ABSTRACT
The hibakusha organization was facing serious organizational problems. The Committee of Atomic Bomb Survivors in the United States had been functioning as two separate groups, the original southern California committee and the northern California committee, formed in 1974. Kanji Kuramoto was chosen as president of the united committee, and Kaz Suyeishi was named vice president. Barbara Reynolds immediately wrote to Kanji Kuramoto in San Francisco and asked for details about Committee of Atomic Bomb Survivors in the United States (US). Reynolds soon realized through her correspondence with Kuramoto that the US hibakusha were very cautious about forming relationships with other organizations. The appointment of Kuramoto, a northern Californian, sowed the seeds for later conflict within the organization. Kuramoto sympathized with the environmental organizations and he wished he could join the anti-nuclear power group.
