Want to experience the calm and quiet of Shofuso while it’s closed off to regular visitors?
Join our special members-only admission hours to Shofuso on Thursday, May 1! Meet other JASGP members, admire seasonal decorations, and enjoy light refreshments including catering by Sushi Awarsei, and tea.
This month will feature a talk by Author John McCabe about his book, “Reiko and the Visitor.” The book follows the journey of a young American Army recruit, Joe, who had been unknowingly exposed to the ravages of atomic bomb detonations at ground zero in the Nevada desert. He meets a Japanese woman, Reiko, who survived the terror of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Learning of how she has suffered from this exposure, he recognizes the bond of their shared experience. He is emboldened by Reiko to discover the truth of the madness of nuclear detonation and to expose the uncomfortable and horrible danger of nuclear threats and its everlasting toll on humanity.
May is AAPI Heritage Month, and marks the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – as well as the end of World War II. And in December of 2024, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Japanese Organization Nihon Hidankyo (the shortened title for the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations) for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.
Registration is required to secure a spot. Not a member? Join now to register and attend Members Only Nights!
Members Only Nights are free with JASGP membership and members may bring guests for $5 per person.
JASGP Members at Guardian level ($150 annual) and above can bring guests for free.
About the Author
John A McCabe, a lifelong writer in all genres, is an active member of the Writers Guild at the Pearl S. Buck Writing Center. His novel, Reiko and the Visitor (previously titled The Girl In Japan – A Young Soldier’s Story), centers on his studies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined with his own experiences.
John has also authored several short story collections. “Tracks Through Our Lives – Stories Told on Philly EL Trains,” first published in 2019 by The Pearl S. Buck Writing Center Press for international distribution, tells stories and tales of remarkable friendships formed in the neighborhoods of Philadelphia. The Second Edition is now released under the same title (ISBN 9798301272820).
“John, you’re a true prose poet with a genuine eye for the crucial and vital details in life that most of humanity is forever blind to until a talent like yours shows us the way. Thanks for allowing me to see so much.”
~ Marc Lapadula, Senior Lecturer, Yale University
John was published by the National Society of Collegiate Scholars 2010 as a University of Pennsylvania Chapter participant with The Wedding Guests. His works appear in PSB Literary Journals. He has also published poetry.
John is often a speaker at both literary and non-literary events. At the West Virginia University Gateway Conference honoring the legacy of Pearl S. Buck, he examined Buck’s 1959 novel, Command The Morning – her historic fiction exposé of the Manhattan Project. John presented at the 2019 National Association of Atomic Veterans 40th annual convention in Dayton Ohio.
Recently he was selected by the Bucks Book Fest and spoke at Etown College on an Asian Studies Presentation. He had a “Meet the Author event at the Philadelphia Ryers Library Museum.
John was featured in the article, “The Lasting Horror of Nuclear Testing,” in the March/April 2024 edition of DAV (Disabled American Veterans) Magazine.(page 10-11). The article recounts his horrific experiences as an “atomic veteran” – undergoing 40 surgeries for skin cancer, plagued with mental health issues, the unconscionable military cover-up and nuclear secrecy laws that prevented him and other atomic veterans from speaking about their experiences until these laws were repealed in 1996 and the difficulties, including years-long delays, faced in securing VA benefits.
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