FEATURE: Film sheds light on unsung nurse heroes of Nagasaki A-bombing

Kyodo News

5 days ago

TOKYO - In the immediate aftermath of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japanese medical teams put aside their own safety to aid in relief efforts and tend to the dying and horribly injured in a city turned to ash.
As the 80th anniversary of the bombing approaches, the film "Nagasaki: In the Shadow of the Flash," directed by third-generation atomic bomb survivor Jumpei Matsumoto, seeks to highlight stories of unsung Japanese Red Cross nurses.
The film follows three young nursing students who return home to Nagasaki from Osaka and briefly enjoy peaceful days with family and friends before their world is shattered by the U.S. "Fat Man" atomic bomb on August 9, 1945.
Amid the ruins, the students attempt to treat the injured using limited medical supplies and makeshift clinics, confronting the harsh reality of losing far more than they can save.
An estimated 74,000 people were killed by the Nagasaki bombing by the end of 1945. Many others suffered from radiation-related illnesses for decades.
"I hope the film provides an opportunity for reflection," said Matsumoto, whose late grandfather was a "hibakusha," or atomic bomb survivor. "Especially now, when the threat of nuclear weapons and war seems to be rising again, and that people can reconsider these issues through the experiences of the people of Nagasaki."
Matsumoto said that while his grandfather was active in peace organizations, he never spoke to his grandchildren about his experience, likely because it was too painful.
"I couldn't help but think of my grandfather as I made this film. I feel like I'm continuing something he might have wanted to do himself," said Matsumoto, 40.
The film draws inspiration from a collection of firsthand accounts by nurses compiled by the Nagasaki branch of the Japan Red Cross Society in 1980.
The last known surviving contributor, 95-year-old Fujie Yamashita, appears briefly in the film. Matsumoto described working with her as "precious."
"I felt that her presence alone could speak volumes. Even if it was just a cameo, having her appear in the film was extremely important to me," he said.
Yamashita enrolled in a Japanese Red Cross training school for relief nurses in Osaka at age 15, but returned home to Nagasaki in July after the air raids. In the aftermath of the bombing, she was dispatched to temporary relief stations in the city, where she witnessed countless agonizing deaths.
"I appeal to the people of the world to ensure that the suffering caused by the atomic bomb is never witnessed again," she wrote in her personal account.
Michiko Suzuki, a project researcher at the University of Tokyo focusing on Japanese Red Cross activities in prewar and early postwar periods, said she was moved that, after 80 years, a film is finally shedding light on the "invisible" yet essential work of wartime humanitarian aid.
"In war, the spotlight is always on soldiers and civilian victims. Red Cross nurses, by contrast, worked behind the scenes to care for them because it was considered professional to remain in the shadows," Suzuki said.
In her research, Suzuki found that Japanese Red Cross workers made repeated attempts at providing humanitarian aid at Allied prisoner-of-war camps in Nagasaki before the bombing. She said they exemplified humanitarianism in the way they treated the injured, regardless of whether they were friend or foe.
The Red Cross's aid did not stop with the end of the war. Hospitals run by the organization for atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, established in 1956 and 1958, respectively, have treated a cumulative 7.9 million outpatients and 6.3 million inpatients as of fiscal 2024.
The film also highlights Nagasaki's long history of Christianity and Matsumoto's own Catholic upbringing through one of the main characters, Misao.
"Misao's willingness to sacrifice herself to help others and her readiness to serve in the Catholic sense is an attitude I deeply admire. Misao represents the type of person I look up to," said Matsumoto.
At the time of the bombing, two priests were hearing the confessions of several dozen parishioners at Urakami Cathedral, located around 500 meters from the hypocenter. All perished under the rubble.
It is believed that around 10,000 Catholics, most of whom lived in the Urakami district, were killed by the atomic bomb.
"I've shown the film to some Americans, and many didn't know the bomb exploded directly above a church -- or that so many Christians died. They watched the film with great interest," said Matsumoto, who wants to release the film in the United States.
Matsumoto hopes that, for a foreign audience, the film will offer a glimpse of what life was like in the days following the bombing and motivate them to visit Hiroshima or Nagasaki or, at least, learn more online.
"There have only been two instances of nuclear weapons being used. By telling a more human story in this film, I want to convey the importance of ensuring that Nagasaki is the last place to ever suffer such an attack."
"Nagasaki: In the Shadow of the Flash" is showing now in Nagasaki and will open in cinemas across the rest of Japan on Aug. 1.