The Saint of Nagasaki

Book excerpt: I first heard of Takashi Nagai while living in Hiroshima and have been an admirer of his life-work ever since: doctor, father, researcher, man of God, and teacher.In the 1980s I was principal of Hiroshima International School and served for several years on the Board of Directors of the World Friendship Center (WFC). The WFC was founded on August 6, 1955, the tenth anniversary of the Hiroshima atomic bombing, by Barbara Reynolds, an American Quaker activist, author, and peace educator and the noted “peace surgeon” Dr. Tomin Harada. Barbara and her family lived a number of years in Hiroshima beginning in 1951 where her husband worked for the Atomic Bomb Casualty Committee (ABCC) studying the effects of atomic radiation on children. The WFC, staffed by volunteers, serves as a bed and breakfast for visitors, and as a gathering place for hibakusha (a-bomb victims), local citizens and visiting peace activists. Years later in 1975 Barbara established the Peace Resource Center at the Quaker affiliated Wilmington College in Ohio; the Center houses the largest collection outside Japan of materials related to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.