Masako's Story (Press Release) (101.79 KB)
Poetry. Kikuko (Kay) Otake was five years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, August 6, 1945. In her book Masako's Story (forthcoming from Ahadada), she offers a survivor's perspective.
Professor Kikuko (Kay) Otake was born on February 22, 1940 in Osaka, Japan. She earned her B.A. from Tsuda College of Tokyo, Japan in 1962 in English Literature. In August of 1968, she came to the US and in September 1987 earned her M.A. in Education from California State University in Los Angeles.
Professor Otake is an award-winning poet who regularly publishes tanka and haiku.
What Others Say About Masako's Story
In addition, prose read as poetry creates objectivity. We rise above the transient and can view something like the eternal. Petty political concerns are dwarfed by the towering certainties of the actual. We are endistanced and consequently have a wider view, one that — however paradoxically — preserves the emotion since we must move closer in order to understand, to feel, to remember . . . Each year pushes the reality of the destruction of Hiroshima further into the past, further away from all of us. At the same time, anyone who fails to learn from history is doomed to repeat it. With the anniversary of the event upon us, here is a book to remember it by.
—Donald Richie, The Japan Times Online
"I found it quite compelling and read it all the way through. I like the layout very much. I think the poetic treatment adds to the weight of each phrase."
—Steven L. Leeper, Chairman of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation
"Masako's Story reads like poetry. I was struck by the honesty and beauty of the writing."
—Steven Okazaki, Academy Award-winning film director of The Mushroom Club and White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
