How the atomic bombing of Nagasaki tore apart Japan’s understanding of motherhood

When Kikuyo Nakamura’s adult son discovered bumps on his back, she assumed it was just a rash. Still, she urged him to go to the hospital — better safe than sorry.

Hiroshi, her second son, was born in 1948, three years after the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. As a survivor of the bombing, Nakamura had long feared she might pass on health problems to her children. In 2003, at age 55, Hiroshi went to the hospital. Two days passed without any word from him. Then three. Then a week.

Eventually Nakamura went to the hospital, where her son told her: “‘They’re going to do more tests,” she told CNN.

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