Yoko Moriwaki

Yoko Moriwaki (森脇 瑤子, Moriwaki Yōko; June 1932 – 6 August 1945) was a thirteen-year-old Japanese schoolgirl who lived in Hiroshima during World War II.[1] Her diary, a record of wartime Japan before the bombing of Hiroshima, was published in Japan in 1996. It was published by HarperCollins in English in 2013 as Yoko's Diary.[2]

Yoko Moriwaki
BornJune 1932
Hiroshima, Japan
Died6 August 1945 (aged 13)
Hiroshima, Japan
OccupationDiarist
LanguageJapanese

She lived in Hiroshima during World War II and died during the atomic bombing of the city by the United States. Her brother, Koji Hosokawa, who survived the attack on Hiroshima, made her diary available for publication.[2]

Moriwaki started keeping her diary as an assignment at her school, the Hiroshima Prefectural Girls' HS #1. In addition to chronicling her daily life, it kept a record of wartime Japan, covering topics from what classes she was taking to sightings of war planes flying overhead.[1] The diary starts on 6 April 1945, shortly before she started school, and the last entry is from 5 August 1945, the day before the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.[3]

Moriwaki has been compared by North Americans and Europeans to fellow World War II diarist Anne Frank, known for her record of being Jewish in the Netherlands during the War. Like Moriwaki, Frank died during the course of the war.[3]

References

  1. Liebowitz, Adam (7 August 2004). "Before the bomb: A young girl's diary". Asia Times Online. Archived from the original on 9 August 2004. Retrieved 22 September 2015.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. "Diary of 13-year-old A-bombing victim". Hiroshima Peace Media Center. 4 July 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  3. Irvine, Christine M. (3 September 2014). "Yoko's Diary". Kidsreads. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2015.


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