ABSTRACT
The majority of the hibakusha were women who were neither assertive nor insistent and who, because they could barely speak English, were unable to convey their problems to their doctors or to the public. The hibakusha's "uneasiness" would be much relieved, she said, if a specialist in atomic-bomb illnesses could come from Hiroshima even once a year to give them medical examinations. The hearing was held as a forum for the hibakusha, and also for officials of concerned organizations and government offices who testified about the many problems the hibakusha were facing. The hibakusha complained, "Atomic-bomb survivors in America are in an extremely unfavorable situation." Japanese Americans were often held up as a model group among minorities in America, since they had relatively high incomes and a low percentage of people utilizing social welfare. Traditional Japanese ethics held that reliance upon government authorities is demeaning, and this value was held strongly by Issei and Nisei alike.
