A Virtual Remembrance: 75 Years After the Atomic Bombings hosted by Nichi Bei SF

A Virtual Remembrance: 75 Years After the Atomic Bombings

Sunday, August 9, 2020 at 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM PDT

Livestreams: https://www.facebook.com/nichibei/ & https://www.nichibei.org/

Presented by:
--Nichi Bei Foundation San Francisco
--Friends of Hibakusha
--Japanese American Religious Federation of San Francisco

This commoration event is supported by the Committee of Atomic Bomb Survivors
in the U.S.A., National Japanese American Historical Society, Tsuru for Solidarity,
and the Asian American Jazz Orchestra.
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To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, the first nuclear destruction of a civilian population in the world, the Nichi Bei Foundation and Friends of Hibakusha will present
“A Virtual Remembrance: 75 Years After the Atomic Bombings” on Nagaski Day, Sunday,
Aug. 9, 2020, 4 p.m., on the Nichi Bei Foundation YouTube and Facebook channels.

The world’s first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and another on Nagasaki three days later on Aug. 9, 1945, resulted in the deaths of an estimated 214,000 people by the end of that year, including 140,000 in Hiroshima and 74,000 in Nagasaki.

“This year may mark the last major milestone many hibakusha, or atomic bomb survivors, share with the world, emphasizing their urgent calls for peace,” said Kenji G. Taguma, president of the Nichi Bei Foundation. “This event is dedicated to their lifelong struggle to persevere out of the ashes of nuclear destruction, and their commitment to teach the world about the evils of such weapons of mass devastation.”

The event will include an Interfaith Ceremony led by the Japanese American Religious Federation of San Francisco, a Litany of Water Ceremony, and short films about the atomic bombings.

Central to the event are three exclusive interviews with atomic bomb survivors, or "hibakusha". The event will also include the participation of descendants of hibakusha.

• Seiko Fujimoto, a hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor) from Hiroshima, who was only three years old when the atomic bomb took the lives of her relatives, leaving her and her one-year-old brother alone in the immediate aftermath.

• Jack Dairiki, a hibakusha from Hiroshima, who was 14 years old when a delayed train helped to save him from entering the epicenter, sparing his life.

• Rev. Nobuaki Hanaoka, a retired United Methodist minister and hibakusha from Nagasaki, who was only eight months old when the atomic bomb hit. The effects of the bomb would go on to claim the lives of three immediate family members, including his mother, and inspire a life-long commitment to speak against nuclear proliferation.

“We thought it was important to give our beloved hibakusha a voice,” said Geri Handa, of the Friends of Hibakusha. “It is our hope that their stories of painful loss and grief will help to remind the world of the urgent need for peace, particularly in these tense times.”
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FILM SCREENINGS

The event will incorporate three short films, which reflects upon the nuclear disaster from different lenses:

"Witness to Hiroshima" (2008, 16 min.), a film by Kathy Sloane.

In “Witness to Hiroshima,” Japanese citizen Keiji Tsuchiya, using 12 watercolors he painted in 2001, recounts his experiences in Hiroshima as a 17-year-old soldier, hours after the atom bomb blast. Through the use of animated still photographs and Mr. Tsuchiya's narrative, the film depicts the horrors Tsuchiya witnessed, and the aid he and others offered to the burned and dying victims they encountered. Out of such horror the film segues into the beautiful story of how and why Mr. Tsuchiya came to devote his life to preserving the life of the horseshoe crab.

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"Takashi Tanemori — The World I Want To Live In" (2016, 3:38 min.) by Jason Cordis.

“Takashi Tanemori — The World I Want to Live In” explores the 40-year struggle of Takashi Tanemori — a Hiroshima bombing survivor and Baptist preacher — to forgive Americans for the atomic bombing that flattened Hiroshima and killed tens of thousands of people, including six members of his family. The film by Jason Cordis, then a student at Salesian College Preparatory high school in Richmond, Calif., was one of 15 finalists of the White House Student Film Festival.

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The World Premiere of "Ashes of Nagasaki" (2020, 15:27) by Emiko Omori.

“Ashes of Nagasaki,” by acclaimed Bay Area filmmaker Emiko Omori — winner of the Sundance Audience Award and National Emmy for “Rabbit in the Moon” — follows Jan Chozen Bays of the Great Vow Zen Monastery in Oregon as she leads a group of Americans on a pilgrimage to Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings in 2005. The group offered some 500,000 Jizo prayer flags to honor those who perished in the atomic bombings.
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ABOUT: Nichi Bei Foundation of San Francisco

1832 Buchanan St, Ste 207, San Francisco, CA

The Nichi Bei Foundation is an educational and charitable nonprofit organization dedicated to keeping the Japanese American community connected, informed and empowered – primarily through a community newspaper (Nichi Bei Weekly) and Website (https://www.nichibei.org/) as well as educational programming.