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August 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which precipitated the unconditional surrender of Japan and the end of the Second World War. What has become known as VJ (Victory over Japan) Day duly followed on from VE (Victory in Europe) Day. Even as those who took part in these tumultuous events become fewer with each passing year, the archaeology of the Second World War continues to be a thriving field of research around the world.
To commemorate these events, we will be exploring Second World War archaeology in Japan in a forthcoming issue of CWA. We asked some of those actively involved in this field to propose an image. The photograph below was suggested by Tatsuya Shimokawa, four years old at the end of the war. He went on to have a distinguished career in archaeology in his native Nagasaki prefecture, and has enthusiastically promoted the importance of using wartime heritage to ensure that the events of 1945 are not forgotten. The photograph shows the remains of the torii gate of the 17th-century Sanno shrine in Nagasaki, following the dropping of the atomic bomb on 9 August 1945. The gate originally had two pillars. One was destroyed, but the bomb blast shifted the centre of gravity of the remaining one, which still stands today as part of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Site, designated as a National Historic Site.
Text: Simon Kaner / Images: © Yl Law | Dreamstime.com; photo: Torahiko Okawa – courtesy of Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum
Please send your images to cwa@world-archaeology.com. They must be high resolution (300 dpi) and in landscape format, ideally 20cm high by 30cm wide.
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