被爆者のアメリカ政府への思いに関する一考察 : 2009年日本被団協アンケート調査の自由記述回答に注目して

The complex nature of the injuries caused by the US Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been studied from various academic perspectives. Among these, one specific research intent has been to make clear the system of thoughts originating in A-Bomb Survivors’ (hibakusha) efforts to come to terms with their plight. For this purpose, various surveys have been conducted to examine the essence of their wishes and demands. However, while hibakushas’ appeals to the posterity and to the Japanese state have already been studied at large, research on their appeals to the US government is still limited. Furthermore, it could be suspected that numerous social and historical factors might have restricted hibakushas’ opportunity to make their voices heard to the American government. Therefore, this paper focuses specifically on the thoughts that the hibakusha would like to convey to the US. Our purpose was to achieve a comprehensive and nuanced picture of these thoughts through exploring and classifying the contents of a set of 744 messages collected through a 2009 questionnaire survey conducted by the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo). We categorized the contents of the messages into 14 main groups and extensively discussed the characteristics of each of them. Hierarchical cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling were employed to overview the relationships among the groups. We concluded that the essence of hibakusha s’ messages to the US government could be summarized under three overarching themes: ardent wish for nuclear weapons abolition; peace and solidarity; anger and resignation.