In 1945, immediately after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, young nursing students were struggling desperately to save lives.

Based on "In the Shadow of the Flash: Memoirs of Red Cross Nurses Who Cared for Atomic Bomb Victims," a collection of firsthand accounts by Red Cross nurses, this moving film portrays the tragedy of the atomic bombing from the perspective of girls who were nursing students at the time.

The three young women created from those testimonies are played by promising rising actors Hinako Kikuchi, Karina Ono, and Asuka Kawatoko. Their month-long days of rescue work—facing life and death under conditions where even a basic medical system no longer functioned—are etched vividly onto the screen.

Also appearing is Kaho Minami, who starred in the classic film 『TOMORROW 明日』, which depicted the day before the Nagasaki bombing. More than 30 years later, she returns to a Nagasaki story in an important role. In addition, Fujie Yamashita, one of the former nursing students whose experiences also informed the original source material, makes a special appearance, and her feelings are voiced by Akihiro Miwa, a Nagasaki native and atomic bomb survivor.

The theme song is produced and directed by Masaharu Fukuyama, also from Nagasaki, based on the bombed camphor tree, in 『クスノキ－閃光の影で－』.

Just like us living in 2025, they had families, friends, lovers, small joys, and dreams. Yet that youth was stolen away in an instant. Even so, the girls who refused to give up on the future will pose profound questions to all of us living in the postwar present.
In 1945, in Nagasaki, three nursing students—Sumi Tanaka, Atsuko Ohno, and Misao Iwanaga—had returned home when their school closed because of air raids, and were spending peaceful time with family and friends.

But at 11:02 a.m. on August 9, an atomic bomb exploded over the city of Nagasaki, and their ordinary lives were destroyed in an instant.

As the city turned to ruins, the girls, still inexperienced, rushed to care for the wounded as student nurses. Faced with the cruel reality that they had to bury more lives than they could save, they continued to question the value of life—and the meaning of living itself.

Comment from Masaharu Fukuyama

It is a great honor for me to have been entrusted with the production and direction of the theme song for "Nagasaki - In The Shadow Of The Flash -".

In the recording process, we were able to preserve a profound “A Cry for Life” that could only be voiced by Hinako Kikuchi, Karin Ono, and Asuka Kawatoko, who each so fully embodied their respective roles—Sumi, Atsuko, and Misao—and lived within the emotional reality of that era.

Although the film depicts the loss of many lives, I believe that the resonance of their singing at its conclusion—as witnesses to those lives and as voices for the souls left behind—transforms the work into a message of enduring spiritual strength: that “the soul cannot be taken away.”
The official announcement has now been made for the theme song of the film, 『クスノキ ―閃光の影で―』. The song came about in response to a request from director Junpei Matsumoto, a Nagasaki native and third-generation victim of the Nagasaki bombing, who hoped that Masaharu Fukuyama would create the piece that closes the film, as a means of inheriting the atomic-bomb experiences of earlier generations and passing on the message of peace to those yet to come. Answering that call, Fukuyama, also from Nagasaki, newly arranged his own song, first released in 2014, especially for this work.

The song 『クスノキ』 is inspired by the bombed camphor tree at Sanno Shrine in Nagasaki, which was exposed to the atomic blast just 800 meters from the hypocenter and, despite once being left on the brink of death, still stands today as a powerful symbol of resilience. This new version, 『クスノキ ―閃光の影で―』, was recorded under Fukuyama’s production and direction and is performed by Hinako Kikuchi, Karin Ono, and Asuka Kawatoko, who portray Sumi, Atsuko, and Misao in the film. The recording also incorporates a vintage organ built in the Meiji era—an instrument that, like the camphor tree itself, survived the destruction of both the First and Second World Wars.

Since 2020, Fukuyama has also led the 『クスノキプロジェクト』 in collaboration with the City of Nagasaki, serving as its executive producer. Through the preservation of atomic-bombed trees, the nurturing of saplings, and support for peace education, the project seeks to convey both the tenacity of life and the profound importance of peace to future generations.

SKY CASTLE FILM Inc.

nagasaki@skycastlefilm.com