Entrevistas

1. Nisei Parents

2. His family Traveled to Japan in 1940

3. His Memory of August 6, 1945

4. Immediately after the bombing

5. Escape from Hiroshima

6. Other family members not as lucky

7. Returning to Hiroshima in ruins

8. His parents had little hope that he had survived the atomic bomb

9. Reuniting with parents in America

10. Adjustment to American life

11. The moment he realized he identified as an American

12. Overcoming trauma and speaking about his A-Bomb experience

13. On telling his wife he had radiation sickness and his son’s cancer

14. His views on nuclear weapons

Kakita,Howard

(n. 1938) Japonés estadounidense. Sobreviviente de la bomba atómica de Hiroshima

The moment he realized he identified as an American

I knew I was an American when I guess I was in 10th grade. My uncle who lives in Japan, he's my father’s younger brother, he’s number three. And he was given away as an adopted boy to another family because they had no heirs in that particular family. So my uncle came to our house in [the] United States at that time and he has no heirs. They’renot able to have any children. So he asked me to be adopted by him to take over his business when I grow up. And he has a very successful business in Hiroshima. And I told him, “No, there’s no way I could do that. I’ve got football practice next week.” I guess that's the point I realized, Hey I’m a Yankee, I’m an American.

identidad japonés-americanos Estados Unidos

Fecha: September 3, 2019

Zona: California, US

Entrevista: Masako Miki

País: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Entrevista

Howard Kakita nació en 1938 en el este de Los Ángeles, California. Su familia lo llevó a Japón en 1940. Sus padres y su hermano menor regresaron a los Estados Unidos en 1940 para ocuparse de su negocio, pero Howard y su hermano mayor, Kenny, se quedaron en Japón.

Cuando la guerra empezó, su familia en los Estados Unidos fue encarcelada en Poston, AZ. El 6 de agosto de 1945, la bomba atómica cayó sobre Hiroshima. Howard estaba a 0.8 millas del hipocentro y sobrevivió. Él y Kenny regresaron a los Estados Unidos y se reunieron con su familia en 1948.

Howard siguió una carrera en ingeniería informática. Después de su retiro, se unió a la Sociedad Americana de Sobrevivientes de la Bomba Atómica Hiroshima-Nagasaki (ASA) y ha estado compartiendo su experiencia con la bomba atómica. (Septiembre 2019)