A memoir written by Kiyoshi Tanimoto, a Hiroshima survivor, is finally ready to be published, nearly 80 years after it was first written.
Tanimoto, a Methodist priest who lived through the 1945 atomic bombing, recorded his experiences in a 230-page manuscript that had quietly remained unnoticed in the Beinecke Library at Yale among the papers of journalist John Hersey.
Tanimoto had managed to survive the blast as he was away from the city that morning. It wasn’t until he returned later, that he was confronted with the full scale of the devastation.
He eventually decided to put his experiences into words so future generations would remember the devastating impact of nuclear war.
His daughter – who was an infant at the time – later added a lengthy foreword, explaining how the impact of the bombing echoed through their family life for decades.
The discovery of the memoir has also sparked a film project.
Actor Takehiro Hira, known for his role in Giri/Haji, is set to portray Tanimoto.
The movie, titled Hiroshima, 8:15, takes its name from the exact moment the bomb was dropped and is being developed by producer Donald Rosenfeld, previously associated with Merchant Ivory films like Howards End.
He said the project feels especially relevant today, given the ongoing tensions involving nuclear weapons around the world.
The screenplay is based in part on the memoir and on John Hersey’s earlier reporting, which helped bring international attention to Hiroshima shortly after the war.
It follows Tanimoto’s return to a city almost completely destroyed, with scenes depicting the aftermath in stark detail, including burned landscapes, collapsed structures, and the overwhelming physical and emotional shock faced by survivors.
The book itself is set for release on the anniversary of the bombing, with publishers planning a global rollout.
It is being framed not only as a historical document but also as a personal record that connects past trauma with present-day concerns about nuclear weapons and their long-term consequences.
Tanimoto felt Japan’s defeat was inevitable, but he also questioned whether the bombing was warranted.
He went on to say that few people can fully appreciate the scale of suffering endured in Hiroshima.
