25/06/2026 21:17 - Internacionales
A manuscript of 230 pages written in 1947 by Kiyoshi Tanimoto, a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bombing, has been discovered in the archives of the Beinecke Library at Yale University in Connecticut, USA. The document remained unpublished for nearly eighty years among the papers of renowned American journalist John Hersey, a Pulitzer Prize winner.
The memoirs, scheduled for publication on August 6, 2026 to coincide with the anniversary of the bombing, offer a direct testimony of the horrors Tanimoto witnessed upon returning to a city reduced to rubble. Random House will publish the book in the US, with Penguin handling worldwide distribution.
Casualty Estimate: 120,000 people died in the first four days following the explosion.
Destruction: 4.1 square miles (60% of the city's built-up area) were completely destroyed.
Temperature: 4,000°C at ground level, enough to incinerate wood, tiles, concrete, and human flesh.
Nagasaki: Three days later, another atomic bomb killed approximately 73,000 people.
Tanimoto was a Methodist minister in Hiroshima who survived the bombing because he was transporting a cabinet to another city that day, far from the hypocenter.
Upon his return, he found a Dantesque scene: destroyed buildings, incinerated people, and a thick black rain falling like oil from the sky. He passed away in 1986 at the age of 77.
His daughter, Koko Tanimoto Kondo, was only eight months old when the bomb fell. Now 81 years old, she has written a 9,000-word foreword for the book.
The discovery of the memoirs is also driving a film adaptation. The movie, titled 'Hiroshima, 8:15', references the exact time the atomic bomb detonated over the city.
Director & Screenwriter:
Phil Joanou, known for crime dramas like 'State of Grace'.
Lead Actor:
Takehiro Hira, recognized for his role in the Netflix series 'Giri/Haji'.
Producer:
Donald Rosenfeld, former president of Merchant Ivory Productions.
Pre-production is set to begin in November 2026, with filming scheduled for February 2027. Producer Donald Rosenfeld highlighted the project's current relevance: 'It is so relevant now with the situation in Iran and North Korea. Today's bombs are supposedly 10,000 times more powerful. We must ensure this never happens again.'
American journalist John Hersey (1914-1993) visited Hiroshima eight months after the bombing and befriended Tanimoto. That experience inspired his celebrated reportage 'Hiroshima' (1946), considered one of the most influential works on the subject. Tanimoto's memoirs were found precisely among Hersey's personal archives at Yale.
Sources: The Guardian | The Guardian Historical Archive (1945)
Alfredo S. Quiroga
