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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Stephanie Convery

In the shadow of the Hiroshima blast: the secret romance that bloomed in defiance of the white Australia policy

Jenny Hall
Jenny Hall, 68, is the daughter of Nobuko Sakuramoto, known as Cherry (pictured in the painting) who miraculously survived the attack at Hiroshima at the age of 16. Photograph: Christopher Hopkins/The Guardian

On the edge of the Seto Sea, in the Japanese city of Kure, not far from Hiroshima, there is a park bench facing towards Australia.

Set there by locals, the Koi-Niji – or “Rainbow Love” – bench commemorates an unlikely romance: between a Japanese girl who survived the first atomic bomb and an Australian man whose love for her helped change the course of his country’s history.

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