ID :
45353
Thu, 02/12/2009 - 20:43
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/45353
The shortlink copeid
Taiwan man applies for A-bomb certificate, 1st case since law change
+
NAGASAKI, Feb. 12 Kyodo -
A 90-year-old Taiwanese man has applied for a Japanese atomic bomb survivor's
certificate that will entitle him to receive health allowances, following a
revision of a Japanese law that enables such survivors living abroad to file
applications without visiting Japan.
While a series of applications have been filed in South Korea and elsewhere
since the revised law went into effect last December, it is the first such case
in Taiwan where the Japanese government does not have a diplomatic office.
The Nagasaki city government is expected to issue the certificate to Wang
Wen-chi, a doctor who was studying in what is now the Nagasaki University
School of Medicine at the time of the bombing, as he is already recognized as
an atomic bomb victim by Nagasaki Prefecture.
Wang's son submitted the necessary papers to the Kaohsiung branch of the
Interchange Association, which serves as Japan's de facto embassy in Taiwan, on
Feb. 5 on behalf of his father, whose old age prevented him from going there.
According to Wang, he was working as an obstetrician about 700 meters away from
ground zero in Nagasaki when the bomb was dropped on Aug. 9, 1945.
Because he returned to Taiwan a year after the end of World War II, he had been
unable to receive support from the Japanese government.
Wang recently told Kyodo News at his home in Taiwan that he wants the
survivor's passbook as ''proof that I suffered from the bombing at an extremely
close range (from ground zero) where there were hardly any survivors and that I
have been able to live until now.''
Records preserved at the Nagasaki University School of Medicine show that many
wooden buildings at the university were destroyed in the bombing, while nearly
900 students who were attending classes at the time died.
Wang said that he became unable to perform operations because he suffered
injuries all over his body because of the bomb. ''I had to give up becoming an
obstetrician,'' he said.
After returning to Taiwan, he became a doctor of internal medicine and
pediatrics. He has more than 20 grandchildren.
He still carries a big scar on his chest. ''Atomic bombs are terrible. We must
not use the progress in science for war,'' Wang said.
Japan issues the Atomic Bomb Survivors' Certificate to survivors of the U.S.
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
==Kyodo
2009-02-12 22:27:50
NAGASAKI, Feb. 12 Kyodo -
A 90-year-old Taiwanese man has applied for a Japanese atomic bomb survivor's
certificate that will entitle him to receive health allowances, following a
revision of a Japanese law that enables such survivors living abroad to file
applications without visiting Japan.
While a series of applications have been filed in South Korea and elsewhere
since the revised law went into effect last December, it is the first such case
in Taiwan where the Japanese government does not have a diplomatic office.
The Nagasaki city government is expected to issue the certificate to Wang
Wen-chi, a doctor who was studying in what is now the Nagasaki University
School of Medicine at the time of the bombing, as he is already recognized as
an atomic bomb victim by Nagasaki Prefecture.
Wang's son submitted the necessary papers to the Kaohsiung branch of the
Interchange Association, which serves as Japan's de facto embassy in Taiwan, on
Feb. 5 on behalf of his father, whose old age prevented him from going there.
According to Wang, he was working as an obstetrician about 700 meters away from
ground zero in Nagasaki when the bomb was dropped on Aug. 9, 1945.
Because he returned to Taiwan a year after the end of World War II, he had been
unable to receive support from the Japanese government.
Wang recently told Kyodo News at his home in Taiwan that he wants the
survivor's passbook as ''proof that I suffered from the bombing at an extremely
close range (from ground zero) where there were hardly any survivors and that I
have been able to live until now.''
Records preserved at the Nagasaki University School of Medicine show that many
wooden buildings at the university were destroyed in the bombing, while nearly
900 students who were attending classes at the time died.
Wang said that he became unable to perform operations because he suffered
injuries all over his body because of the bomb. ''I had to give up becoming an
obstetrician,'' he said.
After returning to Taiwan, he became a doctor of internal medicine and
pediatrics. He has more than 20 grandchildren.
He still carries a big scar on his chest. ''Atomic bombs are terrible. We must
not use the progress in science for war,'' Wang said.
Japan issues the Atomic Bomb Survivors' Certificate to survivors of the U.S.
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
==Kyodo
2009-02-12 22:27:50
