Ishibumi: A memorial to the atomic annihilation of 321 students of Hiroshima Middle School, is one of the enduring Japanese classics in atomic bomb literature since its publication in 1970. Made available for the first time in English in 2016 to coincide with former President Barack Obama’s historic visit to Hiroshima. Ishibumi presents more than just horrific stories of 321 young male students of ages 12-13, who were killed by the atomic bomb. One-thirds of them perished instantaneously and the remaining two-thirds suffered a slow and painful death. It describes the uncompromised bond of family kinship, and how children tried to make sense of their fate as Imperial subjects in wartime. Their courage facing deaths and their yearnings to see their parents one more time, compels us to reflect on why they were placed in this crisis. The vernacular daily language is accessible to all generations and, of course, the seriousness of this subject sadly remains relevant to all of us today.　『いしぶみ――広島二中一年生全滅の記録』は、1970年の刊行以来、日本の原爆文学における不朽の名作として知られています。2016年には、オバマ前大統領の歴史的な広島訪問に合わせて英語版が刊行されました。この本は、原爆で命を落とした12歳から13歳までの男子生徒321人の悲惨な物語を紹介しているだけではありません。原爆によって、生徒の3分の1は即死、残りの3分の2はゆっくりとつらい死を遂げました。本書には、家族の絆という揺るぎない絆と、戦時下の帝国臣民としての運命を理解しようとする子どもたちの姿が描かれています。死と向き合う彼らの勇気と、もう一度親に会いたいという願いを読むと、彼らがなぜこのような危難に遭ったのかをあらためて考えさせられます。本書には、生徒たちの語る言葉が誰にでも読めるかたちで書かれています。そしてこのテーマの深刻さは、悲しいかな、現代の私たちにも関係しているのです。

The Constitution of Japan is often described as a pacifist constitution for its Article 9 renouncing war and foreswearing war potential. Although this is usually attributed to starry-eyed idealists and steely-eyed realists in the occupation, both of which wanted to ensure Japan did not again challenge America’s position, there is also a cast to be made for crediting Shidehara Kijuro (1872-1951). Indeed, the case becomes even stronger if we think of the Constitution not so much as pacifist but more as internationalist―as evidenced in the Preamble’s trusting in the justice and faith of the peace-loving peoples of the world and its belief that no nation is responsible to itself alone. For it was Shidehara who was the ultimate internationalist. Born to a middle-class family four years after the Meiji Restoration, he went to Tokyo Imperial University and from there to the civil service, ending up at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From there, history took him to a number of foreign capitals and historic international conferences on his way to the foreign ministership and after he became foreign minister. Serving as foreign minister under a succession of prime ministers, he developed and staunchly promoted what came to be called Shidehara diplomacy―a foreign policy stance of not intervening in China, respecting the Anglo-Japanese alliance, and adhering to what were put forward as universal values. Yet despite his steadfast championship, this internationalist stance was weakened by widespread discrimination against Japanese (e.g., in America’s immigration laws) and fatally wounded by the Kwangtung Army’s rogue aggression in China. He resigned as foreign minister in 1931, while retaining his seat in the House of Peers, and was tapped by the occupation to be Japan’s first postwar prime minister, putting him in a position to influence the Constitution’s drafting. Shidehara’s was a principled life engagingly recounted in this informative biography by one of Japan’s foremost diplomat-turned-historians.

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