Barefoot Gen

Hiroshima City, Hiroshima, Japan. 6 August 1945. The city is on fire, its structures flattened, its citizens vaporised. Gen Nakaoka has just witnessed the deaths of his father, sister, and younger brother as they burned alive, trapped under the ruins of their house. Gen's mother survived and gave birth to a new baby girl, but even the newborn is in danger: Mrs. Nakaoka is starving and unable to produce milk for her baby. It is up to Gen to find rice to feed to his mother. But all around him is death, wrought by the Americans' atomic bomb. Corpses litter the ground, and barely-alive bomb victims with half-melted skin wander the ruins of their city, crying out for water to soothe their scorched throats. In this new hell, how can Gen possibly find hope, let alone a bowl of rice…? A now-classic manga, Hadashi no Gen (Barefoot Gen) is based on author Keiji Nakazawa’s own experiences as a young boy in Hiroshima at the end of World War II. Gen's tale is a deep, harrowing read about the effects of war on a civilian population and what it takes to survive in a world on fire. This edition uses a translation by Project Gen, a team of volunteers formed in the 1970s with the mission of providing a complete English translation of Hadashi no Gen so that a wider audience around the world could read its message.

Japan, August 1945. Young Gen Nakaoka and his mother, Kimie, along with baby Tomoko, have left behind the desolation that only days earlier had been the beautiful city of Hiroshima. Now in the nearby village of Eba, the three weary survivors are taken in to live in the storehouse of Kimie's childhood friend Kiyo, after initially being forced out by Kiyo's mother-in-law. However, they are still expected to pay rent, so Gen must search for work to support his family. He finds it in the Yoshida household, whose uncle, a man named Seiji, had been in the city when the bomb hit and now needs someone to take care of him, since the Yoshidas are too afraid to go near Seiji themselves. Initially hostile towards Gen, Seiji warms up to the boy when he shows him compassion that no one had given him since the blast. And soon, Ryuta and his gang of orphans reappear after getting caught stealing food. Gen gets his little brother's doppelganger out of trouble and appeals to his mother to take Ryuta in. But Kiyo's mother-in-law will have none of it…. A now-classic manga, Hadashi no Gen (Barefoot Gen) is based on author Keiji Nakazawa’s own experiences as a young boy in Hiroshima at the end of World War II. Gen's tale is a deep, harrowing read about the effects of war on a civilian population and what it takes to survive in a world on fire. This edition uses a translation by Project Gen, a team of volunteers formed in the 1970s with the mission of providing a complete English translation of Hadashi no Gen so that a wider audience around the world could read its message.

Hiroshima City, Hiroshima, Japan. Spring 1945. Six-year-old Gen Nakaoka lives with his father—who is adamantly opposed to the war that is claiming the lives of so many of his fellow countrymen—his mother, his sister Eiko, and his younger brother Shinji; his two older brothers, Akira and Koji, have evacuated to the country and gone to work in the munitions factories, respectively. As Gen's father becomes increasingly outspoken against the war, he is labeled as a traitor to the Empire along with Gen and the rest of his family. All around them, friends and neighbors, teachers and classmates, turn against the Nakaoka family. The war effort has already made food scarce, but surviving in a poor household among few friends and hundreds of enemies proves to be an ordeal like none that the generally playful Gen has faced before. His life is being turned inside out, but neither Gen nor any of the people in Hiroshima could imagine the horror that the coming August will bring… A now-classic manga, Hadashi no Gen (Barefoot Gen) is based on author Keiji Nakazawa’s own experiences as a young boy in Hiroshima at the end of World War II. Gen's tale is a deep, harrowing read about the effects of war on a civilian population and what it takes to survive in a world on fire. This edition uses a translation by Project Gen, a team of volunteers formed in the 1970s with the mission of providing a complete English translation of Hadashi no Gen so that a wider audience around the world could read its message.

Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, 1945-1947. The war is over, but for the survivors of the atomic blast, the suffering has only begun. When the Emperor surrenders unconditionally, the Americans roll into Japan and strip the local authorities of all power, creating a power vacuum that is swiftly filled by the underbelly of Japanese society. Food is scarce, and prices are wildly inflated. Reunited once more but evicted from Kiyo’s storehouse, the Nakaoka family is barely holding onto life; malnutrition lays its cold, painful hands on their bodies. Gen and Ryuta must resort to drastic measures in order to procure enough food to keep their family alive. As the months go by, Gen returns to a broken schoolhouse, where both new friends and new enemies await him. But when tragedy strikes, and baby Tomoko is kidnapped, Gen finds himself pushed to a breaking point. However, the Nakaokas could never prepare themselves for the ultimate tragedy that is to come… A now-classic manga, Hadashi no Gen (Barefoot Gen) is based on author Keiji Nakazawa’s own experiences as a young boy in Hiroshima at the end of World War II. Gen's tale is a deep, harrowing read about the effects of war on a civilian population and what it takes to survive in a world on fire. This edition uses a translation by Project Gen, a team of volunteers formed in the 1970s with the mission of providing a complete English translation of Hadashi no Gen so that a wider audience around the world could read its message.