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8:15 A True Story of Survival and Forgiveness from Hiroshima
On August 6th, 1945 Shinji, a Japanese adolescent boy, helps his father below prepare their home for demolition from its roof top, he sees a blinding flash. An Earth-shattering blast with scorching heat sends him into complete darkness and total chaos. An atomic bomb has just exploded only three-quarters of a mile away from him, devastating all of Hiroshima in a blink.
Severely injured and burned, Shinji is rescued and pushed forward by his wounded father. It was only the beginning of his excruciating pain and hardships to come for decades. – A miraculous journey of resiliency, forgiveness, and empathy even for the destroyers.
One of Shinji’s three daughters, Dr. Akiko Mikamo, wrote his story to send out the messages of human love and power of forgiveness to remind the world our worst enemies of yesterday could become the best friends of tomorrow.
Severely injured and burned, Shinji is rescued and pushed forward by his wounded father. It was only the beginning of his excruciating pain and hardships to come for decades. – A miraculous journey of resiliency, forgiveness, and empathy even for the destroyers.
One of Shinji’s three daughters, Dr. Akiko Mikamo, wrote his story to send out the messages of human love and power of forgiveness to remind the world our worst enemies of yesterday could become the best friends of tomorrow.
212 pages, Paperback
Published April 5, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 13, 2021
6. August 1945, 8:15 Uhr — Die Atombombe schlägt in Hiroschima ein. Wir begleiten Shinji und seinen Vater beim Überlebenskampf, der einigermaßen komplex behandelt wurde.
Was Akiko Mikamo sehr gut gelungen ist, sind die Beschreibungen der Umgebung, sie hat die Unterschiede vor und nach der Detonation außerordentlich bildhaft beschrieben. Man muss dazu sagen, dass sie über fundiertes Wissen verfügt, da sich ihre Eltern nur 1200m von der Einschlagstelle entfernt befanden, als die Bombe detonierte. Daher ist das Buch wohl auch äußerst emotional geschrieben worden.
Aber: Negative Kritik habe ich dahingehend, dass es zu viele Wiederholungen gegeben hat. Unbeschreiblich viele Wiederholungen, die mir das Interesse an der Geschichte genommen haben. Es bewirkte, dass ich mich von Wiederholung zu Wiederholung mehr von der Geschichte distanzierte. Sehr schade!
Das Hörbuch wurde von René Dumont eingesprochen. Seine Stimmfarbe ist wirklich sehr schön- zugegebenermaßen fast zu schön, für diese Erzählung aus der Hölle. Es ist eigentlich eher die perfekte Stimmfarbe eines Märchenerzählers.
——
Dieser Abschnitt unserer Geschichte darf nicht in Vergessenheit geraten. Allerdings gibt es meiner Ansicht nach bessere Lektüren, die sowohl aufklärend als auch berührend sind.
Was Akiko Mikamo sehr gut gelungen ist, sind die Beschreibungen der Umgebung, sie hat die Unterschiede vor und nach der Detonation außerordentlich bildhaft beschrieben. Man muss dazu sagen, dass sie über fundiertes Wissen verfügt, da sich ihre Eltern nur 1200m von der Einschlagstelle entfernt befanden, als die Bombe detonierte. Daher ist das Buch wohl auch äußerst emotional geschrieben worden.
Aber: Negative Kritik habe ich dahingehend, dass es zu viele Wiederholungen gegeben hat. Unbeschreiblich viele Wiederholungen, die mir das Interesse an der Geschichte genommen haben. Es bewirkte, dass ich mich von Wiederholung zu Wiederholung mehr von der Geschichte distanzierte. Sehr schade!
Das Hörbuch wurde von René Dumont eingesprochen. Seine Stimmfarbe ist wirklich sehr schön- zugegebenermaßen fast zu schön, für diese Erzählung aus der Hölle. Es ist eigentlich eher die perfekte Stimmfarbe eines Märchenerzählers.
——
Dieser Abschnitt unserer Geschichte darf nicht in Vergessenheit geraten. Allerdings gibt es meiner Ansicht nach bessere Lektüren, die sowohl aufklärend als auch berührend sind.
December 8, 2020
Ein extrem wichtiges Buch, das die Geschehnisse rund um den Atombombenabwurf über Hiroshima 1945 auf ganz persönliche Art und Weise aufarbeitet. Die Autorin Akiko Mikamo schildert die Lebensgeschichte ihres eigenen Vaters, seinen Kampf ums Überleben und seinen Weg zur Vergebung. Die Geschehnisse innerhalb des Buches werden ungeschont berichtet und wirken genau deswegen so tragisch. Meiner Meinung nach ist "8.15 Uhr" ein Buch, das man unbedingt gelesen haben muss, denn es steckt wahnsinnig viel Wahrheit und zugleich Philosophie darin. Dieses Werk wird mich definitiv noch lange gedanklich begleiten.
November 30, 2023
Growing up and hearing about the bombing that happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I knew there was a lot of damage and loss; still today, Japan is still recovering from the trauma. After reading this book, I truly realized how strong the survivors from this horrific incident are. They witness the tragic and experienced losing love ones right before their eyes and they chose to forgive and not bear hatred in their heart. This story was worth reading!
February 19, 2023
Beautifully heartbreaking story of what this man and his family endured during the bombing of Hiroshima. Looking at the map I can’t even imagine how close this man was to the epicenter and survived to tell about it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 23, 2026
I visited Hiroshima in the spring of 2024, arriving at the height of cherry blossom season. As the days past, the petals fell in blizzards. At Peace Memorial Park, I met Mito Kosei, a 78-year-old "in utero survivor" of the atomic bomb. A former English teacher, Mito said that his goal was "to sow seeds of peace from this place."
Our guide was the indispensable Naoko, whose fluency in English and knowledge of the horrific events of Aug. 6, 1945 grounded us. She is a friend of Dr. Akiko Mikamo, the author of this book, and she urged me to buy a copy at the Peace Memorial Museum.
In high school—and again, just before my trip—I read John Hershey’s classic account of the bombing, entitled simply, “Hiroshima.” Hershey chronicled the atomic devastation in a detached, Pointillistic way, adding detail upon detail until the horrific whole emerged. He was a keen-eyed U.S. journalist, and the story that he recounted secondhand from numerous survivors was a moral wake-up call: We’ve done it before; we could do it again.
No less searing—and no less of a wake-up call—is the story of 19-year-old Shinji Mikamo, the author’s father, who on that blue-sky morning awakened to a sparse breakfast of millet and barnyard grass porridge. At 8:15 a.m., while working with his father to prepare their home for demolition—a fire control measure imposed by the government—the sky flashed with a blinding red light.
Thus begins Shinji’s story of survival, healing and transformation. Time feels like his worst foe but becomes his patient friend. During long, lonely months of hospitalization, he begins to heal, but only physically. Eventually, he marries another survivor and they raise three daughters in Hiroshima, the eldest disabled, the two younger bright and eager for life.
Although Shinji’s emotional wounds take decades to heal, they ultimately transmute into an enhanced humanity—one that he impresses upon his daughters. His middle and youngest grow up to become, respectively, a psychologist and a medical doctor, each bearing their fathers’ legacy of suffering and each carrying his message of hope.
In an online bio, Dr. Mikamo says that from the age of ten she had wanted to write a book about her father’s survival journey. In mid-career as a practicing psychologist based in the United States, she began to gather his memories, via interviews, faxes and visits with him in Hiroshima. The book was subsequently published in many languages and became the basis of a documentary film, and yet I feel it deserves an even wider audience.
In the book’s afterword, she writes that her father had raised her saying, “Akiko, it’s wrong to hate Americans. Yes, they bombed us, but the Americans are not to blame. You have to see the bigger picture of what was happening in the world at that time. It’s the war to be blamed. I want you to grow up, learn English and learn about other cultures, and become a bridge across oceans to help people from different backgrounds with different beliefs understand one another, so no one will ever suffer from a nuclear bombing again. Contribute to society and contribute to world peace.”
This is a multi-generational story that begins with a red flash and mushroom cloud and ends in a luminous region of the human spirit. In writing this book, Dr. Mikamo has sown her own seeds of peace.
Our guide was the indispensable Naoko, whose fluency in English and knowledge of the horrific events of Aug. 6, 1945 grounded us. She is a friend of Dr. Akiko Mikamo, the author of this book, and she urged me to buy a copy at the Peace Memorial Museum.
In high school—and again, just before my trip—I read John Hershey’s classic account of the bombing, entitled simply, “Hiroshima.” Hershey chronicled the atomic devastation in a detached, Pointillistic way, adding detail upon detail until the horrific whole emerged. He was a keen-eyed U.S. journalist, and the story that he recounted secondhand from numerous survivors was a moral wake-up call: We’ve done it before; we could do it again.
No less searing—and no less of a wake-up call—is the story of 19-year-old Shinji Mikamo, the author’s father, who on that blue-sky morning awakened to a sparse breakfast of millet and barnyard grass porridge. At 8:15 a.m., while working with his father to prepare their home for demolition—a fire control measure imposed by the government—the sky flashed with a blinding red light.
Thus begins Shinji’s story of survival, healing and transformation. Time feels like his worst foe but becomes his patient friend. During long, lonely months of hospitalization, he begins to heal, but only physically. Eventually, he marries another survivor and they raise three daughters in Hiroshima, the eldest disabled, the two younger bright and eager for life.
Although Shinji’s emotional wounds take decades to heal, they ultimately transmute into an enhanced humanity—one that he impresses upon his daughters. His middle and youngest grow up to become, respectively, a psychologist and a medical doctor, each bearing their fathers’ legacy of suffering and each carrying his message of hope.
In an online bio, Dr. Mikamo says that from the age of ten she had wanted to write a book about her father’s survival journey. In mid-career as a practicing psychologist based in the United States, she began to gather his memories, via interviews, faxes and visits with him in Hiroshima. The book was subsequently published in many languages and became the basis of a documentary film, and yet I feel it deserves an even wider audience.
In the book’s afterword, she writes that her father had raised her saying, “Akiko, it’s wrong to hate Americans. Yes, they bombed us, but the Americans are not to blame. You have to see the bigger picture of what was happening in the world at that time. It’s the war to be blamed. I want you to grow up, learn English and learn about other cultures, and become a bridge across oceans to help people from different backgrounds with different beliefs understand one another, so no one will ever suffer from a nuclear bombing again. Contribute to society and contribute to world peace.”
This is a multi-generational story that begins with a red flash and mushroom cloud and ends in a luminous region of the human spirit. In writing this book, Dr. Mikamo has sown her own seeds of peace.
August 2, 2025
This was a captivating first person account of the devastations brought by the atom bomb in Hiroshima. The message was clear and beautiful - the profoundly tragic stories of Hiroshima offer a pivotal moment for humanity. It is up to society to make the conscious and intentional choice to use it as a means to strive for peace. The innovations behind science and technology are progressing at a rapid rate. Moral/humanitarian institutions need to be progressing just as rapidly (ideally faster) to ensure advancement is used to better society rather than as a means of destruction.
It feels disrespectful to critique such a raw piece of work, but 4/5 only because I felt the narration could have been more emotionally expressive. The knives cut deep, but I know the empathy I carry can only scratch the surface as to what was experienced and lived by these survivors. Nonetheless well written; the piece concise and thoughtful.
It feels disrespectful to critique such a raw piece of work, but 4/5 only because I felt the narration could have been more emotionally expressive. The knives cut deep, but I know the empathy I carry can only scratch the surface as to what was experienced and lived by these survivors. Nonetheless well written; the piece concise and thoughtful.
June 27, 2026
One of the most moving testimonials I've read
It amazes me that anyone survived, and how much a human can suffer and still live. In such a situation, there were people who were cruel and people who were angelic and giving.
He talks about different responses and attitudes as things happened and how those led to leading a good life vs a bitter life in the aftermath.
He also talks about the failures of his own government - their failure to stop the war when they were clearly losing led to a lot of preventable deaths, and he resented that.
He is remarkably able to emphasize with why the US did the unthinkable. The man clearly had a very high moral character and I found that to be admirable. It paid off in how he lived his life. His father also was an amazing man who gave his all for his son.
It's just one of the best books I've read in awhile.
It amazes me that anyone survived, and how much a human can suffer and still live. In such a situation, there were people who were cruel and people who were angelic and giving.
He talks about different responses and attitudes as things happened and how those led to leading a good life vs a bitter life in the aftermath.
He also talks about the failures of his own government - their failure to stop the war when they were clearly losing led to a lot of preventable deaths, and he resented that.
He is remarkably able to emphasize with why the US did the unthinkable. The man clearly had a very high moral character and I found that to be admirable. It paid off in how he lived his life. His father also was an amazing man who gave his all for his son.
It's just one of the best books I've read in awhile.
September 24, 2026
Great book and I'm glad that author was able to share her families experience in Hiroshima. I do wish the author talked more about her disabled sister. What ever happened to her? Is she still alive? Did she pass away? Very curious to know. I can't believe Shinji lost his entire family due to the war. It felt too deep for me to even imagine how he felt so alone in this world. After Shinji left his father to recover at the hospital, he found out his father passed away after recovering, his brother passed away, and his mom (auntie who raised him) passed away, he was seen as an orphan kid. I'm glad he eventually got married and had kids. He was able to create his own family. I'm glad his story was told and shared with the world. I purchased this book from at the peace memorial museum in Hiroshima.
June 28, 2026
It is difficult to imagine the horrific scenes caused by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This book has helped me to see the destruction and the impact on those who survived through the author's father's story. It's heartbreaking
September 10, 2026
Very human, inspiring and great narrative. Although is sad to read these stories, I felt inspired and motivated to have a different view of my life and all the blessings I receive daily. Recommended. Japanese people are so brave, strong and resilient and I admire them
February 4, 2025
Aufwühlend und erschütternd. Leider wieder aktuell. Pflichtlektüre.
May 25, 2026
A simply told and straight-forward account of a Hiroshima survivor. Odd that this true narrative impacted me far less than the fictional but gut-wrenching Grave of the Fireflies.
June 17, 2026
Excellent
June 2, 2026
A book that should be a compulsory textbook in every school worldwide. How are we to avoid the mistakes of the past if we do not know history? Edmund Burke said, “Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.” True words.
January 25, 2023
A quick and simplistic read. Dr. Mikamo packs a sobering punch recounting her father's survival of the atomic bomb. Highly recommend for those who wish to visit Hiroshima and the Peace Memorial Museum as well. Bring lots of tissues.
October 8, 2023
A quick and easy book to read.
A sad retelling of a Japanese man’s experience of his survival in Hiroshima.
Quite interesting.
A sad retelling of a Japanese man’s experience of his survival in Hiroshima.
Quite interesting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 22, 2023
Bought this book while in Hiroshima and I read it in a single weekend.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews