Chugoku Shimbun launches special website section on photographer Yoshito Matsushige
Aug. 6, 2024
by Yumi Kanazaki, Staff Writer
The Chugoku Shimbun has launched a special website section on August 5 dedicated to the introduction of five photographs taken by the late Yoshito Matsushige, a staff photographer for the Chugoku Shimbun who died in 2005 at the age of 92. They are the only existing photographs to record the tragedy endured by Hiroshima’s citizens on August 6, 1945, the day the U.S. military dropped an atomic bomb on the city.
Four of the photos, including the first and second taken at the west end of Miyuki Bridge (in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward), located 2.2 kilometers from the hypocenter, come with introductions of testimonies from the people who came forward after the war and identified themselves as appearing in the photos as well as others from bereaved family members. The newly established section on the website also maps the path Mr. Matsushige took at the time and the locations where the photos were taken. A section explaining the materials in English is also available.
The five photos are part of the “Visual archives of Hiroshima atomic bombing—Photographs and films in 1945,” which the Hiroshima City government and five media organizations, including the Chugoku Shimbun, are seeking to list with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s “Memory of the World” International Register. The photographic negatives have been designated important tangible cultural properties by Hiroshima City.
(Originally published on August 6, 2024)
The Chugoku Shimbun has launched a special website section on August 5 dedicated to the introduction of five photographs taken by the late Yoshito Matsushige, a staff photographer for the Chugoku Shimbun who died in 2005 at the age of 92. They are the only existing photographs to record the tragedy endured by Hiroshima’s citizens on August 6, 1945, the day the U.S. military dropped an atomic bomb on the city.
Four of the photos, including the first and second taken at the west end of Miyuki Bridge (in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward), located 2.2 kilometers from the hypocenter, come with introductions of testimonies from the people who came forward after the war and identified themselves as appearing in the photos as well as others from bereaved family members. The newly established section on the website also maps the path Mr. Matsushige took at the time and the locations where the photos were taken. A section explaining the materials in English is also available.
The five photos are part of the “Visual archives of Hiroshima atomic bombing—Photographs and films in 1945,” which the Hiroshima City government and five media organizations, including the Chugoku Shimbun, are seeking to list with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s “Memory of the World” International Register. The photographic negatives have been designated important tangible cultural properties by Hiroshima City.
(Originally published on August 6, 2024)
