At 11:02 on August 9, 1945, an atomic bomb exploded over Nagasaki, destroying almost the entire city and killing many people.

Wall Clock 

This clock was found in a house near Sanno Shrine, about 800 meters from ground zero. It was damaged by the blast and stopped working, with the hands showing the time of 11:02.

Nagasaki before the bombing

Nagasaki’s history began with the arrival of a Portuguese ship in 1571. During the national isolation in the Edo period (1600-1868), it was the only gateway to the world through Holland and China. After the end of isolation in the mid-19th century, it thrived on international trade, and many Western-style houses were built. Nagasaki, a port town, then transitioned to a shipbuilding industry hub. The war with China and World War II began. Then that day came—a hot summer day in 1945.

Nagasaki on that day

The population: 240,000

The esteemed number of casualties by the end of the year

  Deaths:73,884

  Injuries:74,909

The Water Tank of the Former Keiho Junior High School

This tank, located 800 meters from ground zero, was damaged by the blast.

The Disfigured Fire Watch Tower

Located 300 meters from ground zero, this tower was broken at the base by the blast.

Devastated Urakami Cathedral

The Urakami area is historically significant as the place where Christianity began to spread in the late 16th century. It endured oppression starting with the order banning Christianity in 1587, which ended in 1873. The believers, who never gave up their faith, began to build the cathedral, completing it in 1925. It was the most imposing cathedral in the East, with 26-meter-high twin towers. The atomic bomb blew away the bell dome and collapsed the entire building except for some parts of the walls.

The replica of the remains of a side wall of Urakami Cathedral

The statues were blackened by the blast, heat rays, and subsequent fires. The pillars were slightly shifted.

An atomic bomb was dropped on August 9, three days after the bombing of Hiroshima. The first target was the arsenal and town of Kokura. It was necessary to confirm the target visually, not by radar, to drop the bomb. Due to poor visibility over Kokura, the target changed to Nagasaki. Based on the coordinates, it seems the dropping point was the area with Tokiwa Bridge and Nigiwai Bridge, but it was under the clouds and not visible from the plane. When the plane reached the military factory in the Urakami area, it was seen through a gap in the clouds. The bomber then dropped the bomb, which exploded 500 meters above the ground.

The projection mapping: Nagasaki before the bombing, the bombing, and the spread of テェfire ball, heat ray, blast wind, fires, and radiation. 

Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Fat Man: 

It is called Fat Man because of its shape. It creates nuclear fission by exploding the inner plutonium with explosives around it.

A shadow is created by blocking light. The heat rays worked in the same way. The surface that the heat rays hit directly was burned, changing its color, while the blocked parts were not. This difference in color makes them look like shadows. The heat rays from the explosion at 11:02 created many shadows like this.

Shadows of a ladder and a watch soldier

When he was just going down on the ladder. 

The surface of the tiles was burned, creating bubbles. The closer to ground zero, the bigger the bubbles.

Physical damages caused by the heat rays

Every flammable thing close to ground zero was burned into flames. Its ferocity is shown by melted glass, roof tiles with boiled bubbles, and scorched black rocks. The farther from ground zero, the weaker the heat rays, but within 2 km, clothes, utility poles, trees, and other objects were affected.

3 km away from ground zero.

Scorched cobblestones from the shrine.

The damage from the fires after the heat and blast made the situation more serious.

Even houses only partly damaged by the blast were completely burned down by the following fires. The number of houses completely destroyed is 12,900, and the number of houses partly destroyed is 5,519. The fires increased the number of victims, too. Those who were trapped under the wreckage might have been saved without the fires.

400 m away from ground zero.

Shrunk by the heat. 400 m away from ground zero. The storehouse of Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Company.

The area around the GZ

The bones of a hand stuck with glass by the heat

700 m away from ground zero. It belonged to Miss Satoko Tsutsumi. The rice in the box was scorched to charcoal. Her name was written on the back.

Human damages by the heat rays

The high heat, a few seconds after the heat rays, hit human skin. It caused unimaginable injuries different from those caused by fires. The severity depended on the distance from ground zero, but in serious cases, the skin was burned, eroded, and ripped off. Sometimes the organs under the skin and bones were exposed. Within 1.2 km from ground zero, the rays were fatal. Near ground zero, bodies were charred instantly, and even the fluids in the internal organs evaporated.

Work clothing and wartime cap: 1.2 km away from the GZ.

Within 1.5 km from ground zero, all the houses were completely destroyed. All was gone, and only some parts of reinforced concrete buildings remained. Cracks and twists show the direction to ground zero. People were blown away by the blast or hit by countless pieces of glass and woodchips like a shotgun.

1.5 km away from ground zero.

33 years after the bombing, one oak tree was cut down at a construction site. Inside the tree were countless pieces of glass. Two pieces from the trunk near the stem were horizontally cut off and turned into tables for a vase.

1.3 km away.

Iron Angles from a Factory:

1.3 km away.

Human Damage caused by Radiation

The radiation from atomic bombs penetrates human bodies, destroying various kinds of cells. The degree of injuries depended on the distance from ground zero (GZ), but within 1 km of GZ, most people were killed without any visible scars on their skin. This shows how terrible the radiation was. The damage caused not only instant deaths but also diseases afterward. Radiation injures deep inside the body, and after some time, various symptoms appeared. The suffering caused by the bombing never ends.

Discolored glass

A girl with diseases under the skin.

Rescue and Relief Activities

Rescue and Relief Activities

The bombing destroyed the pre-existing rescue and relief organization.

Surviving doctors and nurses began rescue activities but faced troubles due to the lack of medical tools and medicines. In this chaos, rescue trains ran. They headed for the areas in flames near GZ and carried victims to hospitals along the railroad lines. By the evening, the rescue team from the Navy Hospital arrived, and by night, teams organized from local security groups entered Nagasaki City.

Shinkozen National School Temporarily Changed into a Special Hospital

Relief team carrying a seriously injured person on a stretcher.

Child crying during treatment for burns.

Mother and child waiting for their turn to be treated.

Dr. Takashi Nagai

Takashi Nagai, an assistant professor at Nagasaki Medical College, was exposed to radiation. Even though he was seriously injured, he soon began rescuing injured people and studying the injuries caused by the bombing with great devotion. Beginning his duty as a doctor, he later wished for the restoration of the city and its culture, as well as world peace. He suffered from leukemia, and even after he was bedridden, he continued his writing work. He died six years after the bombing, but his achievements cannot be forgotten as a great man aspiring for peace.

The peaceful world, spreading from Nagasaki

As a city that suffered from the atomic bomb, we have decided to appeal to the world about the threat of nuclear weapons and spread cooperative activities among all countries.

We will never stop appealing until all nuclear weapons are gone from the world.

In 1938, nuclear fission was discovered in Germany, and it was thought to lead to atomic bombs. In 1942, America began the Manhattan Project and spent a lot of money developing atomic bombs. The target country was changed from Germany to Japan. It may be argued that the bombing was needed to end the war quickly, but it was also to show off the achievement of the project and to take the first measure in the Cold War.

The Nuclear Age

The competition to develop nuclear weapons escalated during the Cold War between America and Russia after WWII, until we came to believe that nuclear weapons were the proper way to prevent nuclear wars. Many nuclear weapons were installed under the tension in international relationships, while civil movements to control them became more active. After the 1990s, the conflicts between America and Russia changed in intensity, and more racial conflicts and civil wars occurred. Now it is a big issue whether nuclear weapons may be used in these conflicts.

The Present Situation of Nuclear Weapons

Now, more than 50 years since atomic bombs were invented, the number of them is great enough to kill all the people in the world more than once. Many countries own nuclear weapons, including America, Russia, the UK, France, and China. The nuclear weapons are much more destructive than the ones used in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.