THE ATOMIC AGE: Reciprocity

Hiroshima’s Acting Governor Shigeru Kojo peered through tortoise-shell glasses and smiled through gold-capped teeth at the U.S. newsmen. They had come to a special press conference to hear a special plea: would it not be a splendid gesture if America helped rebuild the first city leveled by an atomic bomb?

“Thus rebuilt,” said Shigeru Kojo, “Hiroshima will be an international symbol of humanity and peace . . . the cradle of a peace-loving, reconstructed Japan. . . .”

Hiroshima’s Mayor Kihara took up the plea. “You look like messengers sent by God,” he hissed politely. “We are helpless like babies. We cannot walk alone. The revival of our city depends on articles you write. . . . Let us make a firm and eternal bridge over the Pacific that will not be destroyed by any bomb.”

A newsman asked: “Don’t you think we ought first to rebuild Nanking and Manila?”

The Japanese paused, held a whispered consultation, answered: “We are all feeling sorry for those cities. . . .”

Then they bowed. As the Americans filed out, Mayor Kihara handed each of them a New Year’s gift—a tablecloth and napkin set—from the “City of Hiroshima.”