Stephen Hiroshi Miwa was in his early teens when he learned his family’s secret.

His interest in the family’s history was sparked when he heard his mother say that the Miwa family was “unlucky.”

Miwa, a 61-year-old Japanese-American, found out his grandfather was victimized in World War II by both the Japanese and U.S. governments. He died before Miwa was born.

Miwa’s father, Lawrence Fumio Miwa, also suffered in the war. But he had refrained from talking about his past.

To learn more about what had happened to the family, Miwa asked his aunt who lived near him in Hawaii.

“Are you sure you want to know?” his aunt asked.

Then she started to describe her experience in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb exploded.

She said almost everyone around her died, and she saw glass shards stuck all over her friend.

“Do you want to know more?” the aunt asked again.

But because she was crying, Miwa stopped asking questions.

PROSPERING IN HAWAII

Miwa, who was born and raised in the United States, barely remembered learning about the atomic bombing at school.

After becoming an adult, he began to research the war and how it affected his family.

Japanese immigration to Hawaii increased significantly after the government in the Meiji Era (1868-1912) made an agreement with the Kingdom of Hawaii. Many immigrants worked on sugar plantations, and the Japanese population expanded in Hawaii.

Miwa’s great-grandfather from Hiroshima and his grandfather, James Seigo Miwa, gained success in the food import-export business in Hawaii.

At that time, many wealthy Japanese immigrants sent mothers and children back to Japan for education. The Miwa family was no exception.

Miwa’s grandfather stayed in Hawaii. But Miwa’s father, Lawrence, who was born in Hawaii, and his grandmother relocated to Hiroshima in 1933.

While the family lived apart, Japan attacked the U.S. military base and airfields at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in December 1941. About 2,400 people on the U.S. side died in the raid.

According to a local Japanese-language newspaper and other sources, “nikkei” (descendants of Japanese) made up nearly 40 percent of Hawaii’s population at the time.

After the Japanese attack, those in leadership positions in Hawaii’s nikkei community were arrested. Miwa’s grandfather was sent to a Japanese-American concentration camp in New Mexico.

Later, the grandfather boarded an exchange ship that transported diplomats stranded between Japan and the United States.

The passenger list of the ship is preserved at the Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in Tokyo. It includes the name James Seigo Miwa.

In 1943, grandfather James returned to Japan and was reunited with his wife and children in Hiroshima.

Two years later, on Aug. 6, 1945, the U.S. military dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. By the end of December that year, about 140,000 people had died.

James suffered from symptoms believed to be caused by the atomic bomb and died of cancer nine years later.

Lawrence was a 14-year-old junior high school student who had been evacuated from Hiroshima city at the time of the atomic bombing.

However, nine days after the bombing, on Aug. 15, Lawrence entered the area of the hypocenter in Hiroshima to search for his family. He was exposed to radiation.

WARTIME DIARY FOUND

After the war, James told Lawrence that Hawaii was full of business opportunities.

In 1947, Lawrence left Japan with Miwa’s aunt for the Aloha state.

Lawrence received a scholarship and graduated from a university on the U.S. mainland. He worked successfully as a banker in Hawaii.

However, he remained silent about his past.

But he started to open up around 2008, when he found a diary he had kept just before and after the end of World War II.

The diary, full of entries praising the emperor, reflected his mindset as a militaristic youth. He later described himself as being brainwashed.

Lawrence never explained to his son why he decided to share his story after finding the diary.

However, in 2019, at an atomic bomb memorial ceremony held in Honolulu, Lawrence stated: “Today, it should not matter what nationality you are. … No one, especially our children, should ever experience the horrors of nuclear weapons.”

The number of hibakusha who live in Hawaii continues to decline due to aging and other factors.

According to the Hiroshima Prefectural Medical Association, which sends doctors to provide health consultations for atomic bomb survivors in Hawaii, 118 people participated in the program in 1991, but only 15 attended the last session in 2023.

Miwa’s father died in 2023.

Reflecting on his family’s history, Miwa said he cannot fully trust any government, no matter the country. Instead, he said, he believes in the citizens.

“The common decency is let’s make sure we don’t ever use nuclear weapons again,” Miwa said.

To emphasize the inhumanity of war, Miwa self-published his father’s diary, titled, “Gambare Hiroshima--Don’t Give Up!” in March 2024.

He has donated copies of the book to Hiroshima city.

On the eve of the Aug. 6 Peace Memorial Ceremony in Hiroshima this year, 217 copies were given to international dignitaries who arrived in the city to attend the ceremony.