By Jamahl Bonds,
A prizewinning film depicting the experience of a Japanese atomic bombing survivor and his daughter was screened in San Diego on Wednesday, with the organizer intending unite the world in opposition to the use of nuclear weapons as agents of conflict resolution ahead of next month's Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima.
Directed by J.R. Heffelfinger and produced by Akiko Mikamo, who heads a nonprofit organization that arranged the event, as well as Nini Le Huynh, the film "8:15 Hiroshima: From Father to Daughter" is based on Mikamo's book published in 2013.
The storyline depicts the experience of her father Shinji Mikamo, who as a 19-year-old was exposed to the nuclear bomb dropped by the United States when it exploded at 8:15 a.m. on Aug. 6, 1945, in Hiroshima. He was at a distance of some 1,200 meters from the hypocenter.
Shinji survived the bombing and dedicated his life thereafter to world peace.
Akiko said the 51-minute film is not about criticizing the bombings or about victimhood, rather it is an appeal for our common humanity, rooted in uniting all parties engulfed in conflict and resolving differences through initiative and action.
"When we all reflect on what is important for humanity, then we can get over conflicts," Mikamo, 61, told a recent interview with Kyodo News.
As an example, she noted the once tense relationship between the United States and Japan. "They were the worst enemies during World War II, but later on they became very strong allies," said Mikamo who serves as president of the San Diego-based Worldwide Initiative to Safeguard Humanity.
The docu-narrative film, released in 2020, blends audio and video recordings of Shinji Mikamo with reenactments of his experience. Akiko deemed it important that the film reflect an accurate and authentic depiction of what occurred that day. It won the Audience Award at the 2020 Nashville Film Festival.
"It was pretty surprising how often you don't see the impact of the atomic bomb at that intimate level...how surprising and devastating it was, and the aftereffects," said Chris Tran, 40, who attended the screening.
"It was very moving just as a film, and it touched on a lot of points and made it very personal," said Robert Grovac, 71.
The 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are estimated to have killed some 210,000 people -- mostly civilians -- by the end of the year, according to the city offices.
Many atomic-bomb survivors, known in Japan as hibakusha, would suffer from lifelong aftereffects related to their radiation exposure. The devastation of the cities' basic infrastructure left the victims with little to nothing.
Upon hearing the news that his daughter wanted to write a book about his experience, Shinji encouraged her to do so and to tell the story in English, as a way to reach the masses and spread the importance of forgiving and exploring nonviolent ways of resolving conflict.
"From a very young age, my father taught me to acknowledge different peoples' perspectives, he believed that is the only way to create peace," said Mikamo. Shinji encouraged her to learn English and about foreign cultures to be a bridge between different beliefs and societies.
A pocket watch, originally owned by Shinji's father, that has the position of its hands burned into its face showing the 8:15 a.m. time of the explosion, was stolen while it was on display at the U.N. headquarters in New York in the 1980s.
The movie also depicts an episode in which his father preached the importance of forgiveness, saying, "When you lose something, it's time to gain something."
Shinji died in October 2020 at the age of 94.
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