Atom bomb survivor hopes Japan debut of Oppenheimer will stoke nuclear debate

HIROSHIMA — Teruko Yahata was eight when she saw a blueish-white light envelop the sky over her home city of Hiroshima one summer morning, moments before the first atomic bomb explosion knocked her unconscious and levelled swathes of the Japanese city.

Now 86, she is eager to be among the first to see the film Oppenheimer at its delayed opening in Japan on March 29, hoping the biopic of the scientist who led the development of the bomb will reinvigorate debate over nuclear weapons.

"I don't hold a grudge against Oppenheimer himself or anything like that. It's a much bigger issue," said Yahata, who often speaks on behalf of survivors of the nuclear blasts in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War Two.

"I think it's important for the Oppenheimer film to be screened in Japan, so we can learn from it and not lose that awareness that we need to preserve a future for our loved ones."

The film about atomic bomb pioneer J. Robert Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan, is expected to win numerous Oscars at next week's Academy Awards, having already grossed nearly US$1 billion (S$1.33 billion) since its opening in July 2023.

But Japan was initially left out of plans for the worldwide screening. The opening in late summer came just weeks before solemn memorials in Hiroshima and Nagasaki held annually to mark the bombings that claimed more than 200,000 lives.

Some critics said the film glossed over the human cost in Japan. And many Japanese were offended by a grassroots marketing campaign yoking the film to Barbie, another blockbuster that opened around the same time, with fan-produced pictures of the films' stars alongside images of nuclear blasts.

A #NoBarbenheimer hashtag trended online in Japan,