Hiroshima Maidens

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The Hiroshima Maidens (Japanese: 原爆乙女 (Genbaku Otome); lit. 'atomic bomb maidens') were a group of 25 Japanese women who were disfigured by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and subsequently went on a highly publicized journey to obtain reconstructive surgery in the United States. Originating from a support group organized by Methodist minister Kiyoshi Tanimoto, the Maidens attracted widespread media attention in Japan, with some undergoing surgeries in Tokyo and Osaka. After these surgeries failed, Tanimoto worked with the editor of The Saturday Review of Literature, Norman Cousins, to bring the Maidens to the United States for surgery. They traveled there in 1955. While in the United States, a team of surgeons at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York performed 138 operations on the Maidens while they stayed at the Pendle Hill Quaker Center for Study and Contemplation and with Quaker host families. One Maiden, Tomoko Nakabayashi, died during surgery. The Maidens returned to Japan in 1956 to mixed reception from the Japanese people. Some viewed them as tools of Cold War propaganda and cultural assimilation, while others praised them for improving Japan–United States relations. After their experience in the United States, the Maidens were portrayed in various dramatic productions and in the 1988 movie Hiroshima Maiden.