AAJA Awards Entry - 80 years later, Connecticut's Shizuko Tomoda still feels the impact of the atomic bomb

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Excellence in Audio Storytelling, Short-form
Original airdate: 8/8/2025

On August 6th, 1945, the United States’ military dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima in Japan. Three days later, they dropped another bomb, this time on Nagasaki. According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, estimates of people killed by these bombs range from around one hundred thousand to more than two hundred thousand.

And the impact of the bombs isn’t limited to the people who died. They also changed the lives of survivors and generations of people who came after them.

Dr. Shizuko Tomoda's mother survived the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. The documentary film, Memory of Hiroshima through Imagination, reflects on her and her mother's experiences.

GUEST:

• Dr. Shizuko Tomoda: Professor Emeritus at Central Connecticut State University. Her mother survived the atomic bomb the United States' military dropped on Hiroshima. She directed, wrote and narrated the documentary film Memory of Hiroshima through Imagination.

This episode was produced by Isaac Moss, Kevin Chang Barnum, Erica McIntosh, Robyn Doyon-Aitken and Meg Fitzgerald, with help from intern Coco Cooley.