Hibaku Piano

The Music That Remembered

Venue(s): Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
July 11 (Fri) – July 24 (Thu), 2025

Language: Japanese with English and barrier-free Japanese subtitles
Official website: hibakupiano.com
Theater website: topmuseum.jp/contents/exhibition/movie-5220.html
Theater website: topmuseum.jp/e/contents/pages/access_index.html
Theater website: topmuseum.jp
Trailer: https://bit.ly/46HcHIV
Tariff: Please check on the theater site.
Advance tickets: Please check on the theater site.
Talk event: Please check on the theater site.

Title: おかあさんの被爆ピアノ (Okasan no Hibaku Piano)
Director: Toshihiro Goto (五藤利弘)
Duration: 111min

As Japan marks 80 years since the Hiroshima bombing, Hibaku Piano arrives as a quiet yet deeply affecting reminder of the past’s enduring echoes. This historical drama, directed by Toshihiro Goto, is based on the real-life story of a piano that survived the 1945 atomic blast—and the man who now shares its voice with the world. The film is screening at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (Ebisu) in both English-subtitled and barrier-free Japanese editions, and includes director talks on the opening weekend.

Mitsunori Yagawa (Shiro Sano) is a second-generation hibakusha who has devoted his life to restoring and performing with the “hibaku pianos”—instruments exposed to the blast yet still capable of music. He travels across Japan with these fragile, enduring artifacts in a 4-ton truck, tuning them with care and inviting audiences to listen.

In Tokyo, university student Nanako (Tomu Muto, of AKB48) discovers her late grandmother once donated one of these instruments. As she meets Yagawa and begins to learn about the legacy of Hiroshima, she also confronts questions of her own identity, generational trauma, and how memory is passed down—not only through stories, but through sound.

The result is a gentle, introspective drama that connects individual lives to a broader cultural and historical legacy. Through music, memory, and the people who protect them, Hibaku Piano reminds us that the past is never truly silent.

This is a rare, timely theatrical release that links Japan’s living memory to today’s audiences—through a single, unforgettable sound.

Tokyo Photographic Art Museum