I watched a documentary last year called “When the Bomb Dropped,” covering the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima. Several survivors were recounting their childhood memories of that time. One man's testimony was so immediate and raw that I could not help but sense his anguish.
His name was Takashi Tanemori, and I learned he had written an autobiography, Hiroshima: Bridge to Forgiveness. I found a used copy and immersed myself in his story.
Imagine. At seven years old, he lost his home and half his family. His mother and baby sister were never found, and he watched his father and oldest sister die. Only two remaining older sisters and a little brother survived with him.
They were street kids, trash to their community, even relatives. They struggled and grew apart. He tried to take his life and failed, inviting ridicule. He was left with nothing but the memory of his parents and the Tanemori family name, which he struggled against the world to defend.
When Tanemori-san was almost 18, a man presented him with the chance to move to the United States. He felt no reason to go at first… until his grief and anger solidified into revenge. So he left Japan to exact vengeance on America.
In the U.S., he found himself disoriented and deceived. He was made ill and hospitalized. As an atom bomb survivor, he was a novelty, the first of a kind, and he became a human guinea pig, suffering unspeakable treatment at the hands of doctors. He begged for help in his native Japanese, unable to speak English. They concluded he was crazy and committed him to a mental hospital.
It was there he found compassion. He met a nurse named Mary who saw his fear and gained his trust. She brought him to church and introduced him to Jesus, and he became a Christian. Motivated by the God who “so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,” Tanemori-san enrolled in Bible school to pursue ministry. Despite facing racism and mistreatment by fellow Bible students, he graduated.
During that time, he married and had children. He served as a minister of Jesus Christ for 15 years and later took up secular work. He struggled as an alien of two countries. He slowly lost his eyesight. Remarkably, he met both the pilot who bombed his city and the pilot who led the attack on Pearl Harbor. He became a sought-after peace activist, anti-nuke and anti-war.
So we come to the present. Tanemori-san, as I call him, intrigued me for several reasons. His adult recollections of being a 7-year-old boy were powerful. His hometown is where my grandmother's parents were from. And he believed in Jesus Christ.
I resolved to meet him because in my experience, few people make peace with themselves, God, and the world. He appeared to do all the above, and I sensed there was something he could teach me.
An internet search pointed to San Francisco. My friend Devon, who lived in that area, found and shared some leads, which later confirmed I was on the right track. I discovered a YouTuber in Texas, Sarah Gish, who had conducted an interview with Tanemori-san the year before. I reached out, and she connected me with a special young lady in California named Elizabeth, a close associate of Tanemori-san’s.
I prayed, asking God to bring about this meeting. But why was it so important to me? Well, I always thought of myself as a lover, not a fighter. Unfortunately for the pacifist in me, when I look at Jesus, I see both. Yes, he was born to bring peace to those with God's favor. He is the only Mediator between God and man, the Ambassador of Reconciliation, the Prince of Peace.
Yet Jesus also said, “Don't think that I came to bring peace to the earth; I came not to bring peace, but a sword.” This always bothered me. How could the Rabbi who told his disciple, ”Put your sword back in its place” - also wield a sword?
My unspoken motto was, Can't we all just get along? Or as the prophet Jeremiah so faithfully clarified, “They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.” My motto was clearly incompatible with that of Jesus who refused to declare peace in the absence of truth.
A few years ago, God called me to leave and go - where to, I did not know. It involved biblical counseling, friends old and new (including Common Grounds Unity!), and new experiences. I said goodbye to old identities and ideals. One day I woke up and realized that God was not infinitely far away but at my side, where he had always been.
This is part of a longer journey, but I share it to say that God had prepared me to see Tanemori-san and hear his story. I was ready to learn what Jesus meant when he said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” I was not afraid to do whatever it took to fully embrace my true identity in Christ.
So with the help of Devon and Elizabeth and the encouragement and support of my friend Mike and other friends and family, I flew to San Francisco last year on Friday, October 18. Devon generously chauffeured and hosted me.
We met Tanemori-san and Elizabeth the next morning for coffee, visited a Japanese-American museum, and enjoyed lunch and deep discussion. Finally, I visited his home and offered a gift. They surprised us with an invitation to join them for a special Sunday service and luncheon the following morning, which we accepted.
The key lesson came during the Saturday lunch when Tanemori-san told us a story that he had not related in the documentary or his autobiography.
He had been invited to speak at an anti-nuclear rally commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. Prior to the rally, his daughter pointed out that while he was working so hard at being anti-nuke and anti-war, he himself was not at peace - he still had anger and vengeance in his heart. And he realized she was right.
Everything he was going to say at that rally, he discarded. When he arrived and stood before 200 attendees, including five sponsors in the front row, he gave a different message, one of apology for his country’s actions, which he concluded by saying, “I forgive President Truman.”
President Truman - the man who ordered the bombing of his city, who was responsible for the death of his parents and siblings and his greatest suffering. And not just him, but men like Paul Tibbets who had planned the mission and piloted the Enola Gay that dropped the bomb - and Captain Mitsuo Fuchida who led the first wave of air attacks on Pearl Harbor. He forgave them all.
The speech was over. The crowd left without speaking to him, the sponsors first, except for several women who came to shake his hand.
Perhaps this does not sound like Jesus bringing a sword to the world. After all, what’s so violent about letting go? The answer came when I asked Tanemori-san, “Who is your community? Your support system?”
He motioned to the three of us. “It’s you here at the table.”
Tanemori-san had not just let go of his anger and vengeance at that rally. He lost his audience and supporters. His activist community did not embrace the message of forgiveness. He took up Jesus' sword and swung, dividing the crowd and cutting off his own support.
Tanemori-san learned that we do not make peace by warring against our offenders or the world, but by looking at ourselves and seeing our need to forgive - and to forgive.
That week I received a gracious email from Tanemori-san. In the signature it read, “Wage Peace by Learning to forgive.”
After that weekend, I searched my heart for the need to forgive. Yes, there was that family member… and two others… and that other person. Then a brother in Christ asked if I had apologized to a sister for something I said, which I had not. So I took steps to forgive, apologize and reconcile.
Now I pray every day as Jesus taught his disciples to “forgive our debts as we have forgiven our debtors,” and wrestle with that inescapable cycle of sowing and reaping either forgiveness or vengeance. What amazing freedom and comfort there is in learning to forgive!
If you have come this far, I encourage you to now search your heart. Is there an injustice or an offender in your life that you have been warring against? Is there an enemy or a disaster in your life that has turned you into an activist?
I pray that you will accept this gift that Tanemori-san has given me: to Wage Peace by learning to forgive.
