Mieko Nagano: Oita City, Japan

I took part in COARA, a personal computer communication group, eight years ago according to our old friend's recommendation. Since then, we two have become acquainted with many friends all over the country. In May 1995, we first upped our home page on the web. Many electronic mails have been sent to us and our friendship circle has been expanding world wide continuously. The human network is one of our irreplaceable treasures.

Mr. Takeharu Terao had been among them, a man of gentleness, always smiling on his face. When I said I loved flowers, he invited me to his house and divided some roots of plants in his garden..

It was Mr. Terao himself who released his hard memory on the web (at that time, a personal computer communication group) under the title of "A Personal Record of Hiroshima A-bomb" in August 1991. The Record gave strong shocks to almost all members of the group. They were deeply impressed and sent many responses to it. In June 1996, Mr. Terao passed away.

Mr. Ryouji Matsumura , one of Mr. Terao's former students, thought that the Record should be read by much more people and asked my husband to translate it into English. The draft was sent through the Internet to some of my husband's overseas friends for polishing. In July 1996, the Record, or "The Terao Memoir" home page, was published on the web in two languages. Mr. Matsumura asked me to draw a cut to be inserted under the page title. I got strained and exchanged many drafts with him through the electronic mails before accomplishing an illustration of the A-bomb Dome.

The web page created a sensation: a vast number of responses came from all around the world. They were added on the home page as well after getting the written consent of the authors and translating into Japanese or English. Mr. Matsumura also intended to public the home page in the form of paper-books so as to be read by those people who do not access the Internet. .

This time, the cover illustration was painted by Mr. Kuboki, one of COARA members. The book was published in October 1997 and attracted the attention of some newspaper offices who soon introduced the book, saying "The first book based on the web pages."

One day last October, an electronic mail came from Korea. Professor Sunghee Lee of Changshin College in Masan City, a seaside city in southern Korea, asked Mr. Matsumura if it was agreed to quote the passages from Terao Memoir onto his English textbook to be used in a new semester starting from coming April.

He soon discussed the matter with Mrs. Terao. She was very delighted, and the passages were finally quoted in the textbook. In March, three copies of the brand-new text book were sent to us. One of the textbook was soon offered before the tablet of the late Mr. Terao.

When we first heard the publication news, we hoped to celebrate the publication in Masan. This plan is to be materialized soon. We are expecting to meet Prof. and Mrs. Lee. We are very glad to know that we can visit the college and meet students and even the president.

Korea and Japan had once experienced an unhappy history in the past. I hope young students in both countries will read the Terao Memoir and pray together so as never repeat "such a thing" on the earth.

Mie home