Memories of Joan Hinton
0 
On June 14th, I received the news that Joan Hinton passed away several days before. It was a huge shock to me, because I had not yet fulfilled my promise to her that I would translate several parts of my book related to her long and complex career. I extend my heartfelt condolences from Japan to her family, especially to her son Bill.
It was in August 6, 2000 that I came in contact with her for the first time. Strange rumors had reached me that an American who had been involved in producing atomic bombs in the Second World War was living near Beijing as an old foreign expert. It sounded slightly ridiculous to me but I could not get it out of my mind. I was about to finish my assignment in Beijing and decided to confirm the rumor before going back to Japan. I asked a friend who worked for the Foreign Experts Office if he knew of anyone who might be this person. He said “Probably Yang Zao Han Chun”, and gave me a telephone number. I did not know what Yang Zao Han Chun meant at that time. Anyway I called the number next day. It was August 6; Hiroshima Memorial Day.
“Wei”, a low woman’s voice answered in Chinese. I said in hesitating English that I was a Japanese citizen and I’d heard …..a rumor that…..someone there was related with the ..Atomic bomb….. The voice replied, “It’s not a rumor. It is true.”
My heart began beating hard.
“Is he there now?”
“It’s me.” The voice said.
I was astonished because until that moment I had thought – for no good reason - that the person would be a man. But it was a SHE, a woman!
Yang Zao was the Chinese name of Erwin Engst, her husband, and Han Chun was Joan Hinton herself, who had been one of the nuclear scientists on the Manhattan project.
The next day I visited the Agricultural Mechanization Research Center in the suburbs of Beijing where she was engaged in researching animal-breeding.
She warmly invited me into their frugal living room. The once ambitious nuclear physicist of the United States was 78 years old then, a ruddy and stout farm worker in every respect. The “STOP THE WAR” slogan on her T-shirt was the only thing that marked her out from an ordinary Chinese farmer, and gave me a strong sense of her commitment to world peace.
“I’m still feeling guilty toward Japanese people, and you are the first Japanese who has ever visited me”, she said, and began to talk about her career.
As a young girl, she had dreamed of becoming a scientist. She made a name for herself in physics when she made a cloud chamber on her own at an early stage in her university studies. She was invited to take part in nuclear research on the Manhattan project - the code name for the development of the Atomic Bomb carried out deep in the deserts of New Mexico. She was the only woman experimental physicist with a “white badge” at the site. A white badge meant that the bearers were allowed to read all material.
She was a believer in “Science for Science’s sake” and just wanted to know how the world was put together. But when the Atomic bombs were actually dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing more than 150,000 innocent people in an instant, her dreams were shattered. She not only quit being a nuclear researcher but also abandoned her own country and in 1948 came to China, soon to be under the leadership of Mao Zedong. From then on she worked hard on cattle breeding and the mechanization of dairy farming in China.
Later she wrote in “A Statement to the Japanese Delegation” at a peace conference held on Oct.12 1952 as follows.
“As a scientist who worked at the Los Alamos, New Mexico atomic bomb project; as one who touched with my own hands the very bomb which was dropped on Nagasaki, I feel a deep sense of guilt and shame at the part I played in this crime as a whole, and this crime against the Japanese people in particular.”
I thought I should introduce Joan Hinton to the Japanese people, and took the story to Asahi Shimbun (one of Japan’s leading newspapers). The name of Joan Hinton and her life in China were given extensive coverage in the newspaper in September 2000 and she became well known in Japan.
In 1959, the American Nobel prize-author Pearl Buck wrote a novel titled “Command the Morning”, based on the “Manhattan Project”. In the novel, Jane, the only woman physicist in the project, quits her job as a nuclear researcher when she learns the Atomic bomb has been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and moves to India to become a biologist. When the novel was translated and published in Japan in 2007, the editor suggested I ask Joan Hinton if she was the model for Jane, and if she would come to Hiroshima and Nagasaki if the chance were given. As for Jane, Joan’s answer was negative, but she showed a keen interest in coming to Japan.
The editor and the translator of the novel carefully arranged the invitation. They asked me to escort Joan throughout the tour to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. So, her long-term dream came true. On August 4, 2008, I was shocked to see 86 year-old Joan Hinton coming out of immigration at Narita airport in a wheel chair pushed by her son Bill. She had seemed in good shape and was walking around the cattle-breeding farm only nine months before when I had visited her. Later, Bill told us that she had suffered a heart attack, and Bill and his brother and sister had tried to talk her into cancelling the tour. But Joan was very eager to come to Japan. Finally her three children agreed to let her visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki even if the tour might cause her health to deteriorate. Bill decided to travel with her.
August in Japan is very hot and humid. It is also the time when Japanese families get together for the Bon festival, and everywhere is very crowded. Joan looked tired out by the unfamiliar weather, people and language. In addition, she was surrounded by reporters and cameramen. The interviews began as soon as she arrived at the hotel in Tokyo and continued on the train to Hiroshima. But she never complained. She visited Atomic Bomb Memorial Dome which had been kept as it was destroyed on August 6, 1945. She visited Atomic Bomb the museum and met the hibakusha - A-bomb survivors. Everything was extremely tough for her. At first she seemed confused and exhausted, but she soon pulled herself together with extraordinary courage. At one point one of the reporters seemed to expect her to make some sort of apology. But she resolutely said, “Those who should apologize are the U. S. Military authorities who wanted to demonstrate the destructive power of Atomic bomb by killing 150,000 innocent people. The U. S. government was also responsible, for it gave the permission to the Military authorities. I feel guilty myself for pursuing science for science’s sake. There’s no ‘pure science’. When you make a bicycle you are responsible for how it is used and where it goes. Science has a meaning only in relation to its service to mankind.”
She stayed at the same hotel as the Japanese prime minister who also attended the 63rd Hiroshima Peace Ceremony.
At Nagasaki, she was more positive when visiting Atomic Bomb museum and the site of the attack.. The Japan Broadcasting Corporation arranged seats for us at the 63rd Nagasaki Peace Memorial ceremony on August 9. She sat there for almost two hours listening to the Opening words, the Nagasaki Peace Declaration, the Pledge for Peace and the Children’s Chorus which were all translated into written English. She seemed deeply touched by the Nagasaki citizens who performed the ceremony in silent sorrow, 63 years after the nuclear disaster.
After the ceremony we went up a hill from which we were able to command a view of the entire city of Nagasaki and its harbor. Half of the city had been completely destroyed by the Atomic bomb that Joan Hinton helped to make, and had been rebuilt in modern style. The other half remained a rather old and traditional area. Joan looked down on the view for a long time in silence. The sky was blue and clear just the same as 63 years ago. An old man and his wife approached Joan and said “You are Ms. Joan Hinton, I presume. We saw you on a newspaper this morning and knew what you did against the Atomic bomb. Welcome to Nagasaki. We are Atomic bomb survivors. Still we are glad to see you here”. They shook hands firmly.
In my book on my five years in Beijing, I wrote about my experiences with Joan Hinton, but in Japanese. I promised her when I visited her November last year that I would translate the part about her into English. She passed away, to my great regret, before I had time to keep my word.
I pray her soul rests in peace.
Koike Haruko from Japan, July 2010
Go to Forum >>0 Comments