Digital Technology to Carry History into the Future: Third-Generation Atomic Bomb Survivor Takahiro Masuda

As the final assignment of the programme, participants developed and presented digital storytelling projects. For his project, Takahiro created an application called Hiroshima XR. The app uses extended reality (XR) technology to overlay images of Hiroshima immediately after the atomic bombing with the city as it appears today, allowing users to experience the environment in an immersive way.

The inspiration for Hiroshima XR, Takahiro says, was one of the programme lectures in which Professor Hidetaka Watanabe (University of Tokyo) spoke about preserving memories of the past through digital archives and spatial expression. While survivors’ testimonies have long played a central role in conveying the horrors of the atomic bombing, preserving these memories has become critical as the number of survivors dwindle, 80 years after the bombing. Beyond capturing videos of the survivors telling their stories, Takahiro sees digital technologies as indispensable to meet this need.

Verbal testimony can be easily distorted and changed over time. To preserve history as accurately as possible, I believe it is essential to make use of digital technologies.

– Takahiro Masuda, university student and UNITAR AI/digital storytelling training participant (Japan)

To build a realistic virtual environment, Takahiro combined aerial photographs taken shortly after the bombing with modern imagery, using the game development engine Unity and machine learning implemented through the Python programming language. 

By respecting the weight of survivors’ experiences while creating an entry point for engagement through digital technology, Takahiro hopes to demonstrate new ways to pass precious memories on to future generations.