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Opinion
A Flash of Memory
By Issey Miyake
July 14, 2009

HIROSHIMA, JAPAN —
I was seven years old on Aug. 6, 1945, when the atomic bomb was dropped on my hometown. Within three years, my mother died from radiation exposure.

I remember the moments after the blast as if they were yesterday: a bright red light, the black cloud soon after, people running in every direction trying desperately to escape. I remember my classmates, classmates who were in the same school room, who never returned. I remember crossing a bridge near my home and falling into the water below. I remember watching flames climbing into the sky and fearing that this was what the end of the world looked like.

It was purely by chance that I survived. My classroom was on the first floor. Other students were on the second floor and did not make it out. I crossed that bridge and fell into the water. Others who could not escape the flames did not.

I have never forgotten those moments, and their memory has haunted me all my life. It was these memories that compelled me to write to President Obama in April, when he called for a world without nuclear weapons.

I am not one to dwell on the past. I prefer to think of things that can be created, not destroyed, and that bring beauty and joy. I have never spoken publicly or in detail about the events of that day. In fact, I have deliberately tried to forget. For many years, I did not want to be labeled "the designer who survived the atomic bomb."

Why then, now, have I chosen to break my silence?

It is because I want to do whatever is in my power to ensure that nuclear weapons are never used again, and that Hiroshima remains the last city to experience this horror.

When I read Mr. Obama's words, "preparing to take concrete action towards nuclear disarmament," I was moved; they were words that spoke directly to my heart. In April this year, President Obama stood in Prague and pledged, "clearly and with conviction," that the United States would "seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons."

It is my hope that President Obama will visit Hiroshima while he is in office. He does not need to offer an apology. He need only visit the memorial to the victims and offer a prayer that such a tragedy never happens again. This would go a long way toward moving people all over the world beyond the idea that "a nuclear-free world is impossible."

To that end, I ask Mr. Obama to hold a meeting in Hiroshima with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and President Kim Jong-il of North Korea, two nations that are developing nuclear capabilities. In this way, he could go beyond discussions of mere "reductions" in atomic weapons and address directly the issue of a world without nuclear weapons.

This year marks the 14th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. It would give me great joy if the leaders of the world would take this opportunity to make a commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons.

Issey Miyake is a clothing designer.

This article was translated by members of his staff from the Japanese.