Keiji Nakazawa - Hiroshima kid

Barefoot Gen - Manga cover of the Japanese abridged edition for children. 

On august 6, 1945, the manga writer Keiji Nakasawa, who was born in Hiroshima, was 6 years old. He was standing 1.2 km from the hypocentre of the bomb. He died at 73 in 2012. One of his major works is his autobiography: "Barefoot Gen". He lost his whole family to the bombing. His testimony is poignant and essential to catch a glimpse at the Japanese context of the time, and it is all the more interesting that his father was a hardened pacifist who was not afraid to express his convictions loudly. In a Militarist Japan, one can imagine that the police did not leave him alone often... There is a complete English version of his autobiography in black and white, and he later made a bilingual abridged version (English and Japanese), in color, intended for children. This book will certainly never be found in a Western primary school; the images give you the chills. Here are some spreads below, quite Instructive ... Published in the US by Last Gasp of San Francisco

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