ABSTRACT
ōba Minako is one of the most well-known women writers of contemporary Japan. She was born the eldest daughter of a naval doctor. Her family moved frequently during her childhood due to her father's profession. ōba experienced the effects of the war years first-hand when her school was appropriated as a factory site. By the end of the Second World War, she and her family were living just outside Hiroshima. The memory of witnessing the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima and the experience of being conscripted to care for bomb victims in the aftermath of the atomic explosion have together had a significant but implicit role in shaping her concerns as a writer over the years. ōba has seldom spoken openly of her work as an aid worker among the hibakusha, though she admits that the memories of the period haunt her still.
