You’ve heard of the hibakusha , although you may not know them by that name. They are the survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 80 years ago this month. The word means, roughly, “bomb-affected people.”

Their lives were transformed in a purplish flash of light brighter than 100 suns. It killed many of their loved ones in either a second of excruciating pain, or agonizingly over weeks and months, and left others literally and figuratively scarred for life.

About 99,000 h ibakusha are still alive, at an average age of 86, according to Nobuhiro Mitsuoka, a Hiroshima-born researcher and former diplomat who works closely with bomb survivors. July marked the first time the number had dropped below 100,000. The living, visceral memories of those August morning nightma

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