Mansfield Freeman Center

On August 6, 1945, Toshiko Tanaka was a six-year-old on her way to school in Hiroshima, Japan, when, at 8:15 a.m., she looked up and watched the sky overhead turn blinding white. Tanaka didn’t talk about what happened next for more than 60 years: the burns that rendered her unrecognizable to her own mother, the corpses on the city’s riverbanks, the illnesses that struck down seemingly uninjured survivors, and the once-unimaginable devastation made real after the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima—the first of two times nuclear weapons have been used in conflict—near the close of World War II.…

One spring day in 2011, 15,000 people gathered in the streets of Tokyo, all of them singing a song that had been released online just three days prior. It was a self-cover of a love song, but re-configured and lyricized to protest the use of nuclear power in Japan following the Fukushima nuclear disaster. A tale of a teenage crush reignited at a high school reunion was turned into accusations of governmental lies about nuclear safety. Flickering love to unwavering anger. A sentiment that carried thousands to the streets. The song “Zutto Suki Datta” (“I Always Loved You”) by Kazuyoshi…

There is a quote attributed to Mao that is still used in daily conversation in China to encourage people to develop better health habits. “The healthy body is the fundamental investment for the revolutionary cause,' (or shenti shi geming de benqian)," said Ying Jia Tan, assistant professor of history and East Asian studies. To illustrate how important this sentiment has been in shaping China’s response to disease, faculty and students have curated an exhibit called “Strong Bodies for the Revolution: Pursuing Health and Power in the People’s Republic of China,” an exhibition featuring a collection of propaganda posters donated by…

Hiroshima Bombing Survivor Toshiko Tanaka Shares Her Story of Tragedy and Resilience

Visiting Professor Talks Protest Music in Japan Following the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

“How Societies Choose to Confront Disease:” Tan and Murray on “Strong Bodies for the Revolution” Exhibition