Church History for Chumps 5. Takashi Nagai: Japan's Martyr of the Atom Bomb
Jun 9, 2023
A life of medicine, faith, and enormous loss after the Nagasaki bombing. Conversion to Catholicism and a marriage that shaped his vocation. Radiation illness and the ethics of wartime medical service. Rebuilding a shattered city through care, trees, libraries, and a relentless push for peace.
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Conversion, Medicine, And Marriage
- Takashi Nagai trained as a radiologist after losing some hearing, marrying Midori after converting to Catholicism in Nagasaki.
- His conversion was influenced by his mother's death and friendships with Japanese Catholics who sent him catechisms while he served in Manchuria.
Surviving Radiation And The Blast
- Nagai contracted leukemia from early x-ray work and later survived the atomic blast in Urakami where he worked in a relatively shielded radiology floor.
- About 80% of people in his building died, and he then quarantined and treated survivors amid horrific injuries.
Personal Loss At Urakami
- Nagai found his home destroyed and his wife dead with a rosary in her hand after returning from the hospital.
- Of Nagasaki's roughly 10,000 Christians, about 8,000 were killed by the bomb, deeply shaping his later work.
