Hiroshima, Nagasaki and self-censorship

As Japan faces its biggest crisis since World War Two, here are two takes on self-censorship from those war years. A child survivor of Hiroshima explains why she kept quiet about her experiences for so long, through the pain and guilt of survival. And a Japanese examination of the self-censorship of American newspaper reporters and editors in the weeks after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[...]

Recreating pre-war Nagasaki in 3D, Ars Electronica 2009, and A Brief History of GPS Drawing

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On this week’s podcast, we’re off to Linz, Austria to hear about some of the exhibits at annual Ars Electronica Festival. One you can see here at left: that’s right, turn your own urine into fertilizer. If you like that one, wait until you hear the other story from Linz…Also, we hear about the 3D re-creation of pre-war Nagasaki, Japan. And we end with a brief history of GPS drawing, brought to you by listener Brett Stalbaum.

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Recreating Nagasaki

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Akiko Fujita reports that students at the University of Nagasaki are attempting to create a 3D digital image of the Japanese city BEFORE a US atomic bomb destroyed it during World War II. Very few photos remain of the pre-bomb neighborhoods, so the students are also relying on survivor memories. Read more and watch a video

Hiroshima’s Survivors: The Last Generation

In his four-part series “Hiroshima’s Survivors: The Last Generation,” The World’s Patrick Cox introduces listeners to some of the over 250,000 “hibakusha,” or A-bomb survivors still living.