Recently with all the hype about the new Oppenheimer movie, I decided to take a trip down memory lane, back to a long time ago where I was passionate about theoretical and astrophysics. I remember reading about J.Robert Oppenheimer, his infamous quote “I become death, destroyer of worlds”, the trinity tests and the Manhattan project. A man gifted with supreme intellect, but cursed with the burden of his work.
It was a YouTube video detailing the bombing runs and flight paths of Enola Gay and Bockscar, the miraculous luck of Kokura city, and the devastation that they brought. This led me to another video documentary by the New York Times on Akiko Takakura, a Hiroshima survivor who experienced firsthand the destructive power of this new age superweapon. The sketch-style animation showcased the terrible scene from ground zero, with detailed narration of black skies, burning city, charred bodies, a crimson landscape indistinguishable from hell. I recall clear as day my encounter with a life-size replica of ground zero at the Hiroshima museum and memorial park, the eerie sirens and fidgety animatronics still send shivers down my spine.
As cliche as it sounds, war is terrible, and nuclear weapons are the worst. Lady Akiko attempted to describe the fateful moment in interviews and memoirs, but nothing could accurately give a picture of the calamity that day, the heat from the fires, the sounds of sirens and wailings, and the smell of burnt flesh. To try visualizing this, I took an excerpt from her memoirs and let generative AI try to paint a picture. I will include the prompt below if you are interested, but here are some of the scenes.
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the prompt: Well, it was like a white magnesium flash. the water pipes had exploded. Since Hiroshima was completely enveloped in flames, we felt terribly hot and could not breathe well at all. After a while, a whirlpool of fire approached us from the south. It was like a big tornado of fire spreading over the full width of the street. Whenever the fire touched, wherever the fire touched, it burned.
I would very much love to see more producers portray the story of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, perhaps a movie or anime from the perspective of the Japanese civilians. It is important to remember the past, to learn from our mistakes, and to never repeat them again.