Hiroshima and Nagasaki 80 years later – an anniversary we can’t forget
‘I didn’t hear any sound. The world around me turned bright white. Immediately after that, the blast came.’
These are the words of Yoshito Matsushige, who was 32 and living in Hiroshima, Japan, in August 1945. He was at home, nearly two miles away from the blast centre, when the first atomic bomb detonated at 8.14 am.
The clear blue skies on that morning suddenly turned a sickly shade of purple and grey after the bomb was dropped, marking a dangerous new time in human history: the nuclear age.
Days later, a second would explode in Nagasaki, 250 miles south. Warning leaflets had been dropped on both cities before the detonation, but were widely confiscated by authorities, leaving locals widely unaware of the horrors which awaited them.
It’s been 80 years since the world changed. The few remaining survivors of the blasts in Japan are entering the twilight of their lives and telling their testimonies to ensure the horrors which they witnessed never repeat themselves.
Yoshito, who died aged 92 in 2005, struggled with his emotions to capture the only known photographs of the aftermath of Hiroshima.
But eight decades after the bombs went off, talks of potential nuclear attacks are still dominating news headlines.
‘Average citizens are the primary victims of war, always,’ Nagasaki survivor Takato Michishita told TIME.
‘Dear young people who have never experienced the horrors of war – I fear that some of you may be taking this hard-earned peace for granted.’
Hiroshima: August 6, 1945. 8:14 am
‘I had finished breakfast and was getting ready to go to the newspaper when it happened. There was a flash from the indoor wires as if lightning had struck. I didn’t hear any sound. The world around me turned bright white. Immediately after that, the blast came.’
Yoshito said: ‘I was bare from the waist up, and the blast was so intense, it felt like hundreds of needles were stabbing me all at once. I pulled my camera and the clothes issued by the military headquarters out from under the mound of debris, and I got dressed.’
He wandered towards the Miyuki bridge, where many victims, mostly junior high girls from nearby schools, had gathered after being told to evacuate buildings.
Why did the Americans bomb Hiroshima?
Towards the end of the Second World War, the United States was desperate to end the conflict by whatever means necessary.
Their solution was to drop two nuclear bombs, never before used in human history, on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
Both cities were vital points for military and industrial reasons – striking them would bring Japan to its knees, Americans hoped, forcing it to surrender and end the war.
The bombs did end the war, but their use has been questioned ever since. Was it necessary to kill that many people and use a weapon of mass destruction?
He added: ‘Having been directly exposed to the heat rays, they were covered with blisters, the size of balls, on their backs, their faces, their shoulders and their arms. The blisters were starting to burst open, and their skin hung down like rugs. Some of the children even have burns on the soles of their feet. They’d lost their shoes and run barefoot through the burning fire.’
70,000 were killed instantly in Hiroshima. By the end of the year, more than 150,000 deaths were recorded in total from radiation poisoning and injuries.
Fujio Torikoshi was just over a mile away from the blast, eating breakfast with his mum, when he heard a plane. He wandered outside to look but saw nothing.
He said: ‘Bewildered, I glanced to the northeast. I saw a black dot in the sky. Suddenly, it ‘burst’ into a ball of blinding light that filled my surroundings.
‘A gust of hot wind hit my face; I instantly closed my eyes and knelt down to the ground. As I tried to gain footing, another gust of wind lifted me up, and I hit something hard. I do not remember what happened after that.
‘When I finally came to, I was passed out in front of a bouka suisou (stone water container used to extinguish fires back then). Suddenly, I felt an intense burning sensation on my face and arms, and tried to dunk my body into the bouka suisou.
‘The water made it worse. I heard my mother’s voice in the distance. ‘Fujio! Fujio!’ I clung to her desperately as she scooped me up in her arms. ‘It burns, mama! It burns!’
Nagasaki: August 9, 1945. 11:02 am
News of the horrific attack had spread through Japan, but it wasn’t known just how bad the damage was.
There had been no air raid alarms that morning, but Shigek Matsumoto, then 11, had been hiding in a local bomb shelter with her siblings for days.
‘The sky turned bright white,’ she recalled. She was knocked off her feet, unaware of what had happened until scores of burn victims came hobbling towards the shelter.
‘Their skin had peeled off their bodies and faces and hung limply down on the ground, in ribbons. Their hair was burnt down to a few measly centimetres from the scalp,’ she recalled.
How many people were killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
As soon as the first bomb detonated in Hiroshima, 70,000 died instantly. The death toll rose to 140,000 by the end of the year.
In Nagasaki, 40,000 died instantly. Later, the toll rose to around 70,000 from those who died from injuries and radiation exposure.
In total, the nuclear bombs killed an estimated 250,000 people and left thousands of others with long-term conditions.
‘Many of the victims collapsed as soon as they reached the bomb shelter entrance, forming a massive pile of contorted bodies. The stench and heat were unbearable.’
Survivor Kayano Nagai saw the atomic bomb in Nagasaki when she was just four years old.
‘I remember the cicadas chirping. The atom bomb was the last thing that happened in the war, and no more bad things have happened since then, but I don’t have my Mummy any more.’
Nearly half of the city was destroyed. Nagasaki was, quite literally, a nuclear wasteland. Rescue and medical care were nearly impossible.
The 80th anniversary of Hiroshima
Roughly 100,000 survivors of the atomic bombings are still alive today.
‘It’s more important than ever that we listen to the remaining survivors,’ Florian Eblenkamp, advocacy officer with The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) told Metro.
‘Their message is clear: these weapons must be abolished. If we want to honour their legacy, that’s what we should focus on. We can’t continue to gamble with the fate of humanity.’
One of the forgotten details of the bombings in Japan is that of the thousands killed, 38,000 were children.
Nuclear weapons and the threats they carry are seen by most as an abstract idea – a far-fetched, last-ditch option in conflict.
Florian argues the most significant message to remember on the 80th anniversary is that these weapons are not abstract, deterrents or a political pawns.
‘These are big bombs that kill for generations and whose effects are so widespread that they don’t stop at national borders,’ he said.
What does Hiroshima look like now?
Today, the city appears to be a bustling area full of life. Aya Fujioka, a photographer, told the Guardian that children are seen dancing in the street in a carefree manner, swimmers are seen freely paddling in the city’s six rivers and people are often spotted praying as an ‘everyday gesture’.
According to the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF), radiation levels in Hiroshima are nearly indistinguishable from natural background radiation levels anywhere on earth.
As decades have passed since the attack, residents and visitors can go to the city without fear of being poisoned by any nuclear radiation.
Following the bombing, the city established the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in the city as a way to mark the city’s past. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996.
Fabio Crispim, SEO journalist at Metro, visited the city three months ago. He said: ‘Turning out of one of Hiroshima’s busiest shopping avenues into the empty and quiet Hiroshima memorial park was a striking experience, but even more so was standing up close to the Atomic Bomb Done, where hundreds died.
‘Still standing after 80 years as a stark reminder of the dangers of war, seeing the ruins and the rubble left behind led my friends and I to reflect on the loss of lives and the long-lasting impact it’s had on the world. It’s something I fear we’ve forgotten, and something I wish more could see.’
The Shadow of Hiroshima
Inside the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in the city, there is a marking on some steps of the former entrance to the Sumitomo Bank.
It is believed to be a shadow of a person who was sitting at the entrance on the morning of August 6 at the time the atomic bomb was dropped. Researchers said that the person would have died instantly, suffering severe burning.
While the victim’s identity remains unknown, it is believed the person who was sat there was a 42-year-old woman named Mitsuno Ochi.
Where do we go from here?
Nuclear threats continue even now. This week, Russia issued a warning to the world after Trump deployed nuclear submarines in the region of Russia.
After being told to ‘watch his words’ by Trump, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev shocked many when he reminded the US of Russia’s nuclear strike capabilities.
‘Remember how dangerous the fabled ‘Dead Hand’ can be,’ Medvedev wrote on Telegram, referencing Soviet-era Doomsday nuclear weapons.
In June, the UK announced it was buying a dozen F-35A warplanes – all capable of carrying nuclear weapons – from the US, following criticism from Donald Trump that Nato members are not spending enough on defence.
Other countries are continuing to build their nuclear arsenal and carry out test launches.
Last year, North Korea carried out the country’s longest ballistic missile test, with a flight time of 87 minutes, while warning its ‘enemies’ of attack.
For the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the world stopped in August 1945. But the world is advancing its nuclear programmes, using the threat of these weapons of mass destruction as pawns in political games.
Florian explained: ‘We need to reject this idea that weapons of mass destruction are necessary for a country’s defence. But look at the reality of the world: many of the countries that have nuclear weapons or are now involved in active conflict.
‘Possessing nuclear weapons doesn’t guarantee peace in your country. It’s naive to think that you can just continue possessing nuclear weapons and nothing will happen.’
Experts now say the risk of nuclear war is higher than ever, Florian says, and the world is now at a critical crossroads.
‘We have to decide: is this a stable model for international geopolitics, or is it time to face the truth and reject these weapons as too dangerous to handle by anyone?’
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