A newly published memoir tells the extraordinary story of a family who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and later appeared on the American television programme This Is Your Life, where they were confronted with the remorseful US pilot who dropped the bomb. The account centres on Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto and his adopted daughter Koko Kondo, who lived through the 1945 attack that killed tens of thousands and helped bring the Second World War to its close. The story offers a rare, deeply personal perspective on one of the twentieth century's defining events, exploring both the human cost of the bombing and the unlikely reconciliation that followed decades later.

The book recounts how Tanimoto, a Methodist minister, became a prominent advocate for Hiroshima survivors, campaigning internationally for peace and support for those affected by the blast. His path crossed with that of the American airman involved in dropping the bomb during a televised reunion, in which the pilot expressed profound remorse for his role in the attack. The memoir draws on first-hand recollections to detail the devastation inflicted on the city and its people, as well as the emotional weight of the later meeting, which brought together victim and perpetrator in a moment widely seen as extraordinary given the scale of destruction the bomb caused.