Akiko’s Dolls: The Story of a Nagasaki A-Bomb Survivor is a special exhibition at the East Asian Library that will be displayed through February 2023. The exhibit features dolls, photos, and writings of Akiko Mizuta Seitelbach, a Japanese woman who survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Please stay tuned for more East Asian Library exhibitions.
Dolls for Doll’s Day/Girls’ Day (Hinamatsuri), gift of Akiko Mizuta Seitelbach.
Akiko Mizuta Seitelbach was born on October 25, 1922, in a section of Shanghai that, at the time, was a colony of Japan. Adopted by her aunt and uncle when she was just five months old, Akiko grew up in Nagasaki. She graduated high school in 1938, just as World War II started in Japan. During the war, she worked in the supply office of Mitsubishi Electrical Works. On August 9, 1945, when the atomic bomb was dropped, Akiko was about 1.3 miles from ground zero. She felt firsthand the destruction and desperation of the Japanese people in the days following and after the war ended.
Following the Japanese surrender in 1945, Akiko became an interpreter for the U.S. Marines and then the American Army of Occupation in Nagasaki. After marrying an American soldier of the 34th Infantry Regiment in 1953, she came to America and lived at an Army base in Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn. Between 1955 and 1963, Akiko resided in Puerto Rico, Staten Island, then Germany as her husband’s station assignments changed. She worked as a receptionist for Fuji Bank, a dress shop manager in Puerto Rico, in the Army library in Germany, and for Kanebo USA. Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, Akiko moved back to Brooklyn, where she lived and worked for about 35 years until she and her husband moved to Monroe Township, NJ. Akiko passed away aon February 17, 2022.
Nagasaki Woman by Akiko Mizuta Seitelbach
- Borrow from Rutgers University Libraries
- Purchase on Amazon
Rutgers Oral History Archives
Read Akiko’s interviews with the Rutgers Oral History Archives at oralhistory.rutgers.edu.
BBC Interviews
- August 9, 1945 (Akiko speaks at 1:52)
- Post-Bombing 3 (Akiko speaks at 1:16)
- August 14, 1945 (Akiko speaks at 0:40)
Sponsors
This exhibition is co-sponsored by the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Asian Languages and Cultures and the East Asian Library.
