Shigeaki Mori, a Japanese atomic bomb survivor and historian who researched the deaths of American prisoners of war in Hiroshima and was famously embraced by former US President Barack Obama, has died at the age of 88.
Born in 1937, Mori was eight years old when he survived the US atomic bombing on 6 August 1945, about 2.5km from the blast. The attack destroyed Hiroshima and killed tens of thousands; by the end of the year, the death toll reached 140,000.
Decades later, Mori discovered that American POWs held in Japan were among those killed by the bomb dropped by their own country. He spent more than 40 years researching US and Japanese official documents, tracking down 12 American prisoners. He wrote letters to their families in the US, who had never learned how their loved ones died.
His findings led to official US confirmation of the deaths of the 12 captured servicemen. Mori authored a book, The Secret of the American POWs Killed by the Atomic Bomb, published in Japanese in 2008. It won the prestigious Kikuchi Kan Prize and was later translated into English.
In 2016, Obama became the first US president to visit Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park. In his speech, he referenced 'a dozen Americans held prisoner' among the victims and recognised Mori for seeking out their families, believing their loss was equal to his own. Obama then embraced Mori in a hug.
'The research I spent more than 40 years was not about people from the enemy country. It was about human beings,' Mori later said. Japanese media reported that he died at a hospital in Hiroshima.
