The UCLA Asian American Studies Center expresses our deepest sympathy to those affected in Japan by the recent earthquake and tsunami, as well as to members of the Japanese American community impacted by this catastrophe. Along with the tragic events caused by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, there is now also the real danger of fallout from the damage to nuclear plants. Although not directly related to the current situation, UCLA professor emeritus Dr. James Yamazaki, a pediatrician, has chronicled the effects of nuclear energy and atomic power on the world’s children over the past sixty years. Dr. Yamazaki, at the age of 33 in 1949, was the lead physician of the U.S. Atomic Bomb Medical Team assigned to Nagasaki to survey the effects of the bomb. Today in his 90s, Dr. Yamazaki, continues to monitor “the children of the atomic bomb” and to write and to speak out on behalf of a humankind facing nuclear destruction. To the extent that Dr. Yamazaki’s research and efforts may provide a framework for thinking further about nuclear issues, please see the “Children of the Atomic Bomb” website.
–UCLA Asian American Studies Center
Amerasia on Facebook!