The Watches and Clocks That Survived American Nuclear Bombing of the Hiroshima

Kengo Nikawa’s pocket watch in Hiroshima

On August 6th, 1945, towards the end of the Second World War, an American B-29 bomber dropped a nuclear bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. At the time of the explosion, around 8:15 AM, the explosion immediately killed about 80,000 people. Just a few days later, a follow up nuclear bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing about 40,000 people. In the ensuing years, thousands more would suffer and die because of radiation exposure. At the time of the first explosion in Hiroshima, thousands of timepieces belonging to the citizens of the city, were stuck at 8:15 AM, the time at which the nuclear bomb was dropped. These are the stories of some of the timepieces that were frozen in time at 8:15 AM after the nuclear bomb dropped on the Japanese city in 1945.

Shinji Mikamo’s Father’s Pocket Watch

Shinji Mikamo was working on his father’s roof at the time of the blast. Having been rocked by the explosion, the injured Shinji and his father roamed the devastated city looking for help, despite having their skin melted onto their bodies. They would eventually seek refuge in the Kyobashi River, among many other survivors, looking to alleviate the pain through submerging themselves in the water.

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Shinji would eventually find his way to a makeshift hospital, where he was separated from his father who would later succumb to his injuries. Three months later, Shinji could walk again, and he made his way to the place where his house once stood. Stumbling through the wreckage, he would find his deceased father’s pocket watch. The time it read was 8:15 AM.

Kengo Nikawa’s Moeris Pocket Watch

Kengo Nikawa’s pocket watch 1.6 Km from the epicenter of the blast / Credit: Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum Collection

Kengo Nikawa was on his way to his assigned workplace demolition site when the bomb exploded. He was 1.6 Km from the epicenter, and suffered burns on his shoulder, back, and head. He would die from his injuries about two weeks later, on August 22nd, 1945. His pocket watch’s hands stopped at the time of the explosion – 8:15 AM.

Watanabe Kojiro’s Father’s Buffalo Pocket Watch

The curator for the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Yukimi Dohi, was shocked to find her connection to a pocket watch housed inside the museum that she worked at. Her great aunt, Watanabe Miyoko, had donated the watch in 1997. The watch belonged to her father Watanabe Kojiro, who was exposed to the Hiroshima blast while working as the leader of a labor service corps team. He experienced severe burns throughout his body and died on August 16th, 1945 from his injuries. His watch read 8:15 AM.

A Japanese Citizen’s Wristwatch

Image drawn by Onogi Akira who was 15 when he witnessed the bombing and a Japanese citizen’s watch with the time at 8:15 AM

This watch is located in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in Hiroshima, Japan. The painting behind the watch was drawn by Onogi Akira, who was just 15 years old when he witnessed the blast 1.3 Km from the epicenter. Having first crawled out from his collapsed house, he saw his neighbour for the first time. The skin on both of his arms was peeled off and hanging by his fingertips. He was desperately trying to find his child, but later he and his child would succumb to their injuries.

When the flash suddenly occurred, people in the streets instinctively threw their hands over their eyes. Even citizens several kilometers away suffered severe burns on their forearms and hands. The time was 8:15 in the morning, which meant that the streets were filled with workers and schoolchildren – who would often speak of how their “skin peeled off like a glove”.

To ease the pain, injured citizens would extend their arms out in front of them to prevent exposed flesh from sticking. The many people injured in this manner then flocked to the streets, often in groups, walking with their red exposed flesh hanging in front of them like a peeled potato. This phenomenon became known throughout Japan and the West as the ‘processions of ghosts’. On that day, the fiction of the living dead became abhorrently real.

Seiko Peace Clock of Hiroshima

The Seiko Peace Watch Clock in Hiroshima

The Seiko peace clock in Hiroshima counts the number of days since the atom bomb was first dropped, as well as the number of days since the last nuclear test. It simultaneously acts as a normal functioning clock, while also acting as a memorial for when the first nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

As tensions increase worldwide, and the word “nuclear” is increasingly being thrown around, it would be wise to look back on these timepieces, which serve as a reminder of the terror of war and atomic weapons.

By: Eric Mulder

Read more:

“Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” History, November 18th, 2009, https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bombing-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki.
Lauria, Joe. “When Time Stopped in Hiroshima--and When it Was Stolen.” HuffPost, August 6th, 2015, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hiroshima_b_7950636.
“The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.” The Naked Watchmaker, https://www.thenakedwatchmaker.com/japan-hiroshima.
“A-bomb Drawing by Survivors.” Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/virtual/VirtualMuseum_e/visit_e/art_e/art08e.html.
Dower, John W. “Ground Zero 1945.” MIT Visualizing Cultures, 2008, https://visualizingcultures.mit.edu/groundzero1945/gz_essay04.html.