Under the Hiroshima Cloud

At precisely 8:16 am on August 6, 1945, a cataclysmic event unfolded 587 meters above the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The detonation of Little Boy, the atomic bomb, unleashed an inferno that instantaneously enveloped the city in a monstrous, impenetrable mushroom cloud. Amidst the chaos and terror, Yoshita Matsushige, a local newspaper photographer, emerged from the wreckage with his camera. The scenes that unfolded before him were so horrific that he found himself paralyzed by fear, repeatedly abandoning his attempt to capture the devastation.

It wasn't until around 11:15 am, a mere three hours after the explosion, that Matsushige finally managed to take his first photograph at Miyuki Bridge, a scant two kilometers from the hypocenter. In total, he would capture five images of a city transformed into a ghostly wasteland. These photographs, taken on a day when no film survived, have become invaluable historical artifacts.

Seventy years later, a team of researchers embarked on a mission to find the survivors depicted in Matsushige's haunting images. They located two central figures and twenty-five witnesses, their lives forever marked by the tragedy. Many of these individuals had never spoken publicly about their experiences, burdened by the overwhelming guilt of surviving when over 140,000 others perished.

Now, after decades of silence, Tsuboi, Kochi, and the other survivors are ready to share their stories. Their testimonies offer a harrowing glimpse into the immediate aftermath of the atomic bombing, a moment in time etched into the collective memory of humanity. By breaking their silence, they hope to illuminate the horrors of that fateful Monday morning and ensure that the world never forgets the catastrophic consequences of nuclear warfare.

Under the shadow of the mushroom cloud, their voices become a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit and a solemn reminder of the imperative to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again.