880 Speaker 1: whether the use of nuclear weapons was justified continues to 134 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 1: be the subject of debate. The whole subject is contentious 135 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:13,080 Speaker 1: enough that in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum 136 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:16,120 Speaker 1: canceled an exhibition on the Enola Gay, which was the 137 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:19,800 Speaker 1: plane that dropped the blomb on Hiroshima. This cancelation came 138 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:24,720 Speaker 1: after five rounds of revisions between museum curators and veterans groups. 139 00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:27,720 Speaker 1: The museum staff wanted to focus on the first use 140 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:31,400 Speaker 1: of nuclear weapons in warfare as a global turning point, 141 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 1: one that connected to the nuclear arms race and the 142 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 1: Cold War, but veterans groups wanted to focus on sacrifice 143 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 1: and on the atrocities that had been committed by the 144 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:43,800 Speaker 1: Japanese that led to the first use of the bomb. 145 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:49,079 Speaker 1: The peoples of the two respective countries involved also do 146 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:52,319 Speaker 1: not agree about whether the use of atomic weapons was justified. 147 00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:56,760 Speaker 1: According to a report by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, 148 00:08:57,240 --> 00:09:01,000 Speaker 1: fifty of Americans believe the use of nuclear weapons was 149 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: justified and thirty four percent say it was not. Meanwhile, 150 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:08,520 Speaker 1: in Japan, just fourteen percent say the use of nuclear 151 00:09:08,559 --> 00:09:14,600 Speaker 1: weapons was justified say it was not. Regardless of all 152 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:19,040 Speaker 1: of that, Hiroshima specifically was chosen for maximum shock value. 153 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:21,720 Speaker 1: It was a city of more than three thousand people, 154 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:24,680 Speaker 1: but it hadn't yet been targeted or damaged by the 155 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:28,520 Speaker 1: incendiary strikes that had stricken so many other major Japanese cities. 156 00:09:29,040 --> 00:09:32,760 Speaker 1: The surrounding terrain was also hilly, which scientists believe would 157 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:36,800 Speaker 1: focus the blast and cause even more damage. In the end, 158 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:40,680 Speaker 1: the bombing of Hiroshima destroyed about of the city and 159 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:44,640 Speaker 1: killed at least eighty thousand people instantly, most of them civilians. 160 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:48,600 Speaker 1: Tens of thousands more died in the aftermath from radiation 161 00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:54,160 Speaker 1: poisoning and radiation induced diseases. The United States had expected 162 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:57,960 Speaker 1: that Japan would offer an immediate, unconditional surrender after the 163 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:01,240 Speaker 1: atomic bombing of Hiroshima, that that surrender did not come, 164 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:04,920 Speaker 1: and on August eight, the Soviet Union also declared war 165 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:08,840 Speaker 1: on Japan. The Soviet Union deployed roughly a million troops 166 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:11,800 Speaker 1: into Manchuria, which is now part of China, on the ninth, 167 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:14,520 Speaker 1: and then also on the ninth, the United States dropped 168 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:18,000 Speaker 1: a second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki, instantly 169 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:22,160 Speaker 1: killing at least forty thousand people. Estimates of the final 170 00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:24,920 Speaker 1: death tolls of the two atomic bombings are all over 171 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:27,719 Speaker 1: the place, in part because the bodies of many of 172 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:30,640 Speaker 1: the victims were destroyed along with the buildings that held 173 00:10:30,679 --> 00:10:34,040 Speaker 1: all the records of their existence, but the combined death 174 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:37,600 Speaker 1: toll of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was at 175 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:41,960 Speaker 1: least two hundred thousand people. Before this point, Japan had 176 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:46,319 Speaker 1: only discussed conditional surrender options, like trying to include guarantees 177 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:50,040 Speaker 1: that Japan wouldn't be subject to military occupation or that 178 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:54,280 Speaker 1: the imperial family and especially the Emperor himself would be protected. 179 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:57,560 Speaker 1: But on August tenth, Japan finally started moving toward an 180 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: unconditional surrender. It was formally announced on August fifteen, after 181 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:05,440 Speaker 1: a failed military coup meant to stop it from happening. 182 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:12,400 Speaker 1: Japan's formal surrender took place on September two. This ended 183 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:14,640 Speaker 1: World War Two, and it also led to the end 184 00:11:14,679 --> 00:11:20,000 Speaker 1: of Japan's imperial occupation of multiple other areas, including Korea, Manchuria, 185 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:22,880 Speaker 1: and French Indo China, And of course all of these 186 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:26,960 Speaker 1: places have their own complex histories after this point. Just 187 00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:31,080 Speaker 1: over ten years later, Sadako Sasaki died of radiation induced 188 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:34,440 Speaker 1: leukemia as a result of having been near the Hiroshima 189 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:37,000 Speaker 1: bomb blast, and we're going to talk about her after 190 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:46,720 Speaker 1: a quick sponsor break. Sadako Sasaki was born on January seventh. 191 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:51,840 Speaker 1: Her mother, Fujiko, and her father, Shigeo, owned a barbershop. 192 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:56,280 Speaker 1: She also had an older brother named Masahiro. They lived 193 00:11:56,280 --> 00:11:59,920 Speaker 1: in Hiroshima in a three story wooden mortar home one 194 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: point six kilometers from the hypo center of the atomic 195 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:07,200 Speaker 1: bomb blast. Sadiko's father was drafted during the war, and 196 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:09,400 Speaker 1: her mother kept the business going while he was away. 197 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:14,520 Speaker 1: On the morning of August, Sadiko was two and her 198 00:12:14,559 --> 00:12:18,400 Speaker 1: brother was four. Fujiko Sasaki was at home with both 199 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:21,480 Speaker 1: of them, along with one of their grandmothers when the 200 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:26,040 Speaker 1: atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima at about eight sixteen AM. 201 00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:29,200 Speaker 1: It blew the roof off the Sasaki family home, and 202 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:33,840 Speaker 1: most of their neighbors were killed. Fujiko Sasaki was not injured, 203 00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:36,920 Speaker 1: but Masahiro had a head injury, and the force of 204 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:39,520 Speaker 1: the blast had thrown Sadiko from where she was sitting 205 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:42,640 Speaker 1: into a box. For a moment, the family thought that 206 00:12:42,679 --> 00:12:46,160 Speaker 1: she had been lost. Her grandmother's arm was injured as well. 207 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:50,560 Speaker 1: Fujiko bandaged everyone up, and as a fire spread throughout 208 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:53,680 Speaker 1: their neighborhood took all of them towards the nearby river, 209 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:56,960 Speaker 1: they were rescued by a neighbor who loaded about ten 210 00:12:57,040 --> 00:12:59,320 Speaker 1: people into his boat and took them to the middle 211 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:02,800 Speaker 1: of the river, and they waited there until the flames subsided, 212 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:06,520 Speaker 1: unaware that they were being exposed to massive amounts of radiation. 213 00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:10,600 Speaker 1: Their weight was horrifying. This boat wasn't big enough to 214 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:13,200 Speaker 1: hold so many people, and so they were afraid that 215 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:17,880 Speaker 1: it would sink or capsize. An oily black precipitation started 216 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:20,720 Speaker 1: to fall, and this black rain was a mix of 217 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:24,840 Speaker 1: radioactive fallout particles and particles from smoke that was blanketing 218 00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:28,000 Speaker 1: the remains of the burning city. They could also hear 219 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:30,560 Speaker 1: people all along the banks of the river who were 220 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:33,720 Speaker 1: unable to escape the fire, who either burned to death 221 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:36,400 Speaker 1: or drowned trying to get far enough into the water. 222 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:40,120 Speaker 1: After the flames subsided and they were able to get 223 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:44,080 Speaker 1: back to shore, what they found was equally horrifying. In 224 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:46,920 Speaker 1: addition to the destroyed buildings and the bodies of victims, 225 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:49,560 Speaker 1: there were people who were still alive but suffering from 226 00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:53,280 Speaker 1: extreme radiation exposure. We're not going to get into the 227 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:56,160 Speaker 1: details of what this was like because this information is 228 00:13:56,200 --> 00:14:00,240 Speaker 1: both widely available and widely known. Uh, but it was 229 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:05,800 Speaker 1: truly truly gruesome. Twelve members of the Sasaki's extended family 230 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:10,199 Speaker 1: were killed that day, including Satiko's grandmother, who had turned 231 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:12,800 Speaker 1: back saying she needed to get something from the house 232 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:17,400 Speaker 1: before they got to the river. Satiko surviving family left 233 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:20,640 Speaker 1: Hiroshima for about two years after the bombing, and then 234 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:24,280 Speaker 1: they returned to reopen their barbershop. They all recovered from 235 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:27,280 Speaker 1: their injuries, and for years it seemed as though Satiko 236 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:30,480 Speaker 1: had not been affected at all. Soon she had a 237 00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:34,560 Speaker 1: little sister, Mitsue and a little brother, a g They 238 00:14:34,640 --> 00:14:37,600 Speaker 1: and many of their neighbors did not talk about the bomb, 239 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:40,480 Speaker 1: which when it did come up, they more often called 240 00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:44,280 Speaker 1: the pika or pika don, which meant the flash or 241 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:48,320 Speaker 1: the flash and boom. Culturally, the nuclear attack was viewed 242 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:51,920 Speaker 1: as embarrassing and shameful, especially because of the grizzly and 243 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:56,320 Speaker 1: deadly nature of its effects on human health. Satiko grew 244 00:14:56,400 --> 00:14:59,000 Speaker 1: into a girl who was well liked at school. In 245 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:02,680 Speaker 1: the sixth grade, there teachers to Yoshi Nomura began training 246 00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:05,560 Speaker 1: them in baton relay and other track and field events, 247 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:09,040 Speaker 1: and Satako blossomed as an athlete. She wound up running 248 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:12,880 Speaker 1: anchor leg on the relay team because she'd been so 249 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:15,960 Speaker 1: close to the atomic blast. Every two years, Satako had 250 00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: a checkup at the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission. This was 251 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:23,280 Speaker 1: established by the United States government in ninety six to 252 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:26,600 Speaker 1: study the ongoing health effects of the bomb. Some of 253 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:30,080 Speaker 1: these effects were immediate or they started shortly after the attack. 254 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 1: This included keyloid scarring, cataracts, still births and miscarriages, and 255 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:38,240 Speaker 1: high infant mortality among women who were pregnant when the 256 00:15:38,280 --> 00:15:43,840 Speaker 1: bomb struck, but other diseases, especially cancers, developed much later. 257 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:48,800 Speaker 1: In general, Japanese people didn't trust the ABCC. They associated 258 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:52,000 Speaker 1: it with the American military, and really its purpose was 259 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:55,080 Speaker 1: to study the effects of the bomb, not to provide 260 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:58,600 Speaker 1: medical treatment or care to the people who were so affected. 261 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:02,680 Speaker 1: For a out a decade, satikos checkups and blood work 262 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:06,200 Speaker 1: at the abc C were all normal. In November of 263 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:09,280 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty four, though she caught a cold and noticed 264 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:12,680 Speaker 1: a swollen lymph node under her ear. She didn't have 265 00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:15,760 Speaker 1: a fever, so the family wasn't particularly worried, even though 266 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:18,920 Speaker 1: survivors of the bomb dreaded the possibility of what was 267 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:22,560 Speaker 1: known as a bomb disease, A bomb disease was a 268 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:26,239 Speaker 1: catch all term for a variety of cancers and conditions 269 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:29,480 Speaker 1: that were induced by radiation exposure during the bombings of 270 00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:33,400 Speaker 1: Hiroshima and Nagasaki. People who were close to the blasts 271 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:36,960 Speaker 1: or who entered Hiroshima or Nagasaki soon enough afterwards to 272 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:42,000 Speaker 1: be affected were called hibbaksha or bomb affected people. Most 273 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:45,240 Speaker 1: of these were Japanese citizens, but there were also significant 274 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:48,840 Speaker 1: numbers of Koreans who had been forcibly relocated to Japan, 275 00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:53,920 Speaker 1: essentially as slaves. Satiko continued to feel a little run 276 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:57,000 Speaker 1: down over the New Year holiday and the swollen lymph 277 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,640 Speaker 1: node got worse, so she went to the doctor who 278 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:02,240 Speaker 1: initial we thought she had a virus, and when she 279 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:04,960 Speaker 1: still didn't improve after treatment, her parents took her to 280 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:09,200 Speaker 1: the ABCC, where she got extensive workups on January and 281 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:14,520 Speaker 1: February six of nineteen fifty five. On February eighteen, her 282 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:18,320 Speaker 1: parents got the call Sodoko had a bomb disease. Her 283 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:21,720 Speaker 1: specific condition was leukemia, which is a cancer of the 284 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:24,680 Speaker 1: parts of the body that make blood cells. Most types 285 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:27,399 Speaker 1: of leukemia caused the body to make too many white 286 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:30,879 Speaker 1: blood cells, which means the body produces fewer red blood 287 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:34,680 Speaker 1: cells and platelets. Since the red blood cells carry oxygen 288 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:38,040 Speaker 1: and platelets are involved in clotting, this imbalance and blood 289 00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:42,000 Speaker 1: cells causes a range of other progressive health problems. The 290 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:45,440 Speaker 1: typical leukemia rate in Japan was two to three people 291 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:49,359 Speaker 1: out of every one hundred thousand, but among Hiroshima survivors 292 00:17:49,359 --> 00:17:51,719 Speaker 1: it was closer to thirty out of one hundred thousand. 293 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:55,160 Speaker 1: People who had entered Hiroshima in the days and weeks 294 00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:58,440 Speaker 1: after the bombing had doubled or tripled risk for leukemia 295 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:01,520 Speaker 1: as well. After a they learned that she was ill, 296 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:06,159 Speaker 1: Sadiko's mother wanted her to have a traditional kimono if 297 00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:08,359 Speaker 1: Sadiko had a bomb disease and was going to have 298 00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:10,919 Speaker 1: to be in the hospital. Fujiko wanted her to have 299 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:14,640 Speaker 1: the experience of having a beautiful kimono first, so after 300 00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:17,440 Speaker 1: getting the call from the hospital, she and her husband 301 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:19,800 Speaker 1: went to pick up Sadiko from school and I took 302 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:22,560 Speaker 1: her to pick out fabric. She chose this cherry blossom 303 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:25,199 Speaker 1: pattern for her kimono. They told her it was a 304 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:27,199 Speaker 1: treat because she was going to need to be in 305 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:29,560 Speaker 1: the hospital, but they didn't tell her that she had 306 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:33,440 Speaker 1: a bomb disease or that it wasn't curable. Sadako's mother 307 00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:36,480 Speaker 1: and her aunts worked overnight to make this kimono so 308 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:38,439 Speaker 1: that she could have it and wear it before she 309 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:42,560 Speaker 1: was admitted. Sadiko entered the Red Cross Hospital in Hiroshima 310 00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:47,159 Speaker 1: on February that is, just two days after her family 311 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:50,280 Speaker 1: was notified. On the way, she stopped at school to 312 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:53,240 Speaker 1: say goodbye to her classmates. There were sixty one other 313 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:56,439 Speaker 1: students in her class. Even though so many people had 314 00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:59,320 Speaker 1: been killed in the bombing, her school was still overcrowded 315 00:18:59,359 --> 00:19:02,600 Speaker 1: because of the turn of Japanese nationals from the Empire's 316 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:06,480 Speaker 1: former territories after the war. Throughout the school year, her 317 00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:09,680 Speaker 1: teacher had been encouraging the class to develop a culture 318 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:13,600 Speaker 1: of always looking after one another and taking those lessons 319 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:17,640 Speaker 1: to heart. After Sadako left, her classmates organized themselves into 320 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:20,119 Speaker 1: a rotation to visit her in the hospital in groups 321 00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:23,760 Speaker 1: of two or three. Today, leukemia is far more treatable 322 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:26,520 Speaker 1: than it was in nineteen fifty five. The five year 323 00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:29,840 Speaker 1: survival rate for children with acute lympacitic leukemia today is 324 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:35,159 Speaker 1: about and for children with acute mylogenus leukemia that's a 325 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:39,679 Speaker 1: m L it's about sixty, but in ninetive there was 326 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:43,080 Speaker 1: no treatment for the disease itself. The best the doctors 327 00:19:43,119 --> 00:19:46,280 Speaker 1: could do was to give Sadiko transfusions of healthy blood, 328 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:49,520 Speaker 1: along with a drug called metatrek state, which lowered the 329 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:52,840 Speaker 1: number of white blood cells but didn't do anything to 330 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:57,560 Speaker 1: address the condition itself. This care was very expensive, and 331 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:00,480 Speaker 1: there was no insurance or state supported medicine and no 332 00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:05,359 Speaker 1: central blood banking system. Families were responsible for finding blood 333 00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:08,720 Speaker 1: donors themselves, and if they couldn't, for buying blood from 334 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:11,720 Speaker 1: the local blood bank, and after buying blood, they still 335 00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:15,639 Speaker 1: had to pay for the transfusion itself. Satiko Sasaki's family 336 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:18,600 Speaker 1: put all of their money into her treatment, eventually even 337 00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:21,720 Speaker 1: selling their home and their business in Hiroshima and moving 338 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:24,320 Speaker 1: into a barracks to try to save money. The Red 339 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:28,159 Speaker 1: Cross hospital didn't have a separate pediatric word, so Satika's 340 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:32,400 Speaker 1: fellow patients included children and adults, and she became really 341 00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:35,679 Speaker 1: beloved by both the staff and the other patients. She 342 00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:39,800 Speaker 1: was always really optimistic. She very rarely complained about the 343 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:41,840 Speaker 1: pain that she was in or the other effects that 344 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:44,760 Speaker 1: lukimia was having on her body. A string of one 345 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:48,200 Speaker 1: thousand origami cranes was delivered to Sotiko in the hospital 346 00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:51,640 Speaker 1: in July of nine. We're going to talk more about 347 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:54,680 Speaker 1: these cranes and exactly what they represented, after we first 348 00:20:54,720 --> 00:21:04,920 Speaker 1: have a sponsor break. The thousand origami cranes that Sadako 349 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:09,080 Speaker 1: Sasaki received in the hospital connects several pieces of Japanese 350 00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:12,119 Speaker 1: history and culture together, so we're gonna walk through all 351 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:16,000 Speaker 1: of them, starting with Oregony. Paper was first invented in 352 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:20,320 Speaker 1: China in about the year one five. Buddhist monks introduced 353 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:23,720 Speaker 1: it to Japan in the sixth century, and for centuries 354 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:27,080 Speaker 1: paper was really expensive and quite difficult to obtain, so 355 00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:31,159 Speaker 1: it was mainly used for religious purposes. The Edo period 356 00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:34,359 Speaker 1: began in sixteen o three, and by then paper was 357 00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:37,120 Speaker 1: far less expensive and people were using it to make 358 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:40,040 Speaker 1: all kinds of art. We talked about the art of 359 00:21:40,119 --> 00:21:45,199 Speaker 1: Japanese wood black printmaking and our past podcast on Katsushika Hokusai. 360 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:50,200 Speaker 1: Printmaking allowed artist artists to mass produce and distribute paper 361 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:52,880 Speaker 1: copies of their artwork, and there are prints from this 362 00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:56,600 Speaker 1: period in museums all over the world today. The first 363 00:21:56,720 --> 00:22:00,080 Speaker 1: concrete evidence of paper folding in Japan comes from the 364 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:04,040 Speaker 1: Edo period as well. People were likely folding paper into 365 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:08,600 Speaker 1: shapes before this, especially in ceremonial and religious uses. One 366 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:12,280 Speaker 1: book written in seventeen sixty four documents ceremonial folds that 367 00:22:12,359 --> 00:22:16,320 Speaker 1: samurai used on wrapping paper, which changed depending on what 368 00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:21,840 Speaker 1: gifts were inside. The first written instructions for what we'd 369 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:26,880 Speaker 1: probably recognize as origami today came with a Kisto Rito's 370 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:31,199 Speaker 1: sin Bazuru Rikata or thousand Crane Folding, and this was 371 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:36,959 Speaker 1: first published in sevente So orikata means folded shapes, and 372 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:40,440 Speaker 1: for a while it was almost used interchangeably with origami, 373 00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:44,640 Speaker 1: which comes from ori meaning folding and kami meaning paper. 374 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:51,680 Speaker 1: More written instructions followed this sevent publication. Although people today 375 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:55,280 Speaker 1: describe origami as using one flat sheet of paper with 376 00:22:55,359 --> 00:22:59,480 Speaker 1: no cutting, these early Japanese instructions included various cuts and 377 00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:02,679 Speaker 1: different paper shapes. As a side note, you'll see a 378 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:05,919 Speaker 1: lot of the same subjects in both woodblock prints and origami, 379 00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:09,560 Speaker 1: including lots of flowers, birds, and other animals, and there 380 00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:13,040 Speaker 1: are also lots of woodblock prints that depict origami models 381 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:17,639 Speaker 1: and people folding oregamy paper folding was becoming common in 382 00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:19,840 Speaker 1: other parts of the world as well. Japan was not 383 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:22,800 Speaker 1: the only place where people were folding paper. For some reason. 384 00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:26,639 Speaker 1: Friedrich Froebel, known as the father of kindergarten, saw the 385 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:29,840 Speaker 1: use of folding as a teaching tool, particularly because of 386 00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:33,520 Speaker 1: all of its connections to geometry and math, and the 387 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:37,600 Speaker 1: late eighteen hundreds, Frobel's origami like folds and patterns were 388 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:41,640 Speaker 1: introduced into Japan and put to use in Japanese classrooms. 389 00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:46,160 Speaker 1: So eventually Japanese origami was being used as an education 390 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:49,920 Speaker 1: tool outside of Japan, and these German folds are being 391 00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:52,760 Speaker 1: used in Japan. They all wound up influencing each other. 392 00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:57,400 Speaker 1: For centuries, almost all origami followed the same traditional shapes 393 00:23:57,440 --> 00:23:59,920 Speaker 1: and steps that have been documented in the eighteenth and 394 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:04,879 Speaker 1: nineteen centuries. Akira Yoshizawa is credited with expanding the form 395 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:08,919 Speaker 1: in the twentieth century, creating the symbols, arrows, and diagrams 396 00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:12,199 Speaker 1: that are still used today, along with developing new folds 397 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:16,280 Speaker 1: and techniques. His work sparked a resurgence in oregonmy all 398 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:19,919 Speaker 1: over the world starting in the nineteen fifties. Today, in 399 00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:23,800 Speaker 1: addition to the frogs cranes, boxes, and other traditional models. 400 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:27,160 Speaker 1: Artists use oregomy to make all kinds of work all 401 00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:30,760 Speaker 1: along the spectrum from realistic to abstract. To move on 402 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:35,160 Speaker 1: to cranes and Japanese culture, cranes, particularly red crowned cranes, 403 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:39,200 Speaker 1: are significant. They're symbolic of happiness and long life, and 404 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:43,400 Speaker 1: according to legend, they live for a thousand years. Turtles 405 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:46,040 Speaker 1: are revered as well, and there's actually a saying that 406 00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:48,680 Speaker 1: the crane lives for a thousand years while the turtle 407 00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:53,200 Speaker 1: lives for ten thousand years. The number one thousand itself 408 00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:56,639 Speaker 1: is considered to be auspicious, so this is like layers 409 00:24:56,760 --> 00:25:01,400 Speaker 1: of good fortune and positive things. A string of one 410 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:05,080 Speaker 1: thousand Origami cranes or send bazuru is said to bring 411 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:08,120 Speaker 1: luck or to grant a wish, so strings of one 412 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:10,960 Speaker 1: thousand cranes have been traditional gifts to honor things like 413 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:14,960 Speaker 1: weddings and births. The string of a thousand cranes that 414 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:18,159 Speaker 1: Sadako Sasaki received in the hospital had been made by 415 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:20,800 Speaker 1: a high school class that was folding chains of paper 416 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:24,480 Speaker 1: cranes to give to patients with a bomb disease. This 417 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:27,520 Speaker 1: part was not shared with Sadako since her family and 418 00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:29,879 Speaker 1: her doctors were still trying to protect her from the 419 00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:34,199 Speaker 1: knowledge that she was dying. By this point, Sotiko had 420 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:38,440 Speaker 1: made friends with Kayo Okura, a fourteen year old with tuberculosis. 421 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:41,480 Speaker 1: The two of them started folding cranes together to pass 422 00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:44,720 Speaker 1: the time, working with very small pieces of paper because 423 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:47,240 Speaker 1: it was easier to manage those smaller sizes while they 424 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:50,400 Speaker 1: were confined to bed. They used whatever paper they could 425 00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:54,359 Speaker 1: find from wrappers from other patients gifts to discarded note paper. 426 00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:57,960 Speaker 1: One day, as they were folding cranes, Stiko and Kayo 427 00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:00,960 Speaker 1: talked about kind of a variant about on that legend 428 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:02,919 Speaker 1: that we talked about before, which is that if you 429 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:07,120 Speaker 1: folded a thousand cranes you would get well. So Sadeko 430 00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:09,800 Speaker 1: decided she was going to fold a thousand cranes and 431 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:12,080 Speaker 1: the hope that it would make her better. Some of 432 00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:15,359 Speaker 1: the fictional depictions of Satiko Sasaki's life say that she 433 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:19,119 Speaker 1: died before finishing her thousand cranes, but according to the 434 00:26:19,119 --> 00:26:21,960 Speaker 1: people who knew her, she finished her first thousand and 435 00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:25,080 Speaker 1: moved on to a second set before she died. By 436 00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:27,960 Speaker 1: the end, she was working with tiny, tiny pieces of 437 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:32,159 Speaker 1: paper that required a toothpick to help fold. Unfolding cranes 438 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:34,320 Speaker 1: was not the only way she was spending her time. 439 00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:38,720 Speaker 1: Over the summer of nine, Sadeka wrote formal cards to 440 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:41,919 Speaker 1: everybody that had been in her sixth grade class. The 441 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,720 Speaker 1: class had formed a unity club at the end of 442 00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:47,359 Speaker 1: the year. Because they were moving on to junior high school, 443 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:50,200 Speaker 1: they wouldn't necessarily be in the same class or even 444 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:53,600 Speaker 1: at the same school anymore, so the unity club kept 445 00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:57,040 Speaker 1: visiting her after the school year was over. By August, 446 00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:01,080 Speaker 1: about the time she finished her first thousand crane, Sadeko's 447 00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:06,000 Speaker 1: condition was seriously declining, and that same month Kaio's tuberculosis 448 00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:08,920 Speaker 1: treatment was complete and she was released from the hospital. 449 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:12,040 Speaker 1: Kyo promised to visit, but did not make it back 450 00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:16,040 Speaker 1: to the hospital before Steko died. Sadako Sasaki died on 451 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:21,000 Speaker 1: October at the age of twelve. After her death, an 452 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:24,960 Speaker 1: autopsy revealed that she had thyroid cancer as well as leukemia, 453 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:27,840 Speaker 1: and later on doctors would establish a link between a 454 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:31,440 Speaker 1: bon exposure and thyroid cancer as well. It was also 455 00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:34,640 Speaker 1: after her death that doctors discovered that Sodoko had been 456 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:37,240 Speaker 1: looking up her own blood test results at the nurses 457 00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:40,000 Speaker 1: station and keeping track of them for months on a 458 00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:43,040 Speaker 1: scrap of paper hidden in her bed. So even though 459 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:45,240 Speaker 1: no one had told her what she had, it became 460 00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:47,480 Speaker 1: clear that she had known for a really long time 461 00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:50,320 Speaker 1: that she was dying, and to spare them from the pain, 462 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:53,800 Speaker 1: she hadn't let anyone else know that she knew. Sadeko's 463 00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:56,760 Speaker 1: classmates started to hear that she had died at school, 464 00:27:57,160 --> 00:27:59,639 Speaker 1: and this's mostly spread from student to student in the 465 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:02,560 Speaker 1: hall since a lot of households in Hiroshima didn't have 466 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:06,040 Speaker 1: their own phone. It was then reported in the newspaper 467 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:08,600 Speaker 1: as well. A lot of her classmates went to the 468 00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:11,320 Speaker 1: temple where her body was placed, and then they attended 469 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:14,840 Speaker 1: her funeral, and then at the funeral, satikos family gave 470 00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:17,080 Speaker 1: the classmates who were there some of the cranes that 471 00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:21,000 Speaker 1: she had folded. After Sadiko's death, she and her cranes 472 00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:23,280 Speaker 1: inspired a movement for peace, and we're going to talk 473 00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:26,320 Speaker 1: about that, but that's going to happen in our next episode. 474 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:29,639 Speaker 1: Do you have a listener mail sort of? Uh? I 475 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:33,359 Speaker 1: have a thing I wanted to generally address from a 476 00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:37,160 Speaker 1: previous episode that we have done, which is our two 477 00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:41,840 Speaker 1: parter on the Wilmington's que We've gotten a number of 478 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,920 Speaker 1: very angry letters about something that we said at the 479 00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:48,640 Speaker 1: end of that episode. Uh. A lot of those angry 480 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:50,320 Speaker 1: letters are from people who told us they're not going 481 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:52,520 Speaker 1: to listen to the show anymore, so they're not going 482 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:55,880 Speaker 1: to hear this explanation. The thing that people are really 483 00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:58,200 Speaker 1: I mean, there are several things that people are angry about, 484 00:28:58,200 --> 00:28:59,680 Speaker 1: but one of the things we've heard about over and 485 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:02,920 Speaker 1: over is that we talked about a North Carolina voter 486 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:07,280 Speaker 1: ID law that had been struck down by a panel 487 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:10,120 Speaker 1: of the Fourth U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals who 488 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:13,760 Speaker 1: described it. They described this voter ID law as made 489 00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:17,720 Speaker 1: to target African Americans with surgical precision. And we've just 490 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:19,400 Speaker 1: had a whole lot of people who have written to 491 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:21,080 Speaker 1: us and been like, but you have to have an 492 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:23,200 Speaker 1: I D to cash a check, why don't you have 493 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:25,280 Speaker 1: to have an I D to vote? And I wanted 494 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:31,000 Speaker 1: to clarify that was not the point. What this particular 495 00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:34,240 Speaker 1: voter I D law did was that lawmakers gathered lots 496 00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:37,080 Speaker 1: of information about how people were exercising their right to 497 00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:40,480 Speaker 1: vote in North Carolina. So when we're people voting, were 498 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:44,000 Speaker 1: they going to early voting, were they using absentee ballots? 499 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:47,360 Speaker 1: What kinds of I D where they're using when they 500 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:50,840 Speaker 1: exercise their right to vote, And they specifically asked for 501 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:53,960 Speaker 1: that information to be broken down by race. And then 502 00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:57,240 Speaker 1: when they wrote that new voter ID law, they got 503 00:29:57,360 --> 00:29:59,560 Speaker 1: rid of the forms of I D and the early 504 00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:02,800 Speaker 1: voting methods and lots of other tools for exercising your 505 00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:06,720 Speaker 1: right to vote that were disproportionately used by black residents 506 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:09,160 Speaker 1: of North Carolina. So we had a whole lot of 507 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:12,840 Speaker 1: people that were so angry saying, it's not racist to 508 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:16,240 Speaker 1: ask somebody for I D. That's not really what was 509 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:20,600 Speaker 1: happening here. They specifically were no longer allowing the forms 510 00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:23,239 Speaker 1: of I D that that black people were using more 511 00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:27,000 Speaker 1: often than white people, and that is like a textbook 512 00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:32,320 Speaker 1: definition of racism. So the idea that this voter I 513 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:34,920 Speaker 1: D law was racist was not something that we made 514 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:37,160 Speaker 1: up out of thin air, and it was not something 515 00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:39,720 Speaker 1: that we just sort of threw out there willing. Really, 516 00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:44,840 Speaker 1: it was extensively documented in the court the court documents, 517 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:47,560 Speaker 1: the sorts of questions that had been asked in the 518 00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:52,040 Speaker 1: framing of this law, and the very clear patterns in 519 00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:56,520 Speaker 1: what which pieces of I D were allowed, which voting 520 00:30:56,600 --> 00:31:01,640 Speaker 1: schedules stayed in place. That kinds of things. So, uh, 521 00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:04,200 Speaker 1: if any of the folks who were still really angry 522 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:09,200 Speaker 1: are still listening to the show, that's where that came from. 523 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:12,160 Speaker 1: For the folks who maybe didn't send us angry letters. 524 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:14,960 Speaker 1: But we're kind of wondering, huh, I wonder what was 525 00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:17,480 Speaker 1: up with that law because the stuff you missed in 526 00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:21,680 Speaker 1: history class hosts don't usually use words lightly. Now, you know, 527 00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:25,960 Speaker 1: if you would like to write to us about this 528 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:28,880 Speaker 1: or any other podcast, we are at history podcasts at 529 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:31,400 Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot com. And we're also all over 530 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:34,160 Speaker 1: social media at miss in History and that includes Facebook 531 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:39,440 Speaker 1: and uh Twitter and Instagram and Pinterest. You can come 532 00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:42,400 Speaker 1: to our website, which is missed in history dot com, 533 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:44,520 Speaker 1: where you will find a searchable archive of all the 534 00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:47,240 Speaker 1: episodes that we have ever done. You'll find show notes 535 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:50,320 Speaker 1: for all the episodes that Holly and I have done together. Uh. 536 00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:54,840 Speaker 1: It has the uh, the total list of sources for 537 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:57,600 Speaker 1: everything that we have talked about today. So you can 538 00:31:57,640 --> 00:31:59,560 Speaker 1: do all that and a whole lot more at miss 539 00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:01,680 Speaker 1: than his or dot com, and you can send You 540 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:05,680 Speaker 1: can subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, 541 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:13,960 Speaker 1: and wherever else you get podcasts. For more on this 542 00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:16,680 Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics, does it, How stuff works, 543 00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:20,040 Speaker 1: dot com, m