Monday, August 6, 2007

Remembering the hibakusha.

Today is the anniversary of one of the most frightening and tragic events in human history -- the bombing of Hiroshima.

Tonight, the documentary White Light, Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki debuts on HBO. I'll be watching.


On August 6th and 9th, 1945, two atomic bombs vaporized 210,000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those who survived are called "hibakusha"--people exposed to the bomb--and there are an estimated 200,000 living today. Today, with the threat of nuclear weapons of mass destruction frighteningly real- the world's arsenal capable of repeating the destruction at Hiroshima 400,000 times over, Oscar® award-winning filmmaker Steven Okazaki revisits the bombings and shares the stories of the only people to have survived a nuclear attack.

HBO: White Light, Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki