[Herra Tohtori]

A 93-year-old Japanese man has become the first person to be certified as a survivor of both US atomic bombings at the end of the second world war, officials said today.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi had already been a certified "hibakusha," or radiation survivor, of the 9 August 1945 atomic bombing in Nagasaki. Now it has been confirmed that he also survived the attack on Hiroshima three days earlier.

Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a business trip on 6 August 1945 when a US B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on the city. He suffered serious burns to his upper body and spent the night in the city. He then returned to his hometown of Nagasaki...

Discuss. Does surviving two nuclear explosions offset the unluckyness of getting caught in both of them in the first place?

[Dilmah G]

Well he would be lucky for surviving two wouldn't he?

You could say being caught in them would be irrelevant since he survived.

[Enigmatic Entity]

Well, since he's still alive today, and in what you would call reasonably good health (I think), then yes, he's lucky. If he was so disabled and deformed that he might as well have been dead, then no, he wouldn't be lucky.

[iamzack]

I would have to say bad luck to experience the horror of both and then have to live with that.

Being alive isn't automatically a good thing.

[Pred the Penguin]

True that... I'm not sure most of us would want to live after seeing an atomic/nuclear bomb dropped on a city.

[Nuke]

how could you miss! you had nukes!

[karajorma]

I'd say he was lucky to have the most awesome story to tell at parties.

[Mobius]

As far as I know a hibakusha usually never had a privileged life(hibakusha ---> reference to the past the Japanese want to forget) is worth some attention. That guy is 93 now and he would have never made it without the support of relatives and friends. He's lucky, without any doubt.

[Mika]

If nothing else, that would be pretty awesome bar story when somebody comes to talk to you about how his life sucks!

Pretty good luck getting out alive, pretty bad luck getting out alive I suppose. "Why me?" for the rest of the life might not be so nice thought.

Mika

[Mefustae]

Since he's hibakusha, I doubt you could call him lucky. He would have lived most of his life with his standing almost as low as the indigenous Japanese. Not a good thing, being a pariah in your own home.

[watsisname]

I would have to say bad luck to experience the horror of both and then have to live with that.

Being alive isn't automatically a good thing.

I have to agree on that regard.  I can't imagine how I could cope with having my town and nearly everyone in it... my friends, family, etc get incinerated and live through the ordeal.  Let alone happen twice in 3 days. o_O

[Rodo]

I would say we are lucky no more crazy people has gotten close enought to that red and big button.

should we live in fear of our own potential and just trust that the ultimate outcome will always be the right one?

I got to stop listening to journey while writing this kind of stuff.

[Zacam]

I can think of so many things to say, but it just does not want to come out.