The two films included in the materials were shot during the period September–October 1945 by Nippon Eigasha (Japan Movie Co.), a company exclusively responsible for the production of news and cultural footage during the war. The filming circumstances were different, but the recorded contents of each of the films represent important information with their own unique characteristics. The existence of the original negative film has not been confirmed, but the positive film from the two documentary films remains.
“Atomic Bomb-The Disastrous Damage of Hiroshima–Nippon News #257”(film related to NHK)
Staff from Nippon Eigasha entered Hiroshima from Tokyo in September 1945, to film news footage of the destroyed downtown area of the city and the Aioi Bridge near the hypocenter. That material served as the basis for the film titled the “Atomic Bomb-The Disastrous Damage of Hiroshima-Nippon News #257,” (2 min., 50 sec.) which was released on September 22, 1945. Chamberlain Torahiko Nagazumi, who had been dispatched by Japan’s Emperor Showa to tour the city on September 3, the day after Japan officially signed its surrender, appeared in the film, which contains images shot on that date. The film represents the earliest video footage of Hiroshima taken after the atomic bombing of all existing film footage in Japan. In 1978, Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) obtained the original Nippon News film footage and all rights to the film from Nippon Eiga Shinsha, the successor to Nippon Eigasha, and now stores and manages the material.
Contact: MCG-gaiburenraku@li.nhk.or.jp
Documentary film shot with scientific survey (film related to RCC Broadcasting)
During the period from the end of September through October 1945, staff from Nippon Eigasha (Japan Movie Co.) accompanied the Special Committee for the Investigation of A-bomb Damages, a survey team set up within the Academic Research Council by Japan’s Ministry of Education (the council was later reorganized into the Science Council of Japan). The staff of the company filmed the devastation of Hiroshima by following the survey team’s activities as a support organization. This material contains around 110 minutes of unedited film shot in Hiroshima during that period.
The filming in Hiroshima was led by staff of the company’s culture and film department, with the aim of producing a film that documented the devastation caused by the atomic bombing. The company spent about one month with the investigative committee in Hiroshima to collect information on the situation in a variety of locations, including in the vicinity of the hypocenter. The film captures a variety of effects on the human body, such as burns caused by the bombing’s thermal rays and acute radiation damage. The Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital, at which a woman had been undergoing treatment for wounds and burns and children suffered hair loss due to A-bomb radiation, was one of the key filming locations. The film is stored at Nippon Eiga Shinsha and, in 1995, Tokyo Broadcasting System Television and Hiroshima-based RCC Broadcasting reported on the existence of the film in a special feature program. Later, Nichiei Eizo, which took over the rights to the film from Nippon Eiga Shinsha, donated the film to RCC Broadcasting, which in turn donated the material to the National Film Archive of Japan in 2013 for its long-term preservation.
Contact: news@rcc.net