Takeshi Mamezuka Photo Exhibition "People Who Didn't Hear the Pika-don Bang"

Text and photos from kyoto-muse.jp.

The Kyoto Museum of Photography's Gallery Japanesque will be holding a photo exhibition by Takeshi Mamezuka entitled "People Who Didn't Hear the Pikachu/Snake Bang" from Tuesday, July 22nd to Sunday, July 27th, 2025 .

The deaf victims of the Nagasaki atomic bomb have survived the postwar period while bearing the triple suffering of being deaf, unable to speak, and exposed to the atomic bomb. Using a 6x6 format camera, Mamezuka carefully captured their way of life, getting very close to their inner selves. What is captured in his photographs are various thoughts and suffering, as well as the many expressions that only Mamezuka could capture by facing his subjects head-on.

The first paragraph of the artist statement: The atomic bombing had faded from people's memories, and the footsteps of war could be heard, when the news of the Hidankyo's Nobel Peace Prize came in. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the bombing. Deaf atomic bomb survivors of Nagasaki live with the desire for peace and the bombing experience. Looking back, it all began 40 years ago when a group of sign language interpreters was formed in Nagasaki. In Nagasaki, it was thought that one could not fully understand the lives of deaf people without knowing the bombing, so they began to record the experiences of the atomic bombing. As I had a close relationship with the sign language interpreters, I received a request to "record the experience photographically." As a group with no money, we began making volunteer visits to Nagasaki. We continued to visit Nagasaki for nearly 10 years.

Takeshi Mamezuka Photo Exhibition "People Who Didn't Hear the Pikadon Bang"
2025/07/22 ~ 2025/07/27
Gallery Japanesque, Kyoto Museum of Photography

For more information: https://kyoto-muse.jp/news/185559

See also: https://kyoto-muse.jp/exhibition/184680

"70 years after WWII / Unretouched photos show A-bomb devastation"

Image borrowed from Pressing Issues. The Japan News (print version) caption for this image reads: This photo titled "Onigiri o motsu oyako" was taken by photographer Yosuke Yamahata on Aug. 10, 1945, a day after the atomic bombing of Nakasaki.

Story from The Japan News, 6/10/15.

A photo exhibition to be held this summer in Tokyo will display 60 photographs taken shortly after the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, showing the catastrophic effects of the bombings.

The August exhibition, titled “Shitte imasuka Hiroshima Nagasaki no Genshi Bakudan” (Do you know about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?), will display 60 photographs taken within three months after the bombings. The photos — with spots, shadows and air bubbles left unretouched — vividly show how devastating the bombing damage was, while at the same time illustrating the poor state of photo processing amid desperate material shortages.

One of photos to be exhibited is titled “Miyukibashi Nishizume” and shows Hiroshima people, including a schoolgirl, being rescued in an area close to Ground Zero on Aug. 6, 1945. The photo was taken by Yoshito Matsushige, a photographer of The Chugoku Shimbun, a local newspaper. Matsushige died in 2005.

The unretouched photo has black beltlike shadows on both sides, reflecting the fact that the catastrophic damage caused by the bomb also eliminated photo laboratories. Matsushige was said to have developed the negative in a small river in the darkness of night several days after the bombing, and the poor conditions he worked under apparently caused the shadows on the negative.

Another photo, titled “Onigiri o motsu oyako” (A mother and her child holding rice balls in their hands) was taken on Aug. 10, 1945, in Nagasaki — a day after the atomic bombing there — by Yosuke Yamahata, a photographer who belonged to the Imperial Japanese Army. Yamahata died in 1966. The negative for this photo has a large dark spot, scratches and air bubbles.

Yamahata, who arrived in Nagasaki early in the morning of that day, later recalled that many people were asking for help, but he could do nothing but photograph the bombed areas while being frustrated over his inability to help.

When the photos were displayed in past exhibitions, they were retouched and trimmed. However, for the exhibition this year, which marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, the organizer decided not to modify the photos as it believes their poor condition provides important information about the conditions of the cities shortly after the bombings. The organizer of the exhibition is the Japan Professional Photographers Society.

The admission-free exhibition will be held from Aug. 4 to 30 at the JCII Photo Salon in the Ichibancho district of Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. (Closed on Mondays)

Source: http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002179816

Nagasaki-America Peace Project

Announcement from H-ASIA:

We are 2010 graduates Alex Sklyar and Carolina van der Mensbrugghe of Colgate University, and we will be making a video documentary on site in Nagasaki, Japan, as one of the Kathryn Davis Foundation's Projects for Peace for the summer of 2010. The Nagasaki-America Peace Project will consist of this documentary, an official website, and a text and video blog kept during the summer. We hope that these materials can be used in college, university, and high school classrooms across the US to give students and educators better access to the culture and history of Nagasaki, the contemporary peace activism of its citizens, and the stories of the atomic bombing survivors.

We will be on site in Nagasaki from July 2 until August 12 filming, interviewing, blogging, and observing. Our focus is two-fold: 1) the response of Nagasaki citizens in the wake of the atomic bombing; 2) Nagasaki history and culture beyond the atomic bombing. As such, one of our main focuses is the vibrant peace activism movement that has resulted in Nagasaki over the past 60 years. Secondly, we are focusing on the stories of post-bombing survival and recovery of the hibakusha and the city. Thirdly, we will be presenting the international history of Nagasaki and its contact with the West throughout the Edo period and before. As part of this third point, we will be presenting the Christian and hidden-Christian history of the Nagasaki area.

Our DVD, website, and blog will be a great resource for anyone teaching about the city of Nagasaki, the Edo period, the atomic bombings, and Japanese culture and history in general. We also hope that our efforts will inspire other students interested and invested in grassroots peace activism and cross-cultural communication to actively pursue opportunities that can make an impact on global peace culture. We hope that our efforts and the efforts of the Nagasaki peace activism community that we will capture on film can serve as an example of what these students can do themselves, whether it be through the establishment of peace groups at universities, colleges, and high schools across the US, by applying for foundation fellowships such as the Davis' 100 Projects for Peace, or connecting with other peace groups across the global.

Please contact us directly if you are interested in following our blog and/or receiving a DVD once it is made. You can email us at:

nagasakiamericapeaceproject@gmail.com AND/OR alexs659@gmail.com