2019 Volume 101 Pages 81-94
The unreleased film The Effects of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, produced by the now defunct Nippon Eigasha, was a rush print (unedited film) which was later processed with 4K technology, with written materials (such as testimonies from A-bomb survivors) added to certain images taken from the documentary footage. In this paper, I explore the possibilities for rethinking the atomic bombing of Nagasaki (Urakami) from new areas encompassed by this film. There was an effort to make documentary “material” from non-material, and there are two examples of this. The unreleased rush print mentioned above, which differed in intent from the visual record filmed by the American military, sought to bring visual images of the bombing filmed through the eyes of those who experienced it closer to written records from the side of the hibakusha (A-bomb survivors). I also discovered weaknesses in this project. In addition, I introduce the eyewitness accounts of the critic Katō Shūichi and others who observed the effects of the bombings immediately after the war.
