“I don’t like looking at sunsets anymore,” says Michiko Yamaoka. The story is her mother’s, but she tells it as if she were there.
On August 6th, 1945, her mother Kiyoko, then 20 years old, witnessed the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and the subsequent fires which ravaged the city long into the night.
Kyoto (京都, Kyōto) served as Japan’s capital and the emperor’s residence from 794 until 1868. It is one of the country’s ten largest cities with a population of 1.5 million people and a modern face.
Over the centuries, Kyoto was destroyed by many wars and fires, but due to its exceptional historic value, the city was dropped from the list of target cities for the atomic bomb and escaped destruction during World War II. Countless temples, shrines and other historically priceless structures survive in the city today.