23 February 2005

Honoring the life and mourning the death of Satomi Oba

In late February, we received word that Satomi Oba, our beloved colleague and friend in Hiroshima, had gone into a coma and died suddenly from a cerebral hemorrhage. Her death at the young age of 54 is a deep shock and sorrow, shared by many around the world. We are diminished by her absence, but so deeply grateful for her presence among us. Japan has the custom of honoring people as National Treasures. Satomi was an International Treasure. We remember and honor her strong spirit and ceaseless work to get rid of nuclear weapons, nuclear power and weapons in space. We remember her love for the world, and her appreciation of its beauty.

Satomi was a friend of the Atomic Mirror since 1994, when she hosted Pamela in Hiroshima and helped prepare for the Atomic Mirror Pilgrimage in 1995. “Satomi took me into her home/office and took exquisite care of me, introducing me to Hiroshima and to nuclear reality from the Japanese point of view.” In 1996, on the Atomic Mirror Pilgrimage around Britain, we brought a gift from Satomi to executives of the Sellafield Nuclear Reprocessing plant on the Irish Sea: a video of people in Aomori Prefecture Japan protesting the arrival of ships from Sellafield at the Rokkasho Reprocessing there. In May 2002, she came down to California’s central coast for her birthday, and we made a day trip to Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Station in San Luis Obispo and to Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County. She wanted to see how the “twin dragons” of nuclear power and weapons were linked here in California. On that visit, she signed the house guest book with a lovely multicolored drawing of the sea, the sky, islands and flowers and the message: "Look at the sky. That belongs to us all."

In 2004, we invited her to become the Atomic Mirror's Hiroshima representative. She gracefully agreed. It was our small way to acknowledge our sisterhood with her across the planet, and to thank her for keeping us encouraged and updated about Japanese nuclear power ambitions and realities. Mostly, we wanted to honor her willingness to translate into Japanese just about anything we produced. She translated all of the Abolition 2000 Report Cards and distributed them throughout Japan.

We have a photo of her, standing in front of the peace flame in Hiroshima—the one that was lit from the atomic fires of August 6, 1945 and that will only be extinguished when the last nuclear weapon is gone from the earth. Satomi devoted her life to extinguishing that flame, and its twin—the one that keeps nuclear power alive in our world.

We continue her work. She was the friend of future generations, and our friend. Perhaps she has gone ahead of us to help us from the other side. Her gift to us on this side has been incalculable.

Satomi was part of the Rainbow Serpent Network (of women throughout Asia and the Pacific working to end nuclear weapons and power) and the director of Plutonium Action, Hiroshima. She was one of the most active and enthusiastic members of the No Nukes Asia Forum, an active member of the Abolition 2000 Global Council, board member of the Global Network for Peace in Space, and the Hiroshima correspondent of WISE International and the Atomic Mirror.