News

by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Senior Staff Writer

In November 1967, an A-bombing documentary film that had been shot in Hiroshima and Nagasaki soon after the atomic bombings was returned from the United States to Japan, making its way back to that country for the first time in 21 years. The film, which had been confiscated by the U.S. military during its occupation of Japan, captured the attention of the nation as an “illusory A-bomb film.”

Filming had been produced by Nippon Eigasha (Japan Movie Co.) in conjunction with a field survey conducted by a special task force established by the Japan Ministry of Education’s Scientific Research Council to investigate damages resulting from the atomic bombings. Dr. Yoshio Nishina, a physicist who died in 1951, was asked to supervise the film. In Hiroshima, during the period from late September through October 1945, the film depicted the burned ruins of the city, the physical injuries of A-bomb survivors, and the effects of A-bomb radiation.

In Nagasaki, however, filming was halted by the occupation military forces. Starting in December of that year, the film crew was forced to produce a film commissioned by the United States Strategic Bombing Survey Team. The film, titled “Effects of the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki” (2 hours and 45 minutes in length), was completed in April 1946 with English narration, but both the film and the negatives from the time of filming ended up being sent to the United States.

After the occupation concluded, the Nishina Memorial Foundation, an organization aimed at honoring the achievements of Dr. Nishina as well as advances in science, called on American scientists to locate and return the documentary. Progress on the issue began to be made in May 1967. The Associated Press wire service reported on the existence of the documentary and reported that there were signs of willingness to return the documentary within the U.S. government, which to that point had been reluctant to return the film based on concerns that showing the film would negatively impact U.S.-Japan relations.

Thirteen minutes of footage deleted

Following the AP report, a committee made up of scientists, journalists, and others from Hiroshima and Nagasaki aimed at promotion of a white paper on damages incurred by the atomic bombings demanded that Japan’s national government deliver on the documentary’s return to Japan. In November of that year, following negotiations between the two governments, a copy of the film was delivered to Japan’s then Ministry of Education. According to an explanation from the Japanese government at the time, the reason the U.S. government accepted the request was its belief that the Japanese side was motivated by scientific aims rather than by anti-American sentiment.

For its part, the Ministry of Education deleted from the Japanese version of the film, which had been produced for public release, around 13 minutes of footage showing graphic images of human suffering out of “respect for the human rights of those appearing in the film.” In April 1968, when the documentary was broadcast nationwide in Japan on NHK Educational Television and screened in Hiroshima City, there were citizens who voiced their demand that the film be used to communicate the reality of the atomic bombings even amid signs of hesitation about doing so.

A-bomb survivor Kiyoshi Kikkawa said, “It is precisely the cruelty of nuclear weapons that must be shown to the public. The uncut version should be released.”

Twelve A-bomb survivors agree

In response to a call by 11 individuals, including Seiji Imahori, a professor at Hiroshima University who was involved in the white-paper campaign, and Ichiro Moritaki, chair of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo), a committee to promote the release of the entirety of the documentary film was formed in June 1968. The committee began a campaign to locate the A-bomb survivors depicted in the 22 scenes that were believed to have been deleted from the documentary and obtain their approval for their images to be released to the public. Using as clues still photographs and notes left behind by Shunkichi Kikuchi, a photographer who had accompanied the original film crew, the committee obtained approval from 12 A-bomb survivors for public release of their images by October of that year.

One of the 12 survivors was Eiichi Sakogoshi, a survivor who suffered serious head injuries and loss of hair in the bombing and died in 1985 at the age of 60. Mr. Sakogoshi made appeals to the government that, “The public should definitely be informed of the horrors of the bombings.” The committee demanded that the film be released in its entirety to serve as a “warning about nuclear war.” The government, however, did not acquiesce.

In 1970, Nippon Eiga Shinsha, the successor to the Nippon Eigasha movie company, produced a documentary titled “Hiroshima: A Document of the Atomic Bombing” (29 minutes), which included the deleted film footage. For production of the film, the company used unedited film footage that the Nippon Eigasha production staff had kept secret to evade U.S. military censorship. Production costs were covered by the Hiroshima City government and other parties, with planning and production organized by a committee composed of citizen representatives.

Nonetheless, documents and materials that had been confiscated from Japanese physicians by the United States during the occupation of Japan continued to remain in the United States. Ultimately, in 1973, many pathological specimens and medical records of victims of the atomic bombings were returned to Japan.

(Originally published on April 16, 2025)