Photo/Illutration The “Daigo Fukuryu Maru” (Lucky Dragon No. 5) at the Daigo Fukuryu Maru Exhibition Hall in Yumenoshima, Tokyo (Hiroyuki Yanaginuma)

How did the word “bikini” come to denote a two-piece swimsuit?

On July 1, 1946, almost one year after Japan’s defeat in World War II, the United States started conducting nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

Four days later, a swimsuit contest was held in Paris, introducing the latest designs that couldn’t get any skimpier.

A French fashion designer, whose attention at the time was focused on the news from the Pacific, decided to call his new creation the bikini because he keenly sensed “how fascinated people around the world were (by the U.S. nuclear testing),” according to “The Untold History of the United States,” co-authored by film director Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick.

The designer’s lack of sensitivity appalls me.

Back then, however, Europeans and Americans held positive images of nuclear bombs, such as about their novelty and strength.

A U.S. newspaper ran a photo of a cake shaped like a mushroom cloud. And there were snacks and sweets that bore nuclear-related names.

Nuclear tests continued in the Marshall Islands.

On March 1, 1954--exactly 70 years ago--the Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb was detonated.

The flippancy of the bomb’s name greatly offends me.

Many islanders suffered from the nuclear fallout. In fact, radiation damage has lingered to this day.

This reminds me anew that Japan is not the only country that has experienced nuclear damage.

How horrific nuclear bombs are. To also share our thoughts toward abolition of nuclear weapons widely throughout the world, we must not forget the tragic history that occurred on the distant Pacific islands.

The Daigo Fukuryu Maru (Lucky Dragon No. 5), the Japanese tuna boat that was exposed to nuclear fallout from the Castle Bravo test, is still on display on Yumenoshima (literally, dream island), an artificial island built in Tokyo Bay.

And posted around the vessel’s white hull are 12 photographs of stern-eyed “global hibakusha.”

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 1

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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