Hiroshima survivor shares his story, marking Aug. 6, 1945, when the atomic bomb dropped

Today marks 81 years since the day American troops dropped the first of two nuclear bombs in Japan during World War II.

A local man who was just seven years old when he survived the Hiroshima bombing is sharing his story, as it's his mission to promote a more peaceful world.

Howard Kakita has traveled to 70 countries in his 88 years, and his first international trip was to Japan in 1940 when he was 2 years old.

His grandfather was deathly ill, so his father moved the family from East LA to his parents' house in Hiroshima.

But when his father was called back to LA for business,, he couldn't afford to bring two-year-old Howard and his older brother. He promised his parents he'd send for them as soon as he could.

"December 7, 1941, came, and they were stuck in the United States, and we were stuck in Japan," Kakita said.

While the boys were raised in Hiroshima, their parents and baby brother were sent to an internment camp in Poston, Arizona. Months turned into years.

On August 6th, 1945, Kakita and his brother heard about an enemy aircraft sighting. The curious boys climbed on the roof to get a better look, but their grandmother scolded them to get down.

"I decided to go inside the bathhouse, and that was 8:15 in the morning when a bomb went off," Kakita said.

The atomic bomb dropped by US troops instantly vaporized 70,000 people, despite only being eight-tenths of a mile from the bomb's epicenter. Kukita was crushed but protected by the bathhouse.

His brother and grandparents were injured, but only superficially. Other survivors weren't so lucky.

"Some of the burns are so severe that the skin was just hanging," Kukita said.

Three days later, the U.S. dropped a second nuclear bomb in Nagasaki. After Japan's surrender, the Kakita's suffered from dysentery and hair loss due to radiation poisoning.

It wasn't until the following year that his parents even knew they'd survived.

It took another three years for Kakita to return to the U.S., later graduating from Marshall High, UCLA, and eventually becoming an engineer and World Traveler.

Each year, there are fewer survivors left of the atomic bombings. And that's why Kikita says he wants to continue to share his story.

He wants people to ask themselves, were there alternatives to dropping the bombs that killed a quarter million people that year?

Knowing that, then why are there 12,000 nuclear warheads in the world today?

"Every one of those bombs are many, many times more powerful than the one that we saw drop in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And I think we need to create an environment. So the next generation of young people could grow up and have the proper perspective on things to make better judgment than we have done in the past," Kakita said.