Educational Media Reviews Online

This documentary is a powerful investigation of the aftermath of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki August 9, 1945 which killed 70,000 Japanese immediately and caused another 100,000 fatalities. It tells the story of two Japanese survivors and one U.S. Marine, who was among the first American occupiers of Nagasaki.

The first of the survivors was a young man who spent 21 bedridden months recovering from burns suffered from the explosion. During his convalescence he came to realize that the anger he felt had become focused on the parents who had failed to prevent the war. Later in life this man devoted himself to encouraging Japanese youth to work for world peace. The second survivor, Akira Okubo, lost a son in the bombing. The film follows her on a last visit to the place where her son’s charred remains were located and explores some of the horrors she confronted in the days immediately following the bombing.

The U.S. Marine profiled in the tape, was part of the force which occupied Japan at the end of the war. He came face-to-face with the destruction and hardship caused by the bomb and got to know a Japanese couple whose son-in-law was missing in action. His experiences in Japan left the Marine never wanting to get angry with, or to kill another person again. Common to these moving personal stories is the horror of the destruction created by the bomb; an adjustment to peacetime and a reexamining of the dehumanizing propaganda they had been exposed to during the war; and a hope that future generations would never suffer through the destruction that was experienced in Nagasaki.

Featuring film footage shot by Marines stationed in Japan during the occupation, and the photography of Japanese Army photographer Yosake Yamahata, Nagasaki Journey effectively portrays the devastation of the A-bomb and the fortitude of the survivors. Emmy Award-winning filmmakers, Judy Irving and Chris Beaver, deftly intertwine images of the destroyed Nagasaki with its modern counterpart, while telling the story of the residents and those that occupied it. Ultimately, this film is an attempt to promote human unity and prevent a repeat of the use of weapons of mass destruction. Although some of the images are graphic and painful this film is highly recommended for viewers from high school through adult and the libraries who serve them.