Early Rise

 It's eight fifteen

And that's the time that it's always been

We got your message on the radio

Conditions normal and you're coming home...

(Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark)

The nuclear bomb, as the most destructive by-product of human civilization, has been used only twice, both over the Japanese islands, in August 1945. Although it has been detonated more than 2,000 times in various forms, `trial` and `experimental`, thereby enriching the atmosphere, soil and waters of the planet with particles that bring joy and happiness - apart from those two detonations in anger of the extremely cynically codenamed bombs `Fatty` and `Little Kid`, the world has not yet experienced a hat-trick of atomic explosions over an urban center.

The bomb as a bomb differs from conventional ones because it acts in multiple ways and remains in a long and unpleasant memory with its contaminating effect. First comes the mechanical shock wave caused by the force of the detonation expressed in thousands of tons of conventional explosives, followed by the thermal shock due to the extreme temperature that develops during the explosion, the third rider is the ionizing radiation that kills quickly and painfully, the fourth is the powerful electromagnetic pulse and the bonus is the radiation that falls from the sky for hours and days in the form of rain or dust and serves for long-term contamination of the area affected by such a situation.

The amount of luck needed to survive the above is truly significant. And the amount of luck needed to survive the two atomic bombs... is so astronomical that it would utterly shock all the gamblers, bookmakers and gamblers of the world. Such luck was enjoyed by a completely real person, the Japanese shipbuilder Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who survived not one but two atomic explosions!

Tsutomu was not a gambler by nature, he usually played it safe and was a respected member of the community. Working for the Mitsubishi Corporation in Nagasaki, he was assigned to a three-month assignment in Hiroshima, during the last summer of the war, 1945. His last day of work was August 5th, and he was due back in Nagasaki on the 6th. He missed the morning train because he had forgotten his pass at the office, and so he arrived at the fateful ``eight fifteen'' some three kilometers as the crow flies from ``ground zero''...

Mr. Yamaguchi saw with complete clarity the Boeing B-29 bomber and the bomb itself, which had been slowed down by parachutes. It was strange that only one plane was dropping a single device, quite unlike the tradition of hundreds of bombers dropping thousands of bombs in a single flight over Japan. The reason quickly became apparent, the blinding flash and the aforementioned ``beauty`` that followed at the foot of the atomic mushroom cloud caused serious injuries to Tsutomu, ruptured eardrums, burns, temporary blindness... regaining consciousness after some time due to severe pain, Tsutomu headed to a shelter where he spent the night. In the morning he left for...Nagasaki! Although injured, following the stereotype of fanatical Japanese hard work - Yamaguchi showed up at his workplace on August 9th. The next morning, when another Boeing B-29 with another bomb was already flying towards the city - a backup option... because over the primary target (the city of Kokura) the weather conditions were so bad that it was impossible to drop the bomb...

The conversation between Tsutomu and his colleagues, who listened in disbelief to his claim that only one single bomb had destroyed Hiroshima, from which Tsutomu had returned - was interrupted by another strong flash and another explosion. I do not believe that since homo sapiens acquired the power of speech, throughout the history of human conversation - a claim has been affirmed in such a cruelly precise and timely manner. Once again, finding himself about three kilometers from `ground zero`, Tsutomu this time was completely incredible - he escaped without any major injuries, his eardrums were already out of use anyway...Surviving both bombs in a bizarre set of fantastic circumstances, one can ask how much `unlucky` Tsutomu was in the first place to find himself in a position to be hit by both explosions?! After the war, carrying with him the consequences of the bombing - Tsutomu Yamaguchi still lived to a ripe old age and in 2009 became the first officially recognized double survivor of the atomic explosions, although it is assumed that there are others who had that dubious luck to be in both places within a span of 72 hours.

Now deceased, Tsutomu remains known in the world as the man who survived two atomic bombs, thus completely shifting some standards in the perception of luck...or misfortune.

(Roger Mortis, 101)