200 Pre-Occupation Photos of Nagasaki Found At The National Archives

Above, the monument marking the hypocenter of the Nagasaki atomic bomb. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

200 rare photos of the city of Nagasaki before the occupation were discovered at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. by a research group from Nagasaki.

The Mainichi Shimbun reported:

WASHINGTON -- A research group visiting the National Archives here from the city of Nagasaki has found some 200 photos of the city taken by U.S. troops a few weeks after an atomic bomb was dropped in August 1945. 

The Nagasaki group visited the U.S. capital to collect documents and photos of the atomic bombing ahead of the 70th anniversary of the event next year. 

Some of the photos kept in the National Archives were taken by advance groups of Allied powers before the occupation army came to Japan on Sept. 23.

The article also states that photos taken before the Allied occupation are rarely found, so the finding of the 200 photographs were a major find for the researchers.

Above, remains of the Urakami Cathedral that were moved
to Nagasaki's Hypocenter Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Photos include the gateway to the Nagasaki Sanno Shrine, the remains of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries dormitory (that stood 500 meters from the hypocenter of the blast) and the Nagasaki Municipal Shinkozen School, that was used as a first aid center.

I visited Nagasaki in 2007 and found it to be an attractive city with very little evidence that it was destroyed almost 69 years ago. As the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima served as inspirations for the Godzilla character, both cities are spotlighted in The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan. Nagasaki is featured on page 47.

To read the full article, go here.