Staff writer
FUCHU, Hiroshima Pref. -- For Hitoshi Kai, Marcel Junod is not only a medical doctor who saved the lives of tens of thousands of atomic-bomb survivors in Hiroshima but also the person who changed his life.
Kai, a 49-year-old cram school owner, organized a group that in 1988 began providing assistance to people who suffer radiation-related illnesses caused by the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident in 1986. When the disaster contaminated some 25,000 sq. km of land and affected about 5 million people in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, Kai thought he had to do something for the people -- just like Junod did for the people of Hiroshima.