Michiko Hattori, 86, calls herself an "obscure" atomic bomb survivor with no special writing skills. But the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Japan this year unexpectedly brought her a chance to publish her life story afresh.
The idea for the book "Anohi Pikadon ga" ("On the Day of the Atomic Bombing") started taking shape as Hattori's earlier self-published autobiographical work in 2011 caught the attention of Tokyo-based publisher Bungeisha Co.
"We have people tasked to excavate little-known books buried in libraries in regional areas and found Ms. Hattori's work at the Hiroshima Prefectural Library in January. We proposed to her releasing a new book based on it," said Yukihisa Ono, 37, who planned the book at Bungeisha.