90 Seconds to Midnight: A Hiroshima Survivor's Nuclear Odyssey

by Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs

Overview

90 Seconds to Midnight tells the gripping and thought-provoking story of Setsuko Nakamura Thurlow, a thirteen-year-old girl living in Hiroshima in 1945, when the city was annihilated by an atomic bomb. Struggling with grief and anger, Thurlow set out to warn the world about the horrors of a nuclear attack in a crusade that has lasted seven decades.

In 2015 Thurlow sparked a rallying cry for activists when she proclaimed at the United Nations, “Humanity and nuclear weapons cannot coexist.” With that, she shifted the global discussion from nuclear deterrence to humanitarian consequences, the key in crafting the landmark Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Regarded as the conscience of the antinuclear movement, Thurlow accepted the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. With the fate of humanity at stake and with the resolve of her samurai ancestors, Thurlow challenged leaders of the nuclear-armed states. On January 22, 2021, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons went into effect, banning nuclear weapons under international law.

Critical historical events need a personal narrative, and Thurlow is such a storyteller for Hiroshima. 90 Seconds to Midnight recounts Thurlow’s ascent from the netherworld where she saw, heard, and smelled death and her relentless efforts to protect the world from an unspeakable fate. Knowing she would have to live with those nightmares, Thurlow turned them into a force to impel people across the globe to learn from Hiroshima, to admit that yes, it could happen again—and then to take action.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781640126565
Publisher:	Potomac Books
Publication date:	06/01/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs is a professor of medicine emerita at Stanford University. She is the author of two critically acclaimed books, Jonas Salk: A Life and Henry Kaplan and the Story of Hodgkin’s Disease.
 

Read an Excerpt

1. The Heart of a Samurai

The sense of honor, implying a vivid consciousness of personal dignity
and worth . . . characterize[s] the samurai, born and bred to value the
duties and privileges of their profession.
—Nitobe Inazō, Bushido, the Soul of Japan

No one knows the exact origin of the samurai. In ad 787, as Japanese soldiers
crossed the Kitakami River on their way to subdue the indigenous people in
northern Honshu, the barbarian cavalry swooped down from the hilltops and
drove Emperor Kanmu’s army into the water. Weighed down by their armor,
over a thousand infantrymen drowned. The barbarians, unsurpassed in mounted
archery, proved difficult to overcome. Imperial military leaders concluded
that, instead of building an army from conscripted farmers, they needed to
develop superior warriors, as had the barbarians, trained from a young age in
horsemanship, archery, and the art of the sword. This decision generated a
feudal warrior caste, thought to be ancestors of the samurai. These warriors
gained further significance when the emperor began granting members of the
imperial family large landed estates. With less than a quarter of Japan’s land
suitable for farming, local chieftains attempted to seize their property. The
lords appealed to the imperial court for protection. In response it appointed
deputies from among the warriors to safeguard them—the samurai. Pledging
fealty to their lords, they received a steady income and land grants in return.
This military elite gradually grew in number and strength. Eventually they
came to rule the country.

Toward the end of the twelfth century, Minamoto no Yorimoto, one of
the greatest samurai heroes, assumed the title of shogun—“commander of
troops”—and established the first military government in Japan, the shogunate.
With that the emperor lost his political power and was reduced to a mere
figurehead. Under Minamoto’s rule, preeminent samurai warlords, daimyo,
formed powerful domains, consisting of vast private estates with associated
clans. Armies of lower-rank samurai, retainers who vowed loyalty, defended
them. Despite a symbiotic relationship with the shogunate, clashes arose
among daimyo, which led to years of civil war. Throughout this extended era
of conflict, daimyo erected large castles for protection as they extended their
dynasties. In 1589 Lord Mōri Terumoto, grandson of a great warlord, began
to build a castle on the Otagawa River delta, in an area he named Hiroshima.
At the turn of the century, a powerful military family, the Tokugawa, gained
control of the country.

Under the Tokugawa shogunate, prosperity and political stability prevailed for
250 years, known as the Edo period. Its first shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, appointed
several hundred daimyo and directed them to govern their semiautonomous
domains by civil means instead of military force. Whereas samurai had defended
their daimyo’s lands in times of war, during these peaceful years, they served
as administrators for the estates, keeping watch over the commoners, including
farmers, artisans, and merchants. To distinguish themselves from the commoners,
samurai wore two swords—one long, one short—and a top knot. Constituting
about 6 percent of the population, samurai and their families had a high literacy
rate. Bushidō (the way of the warrior) defined their unwritten code of conduct,
which emphasized honor, discipline, and fearlessness in the face of the enemy.

By the mid-1800s, the peaceful existence of the Tokugawa dynasty was
coming to an end. Japan, composed of four main islands and over three thousand
small islands, had been isolated by and large from the outside world and
remained a feudal state. That changed in 1853, after Commodore Matthew
Perry steamed into Edo Bay (renamed Tokyo Bay) and delivered a letter from
President Millard Filmore, demanding that Japan open its main ports to international
trade. Six months later Perry returned with ten heavily armed ships
and secured an agreement. This exposure to the outside world, along with
peasant uprisings due to widespread destitution, precipitated a civil war. With
the defeat of the last shogun, political power was returned to the emperor,
ushering in the Meiji Restoration of 1868.

In the new regime, orchestrated in large part by young samurai, fifteen-
year-old Emperor Mutsuhito remained a figurehead. As the new rulers began
to modernize Japan, they knew they must terminate the feudal system, which
meant waiving the privileges of their own class. Daimyo returned their domains
to the emperor, who divided the country into prefectures. Samurai lost
income and property. They could no longer be distinguished by their swords
and topknots, previously worn in public. Several thousand were disinherited.
“In a sense,” a historian wrote, “the samurai abolished themselves.”

During the Meiji Restoration, the government created universal education
and required military conscription for every male over twenty, consisting of
three years of active duty followed by four years in the reserves. They built
railways and modern factories and opened banks to provide investment capital.
Western clothing and hairstyles were introduced. With its first prime minister,
a constitution, and the establishment of the Diet, Japan transformed from a
feudal warrior state into a parliamentary government. Despite its dissolution,
the old samurai class still retained its social status. The code of conduct—bushidō—
had been ingrained in the moral constitution of its members. Now
referred to as shizoku, they held leading positions as educators, government
employees, scholars, and businesspeople.

As did most samurai families, the Nakamuras suffered financial losses during
the Meiji Restoration. Setsuko’s grandfather, Nakamura Yataro, was born in
the mid-1800s. As the eldest son, he bore responsibility for his parents and
siblings, as well as extended family. When the new governor of the Hiroshima
Prefecture, Senda Sadaaki, announced plans to invigorate the city, Yataro saw
an opportunity to be of assistance. Upon arriving in Hiroshima, the governor
had found no proper harbor; visitors had to anchor their boats in the bay and
wade ashore. Senda undertook the construction of Ujina Port in 1884. This
costly project required raising substantial funds, and Nakamura Yataro played
an important role in that undertaking.4 As a result, Hiroshima became a vital
port for the exportation of manufactured goods.

Meanwhile, a marriage had been arranged for Yataro. His wife, Sasaki Tama,
came from a family of equal standing, which professed a famous samurai warrior
among its ancestors.5 Her customary duties included managing their household,
bearing children, and caring for her in-laws. As indications of wealth and
rank, Tama’s dowry included exquisite, lacquered writing boxes, jewelry chests,
and ornate furniture. She maintained the mien of a samurai wife, dressed and
coiffed in the traditional way. Strict and demanding, she insisted on proper
education and cultural training for her four sons and two daughters. The Nakamuras
lived in a traditional Japanese house with a central courtyard and a
kura (storehouse) behind the home to protect their valuables, which would
be passed on to their eldest son.

Setsuko’s father, Benkichi, was born in 1883, the second son of Yataro and
Tama. According to the Japanese inheritance system, based on primogeniture,
his older brother would follow his father as the head of the family, inheriting
all their property and undertaking responsibility for the extended family after
his father’s death. Benkichi, as the second, noninheriting son, had to find his
own employment. At school, principals told their students: “First sons, stay
in Japan and be men of Japan. Second sons, go abroad with great ambition as
men of the world."

As Benkichi approached adulthood, his father’s finances once again began
floundering, and Yataro looked to North America, where he understood that,
if Japanese worked hard, they could make money and return wealthy. The
Japanese government was urging workers to immigrate to Hawaii, the United
States, and Canada. Furthermore, when Benkichi reached twenty, he would
be drafted into military service, unable to contribute much to the family’s income.
Japan had been at war with China, and its relationship with the Russian
Empire was deteriorating. So, in 1899, Nakamura Yataro sent his second son,
sixteen-year-old Benkichi, to America.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

List of Abbreviations

Note on Japanese Names

Prologue

Part 1. Before

1. The Heart of a Samurai

2. A Cherry Blossom Life

3. Raising the Flag of the Rising Sun

4. August 6, 1945

Part 2. After

5. Necropolis

6. Life among the Ruins

7. Occupied

8. Where Was God on August 6?

9. Born to Serve

10. Falling in Love in Bibai

Part 3. The Quest

11. Crossing Borders

12. Blood on Our Hands

13. In the Interim

14. Witness

15. Watchman

16. Indifference Is Not an Option

17. Reframing the Narrative

18. Point of No Return

19. Confronting Truman

20. Moving toward Zero

21. Moral Indignation

22. Glory

23. The Road to Ratification

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

Charlotte Jacobs has a most compelling story to tell—the biography of Setsuko Nakamura Thurlow, a survivor of Hiroshima. Only biography has the power to convey what happened at the dawn of the nuclear age.”—Kai Bird, coauthor of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize


“Setsuko Nakamura Thurlow’s life story captures the horror of nuclear weapons. That a survivor could transcend her experience into a lifetime of activism that has made the world safer is so inspiring. I’ve loved Jacobs’s previous biographical works; in 90 Seconds to Midnight her skill reaches new heights.”—Abraham Verghese, author of The Covenant of Water, an Oprah’s Book Club selection


“Setsuko Nakamura Thurlow’s story is inspiring, heroic, and profoundly important. This is a remarkable book about a truly remarkable woman.”—Eric Schlosser, author of Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety, a Pulitzer Prize finalist


“This eminently readable book is riveting, timely, and much needed. It offers a unique and deeply affecting first-person account of the unimaginable horrors of Hiroshima through the eyes of Setsuko Nakamura Thurlow, who survived the bombing as a young teen to become a leading witness to the world on the crimes against humanity unleashed by nuclear war. She is a messenger we must hear, and we must heed.”—Diana Chapman Walsh, president emerita of Wellesley College and author of The Claims of Life: A Memoir

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