Gender and science in Hiroshima's aftermath: a cross-cultural approach

Abstract

A comparative study of Japanese and Japanese-American survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 suggests that there is much to be gained by looking at the history of the Bomb as a cross-cultural history. Issues of science and gender in survivors' experiences and memories illuminate three key features of the trans-Pacific history: a Japanese female author's literary responses to the Bomb, the Japan-U.S. relationship after the war that shaped Japan's antinuclear movement, and Japanese-American survivors' effort to gain governmental recognition and medical care in the U.S. within the context of the Asian American movement. Using variety of sources--literature, popular political discourse, congressional hearings, and oral histories--this article shows the volatile diffusion of political and cultural ideas revealed by a trans-Pacific perspective.