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The Story

Surviving Hiroshima - The Sunday Story

The Story

The Times

Politics, News Analysis, Investigative Reporting, Exclusive Interviews, Long-form Audio, In-depth Journalism, Audio Storytelling, Current Affairs, Global News, Uk News, Daily News Podcast, Unknown, Daily News, News

41.5K Ratings

🗓️ 9 August 2025

⏱️ 22 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As we mark 80 years since the atomic bomb that changed the world, we revisit an interview with Hiroshima survivor, Koko Kondo.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory


Guest: Koko Kondo.

Host: Manveen Rana.

Clips: BBC News, NBC, Imperial War Museum, US Army.

Photo: Getty Images.

Get in touch: [email protected]




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Transcript

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0:00.0

Mm, picnic. What does one take to a picnic? Crisps, dips, sausage rolls. No, come on, think outside the box.

0:11.2

Mm, napkins? What are you, the mum? No, something a bit more exciting. Something like, I'll have those red scratch cards, please.

0:23.5

Add some play with National Lottery Scratch cards.

0:27.2

Search Dream big, play, small, rules and procedures apply. Players must be 18 or over.

0:33.7

From the Times and the Sunday Times, this is the story on Sunday.

0:38.2

I'm Manvina.

0:39.1

The ringing rana, the ringing.

0:52.2

The ringing of a bell, a minute silence, and a ceremony in which the Japanese Prime Minister

0:58.7

called for a world without nuclear weapons.

1:17.6

That's how the city of Hiroshima marked the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing this week. It was a moment in history that changed the world.

1:34.6

It changed how countries would wage war

1:37.0

and how they would live in an uneasy peace.

1:40.5

But most of all, it was a moment that unleashed horror and destruction on the people of Hiroshima.

1:52.4

And at a time when the world is more dangerous than ever, their tragic stories need to be revisited.

2:11.0

So we're bringing you an interview we did with the amazing Coco Kondo, who turned 80 earlier this year.

2:12.4

I spoke to her five years ago, and I still regularly think about what she said.

2:17.1

So we thought you'd want a chance to hear her remarkable account again. The story today, surviving Hiroshima.

2:47.0

My name is Coco Kondo. I'm one of the survivors, we call Hibakshawa.

2:53.0

On the day of the bombing in 1945, Coco was just eight months old.

2:57.0

She was the only baby in the neighborhood to survive the bomb.

3:03.8

21 days after the New Mexico experiment, a B-29 was over Hiroshima carrying an atomic bomb.

3:10.9

At 8.15 in the morning of August 6th, Japanese time, the first atomic bomb struck an enemy target. This is zero point on here. Coco's father, Kiyoshi Tanimoto, was a Methodist

...

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