Kintsugi Ep. 3 | Wisdom from the Last Survivors of the Nagasaki Atomic Bombing

This episode of Kintsugi, episode three, titled Nagasaki, is by far my most favorite piece of documentation I've ever worked on. It was also the hardest piece to work on. Our entire crew in Japan was in tears and or we were deeply affected by this series. Each of the individuals that we interviewed in this particular episode had a special place in all of our hearts and they are so brave, warm, loving. You would never know that they all experienced the hardship and the struggles of war beyond what any of us could ever even imagine. I think why this episode is so important years after we've shot is in deep reflection, we can always see that war, sadly in our world, is inevitable and we should hear their stories and we should learn from our past mistakes so that we do not repeat the destruction and the torment that these Nagasaki survivors have gone through. I urge you to grab a Kleenex and know this episode will help you to learn and grow and hopefully we can send peace and love throughout the world for them to remember that we should never let history repeat itself after we have learned our lessons. Enjoy. On August 9th, 1945, at 11.02 a.m., just a mere 100 miles away from where my family lived, the last atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. As the lives of my own family members were spared during the war, I felt a duty, a calling, a grounding connection that were shared with the people of Nagasaki. And my heritage is also tied to the U.S. military. We are all children of war. And what we learn from the survivors of Nagasaki and the survivors of war is that you can't turn back the clock, you can only move forward. And if we needed to use a metaphor in real life as to what Kintsugi actually is, I couldn't have picked a better place other than the city of Nagasaki. Can you remember where you were and what happened to you on August 9th, 1945? On August 9th, 1945, at 11.02 a.m., a U.S. B-29 bombed Nagasaki. Five children went to see it. They heard the sound of a plane. Five siblings said, We went up to the second floor to see the plane. And what do you think happened? We waved at the plane. We didn't think it was an atomic bomb-laden plane. Then suddenly, a yellowish-white light flashed. I wondered what that light was. It was a light I'd never seen before. After that, I didn't know what to say. I was in shock. What surprised me even more was the sound of a plane. The sound of a plane flying. But that sound didn't last long. I couldn't hear anything for a long time. The cicadas were crying. They were crying so loudly. They were screaming. They were screaming so loudly. I was so scared. I looked inside the room. The door was blown open. The glass was broken. The children who've experienced the bombing of Nagasaki are now in their 80s. We had the incredible opportunity and honor of being able to meet with them. On that day, they were all young, innocent children watching the world ending through their own eyes. She was two years old. She was in labor. All of her parents were black-haired. I didn't know why they were all black-haired. But I knew it was because she was at home. She was a second-year student at this school. At the end of June, 1929, the school was completely shut down. When the atomic bomb was dropped on August 9, 1,450 children died at home with their families. This is my older sister. I don't know much about her. She didn't know either. This is my oldest sister. All that was left of her was a white skull after she was burned. There were seven of us at home. After the atomic bomb was dropped, 12, 13, 25 children died. The last one, on the 25th, her beloved mother passed away. I was the only one in the warehouse. That's how we survived. I was asked, what was the saddest thing about the atomic bomb? At first, I thought there were so many things that happened because I was exposed to the bomb. There were painful and sad things. There were so many things that could have happened. That's what I thought at first. But when I thought about it, it wasn't like that. The saddest thing in my life is that I lost my family. That's the saddest thing. The saddest thing in my life is that I lost my family. That's the saddest thing. What makes us more human is when we share stories with empathy and compassion and we learn where other people are coming from. It wasn't only the bomb dropping that was traumatic, but it was the post-war trauma that many of these survivors endured. Some of them are still dealing with the effects of the atomic bomb to this day. I never mentioned the atomic bomb. I regret the most that I had children after I got married. that I had children after I got married. When the new life was born after the children were married, I didn't know if the children would have anything to live on. I don't know if the children would have anything I don't know if the children would have anything to live on. I thought I had survived because I had lost a child. I thought I was going to be okay. But cancer is something that young children go through a lot. One day, I fell down on a high-rise building. I think it was my fourth surgery. At the same time, I lost my child. He died in the middle of the train. I'm really sorry. They're the most beautiful, precious, and innocent people I think I've ever met in my life. Not deserving of one thing that happened to them, but rather having to overcome something absolutely traumatic that is something of almost a masterpiece in watching. Nagasaki is the home of two camphor trees that were so badly scorched and thought to be dead after the atomic bomb. Like living poetry, the trees did not give up on life. New life came after the bomb. The camphor trees serve as a living memorial now, and they can be a breathing, living example that you can live through anything and survive and thrive. That's how many survivors survived. Only a few survived. People often say that it's okay to forget about the past, but that's not true. If you don't know the past well, it's going to be hard to do the same thing over and over again. I've lived my life by saying, please don't go to war again, and please get rid of nuclear weapons as soon as possible. I'm happy to have met you. It's our duty to let as many people as possible know about us. There is a term in Japanese, gaman. It means with great resilience, honor, and humility. Gaman serves as a Japanese tradition that honors our lineage with grace. And while this beautiful practice is admired from afar by so many of us all over the world, my studies brought me to writing back in Nagasaki, as I thought these stories would forever become lost if remained untold. It's been over 75 years since the bomb dropping on Hiroshima and on Nagasaki. It's time for us to hear what they have endured, the struggles they have gone through, so we can make sure we never repeat this kind of history again. Good to see you. How are you? This should never happen again. I'm so sorry. What you do every day is powerful. It's powerful. It's so important for us to keep sharing the knowledge and the history. And you are doing that. We have to touch the new generation. We have to tell the new generation all over the world. Yes, yes. This is a part of the school's school building. It was bombed by the atomic bomb. It was abandoned for 50 years. But the children of this school said, why don't we use it for the sake of peace? Many people cooperated and left it here forever. This building was built in 1918. The commentators used to come here and give a lecture to the visitors. The building has been open for 359 days a year. The commentators used to come here and give a lecture here and give a lecture to the visitors. When I come to school, I can hear the voices of the children. I feel energized. While we went to visit the present-day children of Nagasaki so that we could share through different generations that have experienced the war, we try to teach and educate as much as we can with compassion and love. Because, truly, love is the polar opposite of war. And it's the one thing that we all could use a little bit more of. On the inside, you can't see what's on the surface. You can see it in the atomic bomb. But on the inside, you're the only one in pain. I'm so happy. I guide the children, I talk about peace. I get so much energy from them. And I'm alive because of them. Humans make things, humans destroy things. And the feeling of making things is the heart. That's why I tell the children, go out into the world, and become friends with the people of the world. My mother used to say, you can't take someone else's life. You can't be taken away. You can't take someone else's life. You can't be taken away. That's what my mother said. If you have a good heart, if you have a good heart, I don't think there will be a war. I urge you to look inside of your heart, because it is so much bigger than anything else, and to find a little bit more love and compassion and empathy. This is a picture of a teacher and a teacher. A lot of children have died. And this is a picture of a teacher. In the end, they will pay for the war. That's why it's a picture of a teacher and a teacher. The teachers and the principal all spent money to make that picture. You should never involve children in war. It doesn't matter where you come from. It doesn't matter if you are a man or a woman. First of all, take care of the children's lives. There is something so beautiful in watching the Nagasaki survivors overcoming this experience. They have been cracked, put back together, and mended and filled with gold. And for that, they are the most beautiful people in the world. I have never seen or experienced anything like this. And we hope and pray that this is the last time an atomic bomb will ever be used. We have a house to go back to. We live there with our family. We have food and clean water. We can talk casually. But this is the greatest peace in the world. The greatest happiness in the world is the greatest peace in the world. We think that this is normal, but it's not normal. I always tell myself that if we can share our feelings, the war will end. If we learn about where we come from, if we learn of our past, if we speak about things that are hard to talk about, if we hear things that are difficult to discuss, maybe even the mistakes that we've made, we can certainly become better and pass that knowledge down to future generations. It is so important for us to embrace our flaws, our cracks, our trauma, the things that we've gone through that have made us who we are. It might be best that we take the trauma and the hard times, the endurance and the gaman that we've been through, and we turn those cracks into kintsugi. This series is dedicated to those who have been affected and have lost their lives through war. We thank with deep gratitude each Nagasaki survivor and their families for sharing with us their personal stories. We will continue to spread your message to practice peace, to share love, to end war. I hope you enjoyed this episode and you can learn from all of the Nagasaki survivors how to take a little bit more love and peace through your every day, knowing there are thousands of individuals, if not millions, all over the world that are deeply affected by war to this day. We remember the souls who have been lost through the years, who have had unfortunately passed away because of war. I think their greatest wish was that we continue to pass on their work and their words. You can please visit the Shiroyama Elementary School along with the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Museum in Nagasaki. I also wanted to let you know that all of the awards that we've won for this series are because of Episode 3, Nagasaki. They're because of the incredible crew that we had. Rumi, Jeff, Bilal, Carlos, my mom, Hanako, and a few others, forgive me if I forgot. You guys are awesome. There are so many individuals who are part of this series that made it really brilliant. It was quite difficult also because there was an individual at one of the networks that asked me to remove this entire episode from the series, and I absolutely refused to do so. Sometimes in life, we have to face terms and come face-to-face with the hardships, have hard conversations, watch hard things, and we can learn from them. When you are asked to do hard things or to go through a challenging time in your life, it is important for you to look deep inside of yourself, mature with grace and love and kindness, and try to move forward in the best way possible. There is no one better than the Nagasaki survivors that can show us how to do that. Please keep them in mind and in your heart every time you go to work, every time you go through hardship, every time you go through suffering and pain, and know that war is still going on in our world today. And as a team and a crew, we deeply and profoundly pray and think of all of you when we are doing our work. Thank you for watching, and I'll see you on episode four. You can follow our work at CandaceKumai.com, follow me on social, and also check out my podcast Wabi Sabi and my newsletter. Thank you for watching.