Hiroshima Diary cover art

Hiroshima Diary

The Journal of a Japanese Physician, August 6-September 30, 1945

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Hiroshima Diary

By: Michihiko Hachiya MD
Narrated by: Robertson Dean
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About this listen

The late Dr. Michihiko Hachiya was director of the Hiroshima Communications Hospital when the world's first atomic bomb was dropped on the city. Though his responsibilities in the appalling chaos of a devastated city were awesome, he found time to record the story daily, with compassion and tenderness. Dr. Hachiya's compelling diary was originally published by the UNC Press in 1955, with the help of Dr. Warner Wells of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who was a surgical consultant to the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission and who became a friend of Dr. Hachiya. In a new foreword, John Dower reflects on the enduring importance of the diary 50 years after the bombing.

©1983, 1995 The University of North Carolina Press. Foreword by John W. Dower by the University of North Carolina Press. (P)2014 Tantor Asia Diaries & Journals Historical Japan Medical Memoirs, Diaries & Correspondence Military Professionals & Academics Weapons & Warfare War Imperial Japan

Critic Reviews

"An extraordinary literary event." ( The New York Times)
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An extraordinary story of a doctor who survived the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. It tells the story of the fifty days from the morning of the bomb.

Extraordinary story

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This was a timely read, as I have just visited Hiroshima. We really all should!

The truth

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This remarkable diary provides a closer insider account of the fallout of a nuclear bomb. It outlines interesting details of short term medical effects of radiation poisoning.

A precious poignant "peace" of history.

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This is a book that every child should have in school And every child would have to write an essay on war, and why aggressors need to be taught when to withdraw from conflict. Yes, the Japanese did not deserve to nearly be wiped out by two bombs, but they were the perpetrators. Learn from this. Thank goodness this man kept notes so we can all read how awful the aftermath was, and should never happen again.

If only

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I have always known the Western story of Hiroshima - how the bombing brought an end to the War, and our Diggers came home from their frightful Japanese prison camps.
Listening to this book gave me the totally different viewpoint of the people directly affected by the first atomic bomb.
How grievously terrible was their situation, yet how wonderfully the human spirit coped with this total destruction of their world. Dr Hachiya and his friends show incredible humanity and even humour in the midst of ghastliness and horror.
Unfortunately, because of the shocking descriptions of the aftermath of the atomic bomb, this book will probably not get the wide reading that it should.
It serves as a monument to the necessity of retaining Peace in our world where we are all human.

Stunning and heartbreaking

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This is truly an insightful account of the days following the bombing of Hiroshima. It's brings to the front the terrible human suffering and the resulting willingness to care and heal. As a journal, there were many repeated daily medical descriptions that padded out the chilling core story more so than a traditional book.

Detailed and Thought Provoking

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