Kathleen Burkinshaw and The Last Cherry Blossom

Hapa Mag - February 12, 2020

By Sam Tanabe

“The enemy is not so different from ourselves.” This is one of the many truths Kathleen Burkinshaw emphasizes in her book, The Last Cherry Blossom. The story offers insight into the Japanese culture, mindset, and daily life during World War II, before the bomb was dropped. It’s through the main character’s 12-year-old eyes that we witness the devastation and horror that befalls Hiroshima. Her name is Yuriko, and she is used to the sirens and air-raid drills, but things start to feel more real when the neighbors who left to fight stop coming home. This historical re-creation is especially captivating because it’s based on Burkinshaw’s mother’s firsthand experience as a hibakusha (Hiroshima survivor).

Were you familiar with the term “Hapa” growing up, or were you referred to as hāfu or mixed?

My mom was from Hiroshima, Japan, and my dad was a white American. They met while he was in the Air Force stationed near Tokyo in 1958 and married at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo in 1959. I hadn’t heard of Hapa growing up. I had heard hāfu from my mom. But being one of the few Asian kids in elementary school, there were other words used that were not as kind.

Was your mother open about sharing her life story with you as a child or did you learn more once you were older?

Well I didn’t find out that my mom was born in Hiroshima until I was 11. She told people she was from Tokyo– including me. That particular August when she had awful nightmares, I remembered that she had them around the same time the year before. I kept asking her about it, and she finally told me she was actually born in Hiroshima but lost her home and family to the atomic bomb on August 6th. She wouldn’t say any more. It was still too painful for her to discuss, and she didn’t want me to tell anyone about it either.

Who initiated the conversations regarding that time in her life? Did you have to ask?

When I was 30, I had been very ill and hospitalized for over a month. I needed help taking care of myself and my daughter (who was 4 at the time) while my husband worked during the day. So, my parents would come to the house during the week. My mom told me happy, fun stories of her childhood and then she slowly began to tell me what happened on August 6th and afterwards. She later told me that she decided to share her painful memories of the atomic bombing after I had been diagnosed with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (a neurological chronic, progressive pain disease that affects the immune and sympathetic nervous system). I was depressed because my daily life changed drastically and she wanted to inspire me by showing that no matter how difficult or hopeless life may seem, I would have the strength to make it through. She almost committed suicide a year after the bombing, since she lost everyone that mattered to her but decided against it because she remembered the stories her Papa told her of the strength of her samurai ancestors. She was so glad that she didn’t kill herself because she now had me and my daughter to love. She reminded me that the same blood flows through my veins as well.

As a Japanese American, I’ve heard many stories from family and friends about WWII and the Japanese American internment... but not much from the perspective of the Japanese nationals, especially those not fighting in the war. What is so valuable about hearing The Last Cherry Blossom from Yuriko’s perspective?

There wasn’t anything really written about the culture, the mindset of the people living their daily lives in Japan during the war. That’s the reason why I started TLCB six months before the bomb dropped. I wanted readers to see an ordinary 12-year-old dealing with family issues, school issues, propaganda from their own government, and fears that the war brought to them every day. I wanted to show the horror of the atomic bombing as my 12-year-old mother witnessed on August 6th. By bringing it all together in my novel, readers can hopefully understand that there were children, like my mom, and their loved ones, like her Papa, under those now famous mushroom clouds. It truly touches my heart the way my mom’s story has resonated with American audiences.

What are some reactions you’ve received from students after reading TLCB in schools and sharing your mother’s story with them?

Many students will comment that they really didn’t realize the kind of damage that the atomic bomb had done. They also weren’t aware how the Japanese people were also trying to deal with the daily sacrifices similar to the Allied citizens as a result of their countries at war. They are always so grateful that my mom would share her story. It also touches me when they tell me that through the words in TLCB, they could truly feel for what she had lived through, and then give me a hug. Of course, the other comment that means a lot to me is that they have changed the way they view the use of nuclear weapons. They understand that simply by dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki didn’t end the war tying it with a nice tidy bow– as the two paragraphs in the textbooks imply.

Did you have any trepidation about becoming such a strong advocate for this story as a mixed-race Japanese American?

Yes, at times I did. When my mom first came to the U.S. in 1959, she experienced a lot of prejudice and racial slurs. My mom had not expected that. So, she decided that she wouldn’t talk about what happened to her family. My mother “Americanized” our home. She didn’t teach me Japanese. Although, she did sing Japanese songs to me and told me Japanese fairy tales. Because there were not many Asians in the schools or where I lived (and no Japanese people at all), it really took me years to realize that I could even embrace my Japanese culture, without it taking away from the American side of me. So, by the time I began writing I knew I would not need to write it through a white American lens or a Japanese lens. I could write it through the lens of a 12-year-old little girl.

You recently spoke at the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs Education session for high school teachers in NYC to discuss your mom’s story and your book. What was that like?

Surreal and magical. It truly touched me deeply to know that these teachers would give up their precious free time, because they wanted to find ways to add nuclear disarmament to their class curriculum. The fact that I could honor my mom and other atomic bomb victims at the United Nations is beyond descriptive words for me. It will be a memory that I’ll keep in my heart forever.

What do you hope for adults and students alike to take away from The Last Cherry Blossom?

It will be 75 years since the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and sentences like “totally destroying another country” tend to be used as if foreign policy. People need to know that the bomb dropped on Hiroshima had the strength of 15,000 tons of TNT. The largest nuclear warhead in the U.S. arsenal has the strength of 1.2 million tons of TNT. Time passes, technology changes, but the need for human connection through emotions is timeless. Unless we start to recognize that connection we have as human beings, then we are at risk of repeating the same deadly mistakes. For the statistics and policies for nuclear disarmament (which are extremely important) to really matter to future and present voters, they need to hear about what happened to the people. We need to remember, not for blame– my mother always said wars are hellish for both sides– but so that NO family ever has to go through that again.

My mother was the bravest person I will ever know. I’m honored that she entrusted me with her story. So, I’ll continue to tell her story and discuss TLCB with students/readers, so that there will be NO more Hiroshimas and NO more Nagasakis.

You can find Kathleen online at www.kathleenburkinshaw.com and blogging at https.www.kathleenburkinshaw.wordpress.com.

Twitter: @klburkinshaw1

Instagram: @kathleenburkinshaw 

Facebook: @authorkathleenburkinshaw