In the coming days, Japan will hold official ceremonies to mark the anniversary of the dropping of US bombs at the end of World War II. The Japanese Church, reiterating its opposition to nuclear rearmament, is promoting the film ‘Nagasaki: in the shadow of the flash’, which tells the story of a group of nurses who helped the victims.

Tokyo (AsiaNews) - Over 120 countries will participate tomorrow in the ceremony commemorating the US bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, which ended World War II, including Western nations that possess nuclear weapons.

In Nagasaki, which was bombed three days later, local officials are expecting over a hundred international delegations, while the Diet, the Japanese Parliament, is discussing the speech that Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba may give.

Since 2015, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, of the Liberal Democratic Party, the same party as Ishiba, unlike some of his predecessors, has avoided talking about “aggression” and “colonial rule”, putting an end to what has been called “apology diplomacy”.

However, Japan has decided to mark the 80th anniversary of the tragedy with a film, released in recent days, about a group of nurses who helped the victims of Nagasaki.

The film, entitled “Nagasaki: In the Shadow of the Flash”, was made by Jumpei Matsumoto, 40, a film director and grandson of a hibakusha, an atomic bomb survivor.

The Japanese Bishops' Conference is also promoting the film in order to remember a tragedy that fewer and fewer survivors are able to recount due to their advanced age.

‘I hope the film will provide an opportunity for reflection,’ Matsumoto told Kyodo News. ‘Especially now, when the threat of nuclear weapons and war seems to be growing again, I hope that people will reconsider these issues through the experiences of the people of Nagasaki.’

It is estimated that between August and December 1945, 210,000 people died as a result of the bombings, while many survivors suffered the effects of radiation.

In an important statement published in June, the bishops of Japan had already expressed their opposition to the nuclear arms race, citing the suffering caused by the war and also proposing a courageous reflection on the responsibilities of the Catholic Church before and during the world conflict, when, due to ‘patriotism’, words of peace were avoided.

To make the film, Matsumoto, a Christian believer, drew on a collection of first-hand accounts compiled by the Nagasaki branch of the Japanese Red Cross in 1980.

grandfather, Tokusaburo, found it difficult to talk about his experience, probably because it was too painful, said the director, who, however, came across an archive of memoirs that also told the story of his ancestor.

“The memoirs contained things I had never heard before,” Matsumoto said. ‘I couldn't help thinking about my grandfather while shooting this film. I feel like I'm continuing something that perhaps he would have wanted to do,’ he added.

The film also features 95-year-old Fujie Yamashita, who in 1945 had just enrolled in a training course to become a nurse. She too was sent to Nagasaki to help the victims of the bombing.

‘I thought her mere presence could say a lot. Even though it was just a cameo, having her in the film was extremely important to me,’ commented Matsumoto, who also discussed his relationship with faith: "I can't separate my films from wondering what it means to love, or from feeling my own sinfulness. Even in that sinfulness, I want to follow the teachings of Jesus and love people. I think this feeling is very present in the film."

On 9 August, a bell from Urakami Cathedral, which was destroyed during the bombing and rebuilt thanks to donations from American Catholics, will ring again for the first time.

As the Archbishop of Nagasaki, Monsignor Peter Michiaki Nakamura, told Agenzia Fides, the tolling will begin at 11.04 a.m., an event that is intended to be "a reminder of the victims and a call for peace.

The fact that the bell destroyed by an atomic bomb manufactured and dropped by the United States was rebuilt and donated by American citizens and welcomed by the church in Urakami is a concrete sign of forgiveness, reconciliation and hope."

This gesture takes on even greater significance during the Jubilee Year, the prelate recalled, joining the call for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

 

 

 

• Japan
• Catholic Church
• atomic bomb
• Hiroshima
• Nagasaki
• film
• nuclear holocaust