｜Length : 24min. ｜Year : 2013 ｜

We asked young people in Nagasaki this question: Do you ever think about the atomic bomb?
"It's something from the past", they answered. It reminded us that over sixty years have passed since the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki. The event is a distant memory of the past. Even for young people who live in the city where it dropped, the memories are starting to fade.
Hiroshi Matsuzoe is an artist from Nagasaki City. When he was fourteen, he was exposed to the atomic bomb. After retiring from the fire department, he started to depict his memories of the atomic bomb through his paintings, which he made into a kamishibai (pictures on boards that are used for storytelling). Using the kamishibai, he spoke to school children about his experiences, the horrors of nuclear weapons and the value of peace.
When Matsuzoe turned eighty, he was diagnosed with throat cancer. He survived, but his vocal cords were removed and he lost his voice in the surgery. Now he relies on a hole made in his throat to breathe.
Matsuzoe relied on his voice to perform his lifework, recounting atomic bomb experiences. The loss of his voice was extremely unfortunate. After his surgery, he avoided meeting people and stayed home.
Matsuzoe started to paint another kamishibai while he stayed at home. He depicted the experiences of his classmates' who died from the atomic bomb. He wanted to ensure their lives would be honored and not forgotten. Matsuzoe wanted to read his new kamishibai to young people again. He battled his feelings of anxiousness to speak in front of people and started to train and rehabilitate his voice using an artificial larynx. As he worked on his project, another trace of cancer was detected in his lungs.
The average age of atomic bomb survivors is seventy-eight. Many have complicated health issues but are using the little time they have left to tell their atomic bomb experiences so that they won't be forgotten. We look at how these survivors live today by following Matsuzoe's experience.