Sourced from a Japanese Blu-ray with added English subtitles.
Title: The Heart of Hiroshima (1966)
Alternate Title: Ai to shi no kiroku
Genre: Drama, Romance
Plot Synopsis:
Kazue, a young woman working at a music instrument shop, has a chance encounter with Yukio, a printing company employee who survived the Hiroshima bombing as a child. As they grow closer, Yukio grapples with the fear of developing radiation sickness and the societal stigma associated with atomic bomb survivors. Their relationship faces challenges stemming from Yukio’s traumatic past and health concerns, leading to a poignant exploration of love and resilience in post-war Japan.
Cast and Crew:
- Director: Koreyoshi Kurahara
- Writers: Yoshio Kobayashi, Kiichi Ohashi
- Cast:
- Sayuri Yoshinaga as Kazue Matsui
- Tetsuya Watari as Yukio Mihara
- Izumi Ashikawa
- Akira Nakao
- Asao Sano
IMDb Link:
The Heart of Hiroshima (1966)
Reviews from Letterboxd:
- Mr Minio – ★★★★☆
“More depressing than moving, The Heart of Hiroshima feels like a weaker riff on Kurahara’s earlier masterpiece, The Flame of Devotion. The prejudice against atomic bomb victims is shown in a very metaphoric way here. The victims of the bomb are literally denied love. If not by society’s stigmatization, then by the sickness that cuts their lives short. But Yukio wasn’t denied love. Kazue made him experience what not many in his predicament could experience.”
- Emma Fogarty✝️ – ★★★☆☆
“Sayuri Yoshinaga and Tetsuya Watari star in a 90-minute romance film directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara, about a man who falls in love with a girl; he is, however, a victim of atomic bomb poisoning. I think I’m in agreement that this is a poor man’s take on Flame of Devotion as Heart of Hiroshima is really only sporadically moving. We see this in the very end and also in a very good scene at the atomic bomb commemoration site. The doctor gets a pretty good scene later on as well and in an odd way, yes, this type of simple drama can be within my comfort zone. Yoshinaga and Watari both have a romantic chemistry and it does a very…”
Meta Description:
“The Heart of Hiroshima” (1966), directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara, is a Japanese drama that explores the poignant love story between a Hiroshima bombing survivor and a young woman, delving into themes of trauma, societal stigma, and the enduring human spirit.
