Japanese museum unveils footage of Hiroshima before nuclear bomb

Hiroshima, post-nuclear bomb. Stanley Troutman / AP

A museum on Friday unveiled a rare video footage of Hiroshima city from 1935, a decade before it was devastated by a nuclear bomb.

The black and white video, lasting for a little over three minutes, shows scenes from central Hiroshima, a bustling and lively city in April 1935.

"There isn't much material from before August 6, 1945, as the bomb destroyed everything. We wanted to reconstruct part of the history (of Hiroshima) before it was lost forever," Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum Director Kenji Shiga told Efe news on Friday.

In the video, cherry tree blossoms line the streets while city residents are seen walking and biking around the Hatchobori business district area, riding in trams, or fishing in the city canals.

Ten years later, on August 6, 1945, an atom bomb dropped by the US instantly killed around 80,000 people in this city, and wiped out what was one of the archipelago's most populous cities of the time.

The release of the footage is part of the institution's conservation strategy that began in 2016, focusing, among other things, on improving exhibition and storage conditions of museum objects and digitalisation of photos and video footage.

The 16-mm film was donated to the museum by its creator Genjiro Kawasaki in 1963, but it is only now that it has been digitised to conserve it.

The footage is available for viewing at the museum's library as well as on its online database.

* IANS