Brief history of Takashi Nagai
Born on February 3, 1908 in Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, and in 1928, he entered Nagasaki Medical College. In 1932 he graduated from the college at the top of his class, and intended to major in internal medicine, but he had to gave up because he was afraid that he would get acute otitis media and be unable to use a stethoscope. Instead, he chose radiology, his least favorite field. He safely returned from military service twice in his life:Manchurian Incident, Sino-Japanese War,was promoted to Nagasaki Medical College Assistant Professor in 1940,and became a doctor of medicine in 1944. However, in June 1945, he developed chronic myelogenous leukemia due to excessive scattered radiation exposure,and was diagnosed with "three years to live." And two months later, on August 9, he was seriously injured in the atomic bombing at Nagasaki Medical College Hospital. However, for the next two months, he worked hard to help the victims. In October of the same year, he returned to Urakami again and started to rebuild, but by the end of the following year, 1946, his condition worsened and he was forced to live a bedridden life. "I started even if I fell." Even though I was sick in bed, when I searched for the parts that still worked, I found my hands, eyes, and head. from his book "Beloved children" By the time he died at the age of 43, Takashi had written as many as 17 books, including ``The Bells of Nagasaki'' and ``Leaving these children behind'', and widely appealed for the realization of lasting peace. Takashi donated most of the income earned from his writings to the reconstruction of Nagasaki City and the reconstruction of Urakami Cathedral. In addition, in order to make the beloved land of Urakami a hill where flowers bloom again, he donated more than 1200 cherry blossom saplings and set up the library "Uchirano Honbako:Our Bookcase" to help people who lost their families and homes during the war.He gave hope and courage to the children who were lazy. In December 1949, Nagasaki City honored these achievements and gave Takashi the title of honorary citizen for the first time after the war. In 1950, Takashi received a national award for encouraging the people of Japan with his writings. At the end of April 1951, after completing the final draft of "Otome toge:Maiden Pass", his condition suddenly changed, and he passed away at 9:50 pm on May 1, 1951. It was six years after his death sentence. His funeral was held at Catholic Urakami Church on May 3rd, followed by a public funeral in Nagasaki on May 14th. He was buried with his wife Midori at the south entrance of the Sakamoto International Cemetery.