Beatles musician John Lennon and his peace activist wife Yoko Ono asked Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in 1969 to permit overseas release of an unedited film on the aftermath of the U.S. atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to prevent a similar "atrocity," the Japanese Foreign Ministry's archives show.
"Effects of the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki," taken as a scientific documentary a month after the bombings in 1945, was requisitioned by the United States a year later. It was returned to Japan in November 1967, but only its edited version had been shown to the Japanese public.
The United States dropped the bombs on Hiroshima on Aug. 6 and on Nagasaki three days later, at the close of World War II. Filming, involving scientists and film production companies, began a month later. The movie is divided by themes such as on locating the bombs' hypocenters, medical activities and radioactive effects on humans and plants.
Writing at the height of the Cold War and during the Vietnam War, the two antiwar activists said, "In view of the uncertain world situation we feel it very important to show the uncut version of the above film to the rest of the world" in their letter seen by Kyodo News on Saturday.
"We feel the time is urgent, and it is the responsibility of the Japanese people to show the rest of the world the actual atrocity that took place in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the hope that it would never be repeated again," they added.
"Please give us permission to show the film outside Japan," they ended the letter dated Dec. 17, 1969, with their cartoons drawn.
Lennon and Ono's letter was prompted after a similar request by the latter was denied earlier.
According to public records at the Foreign Ministry's diplomatic archives, Ono called from London on Dec. 6, 1969, to ask the Japanese government's permission to show the full version of the film, instead of the one which had been edited. But she was told that the film could not be shown overseas.
Sato's secretary prepared a response in January 1970 saying it was against government policy, according to the archival records, but it is unknown whether it was sent.
The Japanese government retrieved a three-hour duplicate of the film from the United States after multiple rounds of difficult negotiations.
Diplomatic records show that the United States was worried that it could be used by the peace movement roiling against its involvement in the Vietnam War, and heighten anti-American sentiment during the Cold War and while calls were being made in Japan for the reversion of Okinawa to Japanese jurisdiction.
The Japanese government was also troubled since it faced the issue of Okinawa but did not want to worsen relations with its now-ally, said Akiko Kubota, an assistant professor at the Hiroshima University Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine. Japan was also in a tricky position as part of the U.S. nuclear umbrella.
The film was cut to respect the victims of the atomic bombs and screened in Japan in 1968. Critics, most vocalized by the "no cut" movement, said that the edits prevented viewers from understanding the tragedy fully.
Speaking about Ono and Lennon, Kunihiko Fujimoto, an expert on the British singer who died in 1980, said, "They knew that as prominent people, if they became involved in the film's screening, people would pay attention to the issue of atomic bombs."
