The Hiroshima and Nagasaki Archives are memory communities that have been created through the new technology of digital mapping.
“The Nagasaki Archive” was created in July 2010 (the 65th year after the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan) when we, as third generation descendants of the original atomic bomb survivors, decided to send a message to the rest of the world through digital mapping technologies developed at the Hidenori Watanave Laboratory at Tokyo Metropolitan University. Upon its release, the Nagasaki Archive received over 200,000 page views in a single day, garnering media coverage from around the world.
We collected atomic bomb survivors’ accounts in cooperation with local high school students and nationwide volunteers and created a “Community of Records” through developing a collection of memories. We also created an online community by using social media, such as Twitter, to collect messages of hope for peace and nuclear abolition from all over the world, and to incorporate them into the digital archive. We aim to make the archive a platform to gather threads of stories for the future by sharing past memories and present messages in both real and virtual spaces.
Disaster Digital Archives Series
Awards & Honors:
- The 5th Peace Prize, The Peace Studies Association of Japan, 2015
- Grand Prix, Journalism Innovation Awards 2014, and 2015
- Jury Recommended Works, Japan Media Arts Festival 2015, 2011, and 2010
- Honorary Mention, Prix Ars Electronica 2013
- Grand Prize of Entertainment Division, Asia Digital Art Award 2011