HIGASHI-HIROSHIMA, Hiroshima Pref. -- When a doctor told Hitoshi Takayama in 1962 that a lump removed from his abdomen was malignant, the then 32-year-old thought he would share the fate of the 200,000 whose lives were lost in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Despite constant pain in his abdomen and the specter of death, Takayama devoted himself to raising consciousness worldwide of the events of Aug. 6, 1945, and their aftermath to prevent a recurrence of the tragedy.

"Hiroshima in Memoriam and Today" is the latest version of his effort toward that end. The 278-page English-language book, published in the United States in July 2000, is a revised and enlarged version of his book of the same name that was first published in 1973 and revised in 1979.