# Hibakusha



## ThomasK

A friend of mine reminded me of the fact that the above term was used to refer to the survivors of the atomic bomb --- if I have understood well. 

But is that word used now again (although there has not been a 'straightforward'/ 'regular' atomic disaster) ? And especially: what precisely does it mean (semantically/ morphologically)?


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## Ghabi

It's _hi-baku-sha_ "one afflicted [by the] explosion".


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## ThomasK

Thanks, perfect. I suppose this is not the word used now for those harmed by the atomic accident, or is it ?


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## gotoba

I think you refer to 被爆者(hi baku sha) I think it literally means "person exposed to bomb" or "person that received damage from a bomb" thus = atomic bomb victim; bomb victim or survivor.

被: be exposed, receive
爆: bomb, explosion
者: person

This is my guess "victim of radiation" but I'm not sure

放射被害者= housha higaisha
放射被災者= housha hisaisha


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## Arui Kashiwagi

To be precise, there's another similar-looking kanji which reads "_baku_".爆: bomb, explosion
曝: exposed (to something. To sunlight, radiation, etc...)

被爆者: victims injured in a bomb (not limited to a nuclear one)
被曝者: victims exposed to radiation (not limited to a bomb)​For the cases of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, you can use either of them.
For the case of the nuclear power plant, you must always use the latter one (被 曝 者).

Because the kanji 曝 is rarely used in daily life, even Japanese people often confuse them...

To gotoba:
I'm afraid we don't use 放射被害者, but you can say 放射線被害者 _houshasen higaisha_ instead.
[ 放射="to emit"(an action). 放射線="emitted ray"=radiation. ]


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## gotoba

Thanks for the useful information.


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## White Goat

Just as a marginal note  
the word _Hibakusha_ is generally used to refer to those people affected by the radiations caused by the explosions of the 2 atomic bombs at the end of WW2. This is just a word and (as a mere word) does not concern any kind of social bashing or stigmatization. Unfortunately its usage has been often tied to a severe and painful isolation and social rejection to the detriments of those who had been injured by the radiations.. Hibakusha has been applied not only to those really affected by the radiations but also to their sons and daughters like 2nd gen. hibakusha and so on..
This has caused a terrible social (racial) prejudice that has caused so much pain to the families of those injured by the bombs explosions.

For this reason the real usage of this word has noticeably decreased nowadays, just to avoid any kind of misunderstanding, (useless pain), and in the name of political correctness. (There's a certain resemblance with the _kotoba-gari_ 言葉狩り even though I suppose that the word _hibakusha_ has started to be avoided before the spread of the hunt for the embarassing words)


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## ThomasK

That is very interesting information, thanks a lot. So I gather it did not have such a favourable connotation as we might think (not just referring to the idea of victims, but just as much those who have been contaminated). 

That brings me back to the original question: are special words (euphemisms) now common at the time of the explosion? Do the Japanese deal with/ try to cope with this ordeal in some special linguistic way (by using special words) ?


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## White Goat

I presume that there are more polite ways to refer to hibakusha (socially) without using this word but I must confess I don't know actually which are the preferred linguistic replacements ^__^ a native speaking would help better

I once managed to look through a very interesting book (at the Japanese foundation library in Rome) about the Japanese linguistic tendency to replace 'touchy' words with some substitutions in our current times.. It may be interesting to you too if you can find a copy   (there's an abridged scanned version you can read at google.books anyway  just browse the site with the book's title )

it is called "Linguistic Stereotyping and Minority Groups in Japan"
by Nanette Gottlieb (ed. Routledge)


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## ThomasK

Great information, thanks. _(On the other hand, isn't that a universal problem? I think I'll start a thread elsewhere about this, it is a very interesting problem) _


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## Arui Kashiwagi

Here I want to clarify that the term _hibakusha _is a general noun and never limited to a certain group in history. It's true that the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the most widely known _hibakusha_, and they've suffered from a certain kind of social injustice. But that fact doesn't mean the word _hibakusha _itself has a special implication. This word becomes special only when *they* use it with their political intentions.

Try finding Japanese newspapers, magazines or blogs and you'll notice that the victims of Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and Tokaimura are all called "被曝者". There's no connotation of good or bad.


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## ThomasK

Important addition, thanks. But of course who is 'they' ? And how does a connotation come about? I have just been trying to explore the cause of euphemisms as counter-insults here...


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## White Goat

Arui Kashiwagi said:


> But that fact doesn't mean the word _hibakusha _itself has a special implication. This word becomes special only when *they* use it with their political intentions.



 it's right, the word in itself is only a mere word, and (as I wrote before) it doesn't have any implication with social bashing or discrimination.. it's just a word. I have felt the need to explain a little more about the word only because, when talking about the victims of the 2 bombs.. the use of this word can be tricky and may result in some embarassing situations.. That's only because of the specific social discrimination that spread in 50s and 60s (sometimes worsened by means of a sort of social self-exclusion and "go into hiding" that even the victims have nurtured for long time..).

The problem only concerns the japanese people who've been affected by the bombs, sometimes the use of the word 'hibakusha' to refer to real people you may know (people who have been affected or related to others who have been affected by the radiations) has been considered derogatory. 
_hibakusha_ was also used in a sort of "governmental label" that was given to those people in order to have access to special medical treatments and some financial support.. Despite it had a positive aim, this label has _de-facto_  created a social minority in Japan with all the implications of prejudice and discrimination, hiding and outing other people (who didn't want to appear as hibakusha because they would have been bashed socially by other people)..

All this blah-blah from me (beg your pardon) ^__^ it's only to say.. this is a touchy word and.. if you're not talking about hibakusha from an historical -- or abstract -- point of view.. it may lead to some embarassment and maybe some misunderstanding (also in current times) in the actual japanese society (or to some specific people).

(oh well, this is from what I studied when I was at university, but maybe things can be different)


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## Aoyama

Many things have been said about "hibakusha". Is it (or is it NOT) a "sabetsu go/hyogen" (derogatory/discriminatory word/expression), is a matter of discussion.
What is true is that _legally_, hibakusha have the right to get _free medical care, covered by "kokumin kenkô hoken" _国民健康保険_ (Japanese National Health Insurance System)_. This is clearly written on the National Health Insurance Card.


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