HIBAKUSHA 2026 Film Project in Progress | Independent filmmakers working on documentary to preserve stories of Japanese American atomic bomb survivors – last AMERICAN HIBAKUSHA
LOS ANAGELES – Howard Kakita was born in East Los Angeles, but spent much of his childhood in Japan. In 1945, while his family in the United States was incarcerated at the Poston camp in Arizona, he was living in Hiroshima. He was seven years old when the atomic bomb fell on the city.
Kakita survived and returned to the United States with his older brother in 1948. Decades later, he began sharing his experience through American Society of Atomic Bomb Survivors (ASA), speaking about what happened to him and the need for peace.
His story is at the center of American Hibakusha, a documentary in production by director Ayu Logan and producer Luza Medina González. The film follows Japanese American survivors who experienced the bombings as children and later lived in the United States. It explores how they carried those memories across the Pacific while navigating questions of identity, belonging and the stigma associated with being a hibakusha.
Logan and Medina González first encountered Kakita’s story while working on a journalistic piece for France 24 marking the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. Meeting him prompted them to look more closely at the experiences of survivors whose histories connect Japan and the United States.
The filmmakers have used their own resources to conduct research and film in Hawaii, California and Michigan. They are now seeking support to complete additional interviews and filming, edit the documentary, and license historical images and footage. They also hope to bring the finished film to festivals and community screenings.
The project’s funding proposal sets a goal of $50,000. Contributions will help the team record testimonies while survivors are still able to tell their stories in their own words.
“Because the story of Hiroshima is also an American story,” the filmmakers write in their campaign statement.
To support the documentary or share its story, visit the American Hibakusha fundraising page hosted by Creative Visions Foundation: https://creative-visions.networkforgood.com/projects/303957-american-hibakusha-s-fundraiser
Every contribution will help preserve these testimonies for future generations.
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