The next meeting of the Japan History Group (JHG) at the Institute of Social Science (ISS), University of Tokyo, will be held on Friday, 3 April 2020, at 6:00 PM in No.1 Meeting Room (Dai-ichi Kaigi-shitsu), 1st floor of the Main Building of ISS, Hongo Campus.

Presenter: Dr. Michiko Suzuki, Project Researcher, ISS, University of Tokyo

Title: Japanese Red Cross Society's Emergency Responses in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 1945

Discussant: Prof. Yoko Kato-Nojima, Professor, University of Tokyo

Abstract:
The heretofore unstudied records of the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) narrate the heroic tale of Red Cross personnel responsible for carrying-out the organisations emergency response activities during the immediate aftermath of the nuclear detonation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945. Aid workers, began relief activities on the day of the bombings, even while themselves suffering from injuries and radiation sickness. They treated civilians, soldiers and Allied POWs without discrimination. Why did these aid givers choose to work for the Red Cross in the face of the extreme risks - why did they walk into ground zero to render aid to survivors? JRCS records make clear that as well-trained nurses and doctors, most aid workers understood the dangers they faced from radioactive poisoning. This article argues that their actions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was brought about by strict-quasi military training, which went beyond ideologies of an Imperialist's institution. Their emergency responses demonstrate the extent to which they had internalised their professional mission as medical aid givers and eventually emerged as exemplars of the humanitarian relief ideal.

Key words:
Japanese Red Cross nurses; Allied POWs; nuclear weapons; mass evacuation planning; professionalism; humanitarianism (jindō: 人道)