The diary of Yoko, a 13-year-old Japanese girl who lived near Hiroshima during t
he war Ages: 8-12 1945 was a hard time to be a child in Japan. Many had seen the
ir cities destroyed by US bombers. Food, fuel and materials were in short supply
. Yet spirits remained high. In April 1945, Yoko Moriwaki started high school in
Hiroshima, excited to be a prestigious 'Kenjo' girl, and full of duty towards h
er parents, school and country. But the country was falling apart and in four mo
nths time her city would become the target for the first atomic bomb ever used a
s a weapon. In her diary, Yoko provides an account of that time - when condition
s were so poor that children as young as twelve were required to work in industr
y; when fierce battles raged in the Pacific and children like Yoko believed vict
ory was near. With additions by Yoko's relatives and fellow students, and an int
roduction by award-winning author Paul Ham, Yoko's Diary not only shows us the h
opes, beliefs and daily life of a young girl in wartime Japan, it is a touching
account of the consequences of the first nuclear bombing of a city.
