These keloids cover the backs of Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors taken between 1945 and 1950. The burns and wounds of atomic bomb survivors resulted in thickened scars and tumors called keloids.

　Keloids covered the backs of Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors. Keloids are dense fibrous growths that grow over scar tissue; these keloids covered the backs of Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors taken between 1945 and 1950 (date, time, and location unknown).

　 Tumors, called keloids, developed from the burns and wounds of atomic bomb survivors due to the thickening of scars. Keloids occurred in approximately 50-60% of those exposed to heat radiation within 2 km of the hypocenter. Keloids are related to radiation. Keloids left permanent scars on the victims' minds and bodies. Those with keloids, especially on their faces, suffered even more emotionally, while those with keloids on their backs and shoulders were hesitant to show their skin.

　　Keloids are irregular, abnormally protruding scar tissue formed during the healing process of burned skin of A-bomb survivors. The name comes from the fact that the scars look like the shell or legs of a crab. Most commonly seen in survivors within about 2 km of the hypocenter, keloids formed four months after exposure and became most prominent six to 14 months thereafter. Most scars shrank and healed after about two years.

　At 11:02 a.m. on August 9, 1945, in the waning days of the Pacific War, Fat Man, an approximately 21-kiloton detonation-type atomic bomb with plutonium as its core, exploded about 500 meters above Nagasaki. An estimated 70,000 Nagasaki citizens were killed and some 60,000 injured. The bomb exploded over Nagasaki City, an industrial city in the densely populated western part of Kyushu. The surrounding hills prevented the devastating effects of the atomic bomb from spreading over Nagasaki City. On the contrary, they concentrated the destructive power of the atomic bomb, making it more intense in the areas closest to the hypocenter. The Nagasaki atomic bomb obliterated hospitals and medical schools located within approximately 914 meters of the hypocenter. People within a radius of 1.5 km from the hypocenter disappeared in an instant. 

In early October 1945, surviving residents of Hiroshima City wandered the cleared streets, bisecting the ruins. The city was reduced to a pile of rubble by the atomic bomb that had been dropped and exploded on Hiroshima City approximately two months earlier.

　　In early October 1945, surviving residents of Hiroshima City wandered the cleared streets, bisecting the ruins. The city was reduced to a pile of rubble by the atomic bomb that had been dropped and exploded on the city about two months earlier.On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, killing an estimated 90,000 to 120,000 people by December of the same year. In 1945, Tokyo and other cities had already been thoroughly bombed by the U.S. military.

　Homer Bigart, a reporter for the New York Herald Tribune, was allowed to enter the city of Hiroshima on August 6, after the U.S. military had dropped and exploded the atomic bomb, with a delay of September 3. Accompanied by Bernard Hoffman, a Life Magazine photographer who had photographed the bombed area, we walked through Hiroshima on September 3. Hibakusha from the first atomic explosion about four weeks earlier died at a rate of about 100 per day around September 3 from burns and infections that were difficult to treat. The toll from the atomic bomb, the deadliest nuclear weapon in history, was approximately 53,000 dead, 30,000 missing, 13,960 seriously injured, and 43,000 wounded. Homer Biggard considered it a logical act of war to annihilate the enemy Japanese forces, even as he witnessed the destruction of the city of Hiroshima one month after the atomic bomb exploded over the city on August 6, 1945. Bigard won Pulitzer Prizes for his coverage of the Pacific War in 1945 and the Korean War in 1951.

　The city of Hiroshima was just a flat, horrifyingly desolate landscape. The desolation was accentuated by bare, blackened tree trunks and the occasional shell of a reinforced concrete building. Debris was everywhere, but its size was much smaller than usual. The atomic bomb demolished everything. Only a few shells remained of buildings made of iron and steel. Most of Hiroshima's wooden structures were burned to the ground. Japan was in an all-out war. The war had to be won, and they felt they had to virtually exterminate the enemy.

The area around the hypocenter where the atomic bomb exploded in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, collapsed. All occupants of the bus, which was set ablaze by the hot air from the atomic bomb, were killed. Soldiers from the U.S. occupation forces surveyed the damage caused by the Hiroshima atomic bomb in September 1945.

     At the end of World War II, the area around the hypocenter where the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima by the U.S. military on August 6, 1945, collapsed. All occupants of the bus that caught fire due to the hot air from the atomic bomb were killed. The fire damage caused tremendous loss of life. Soldiers from the U.S. occupation forces surveyed the damage caused by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima in September 1945.

　Immediately after the bombing, the firefighting and rescue teams were stripped of personnel and equipment, making the worst of the damage. More than 90% of the citizens of Hiroshima who were within about 500 meters of the hypocenter were killed; it is estimated that about 140,000 people, most of them civilians, died as a result of the atomic bomb blast that was dropped and exploded on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. About half of those who died in the bombing were killed instantly, many of them literally vaporized by the heat rays. The U.S. Atomic Bomb Survey team entered the city of Hiroshima in September 1945 to conduct research.

　In September 1945, after the atomic bombs were dropped and exploded in 1945, Bernard Hoffman became the first American civilian photographer to be at the sites of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. His photographs offered a glimpse of the devastating destructive power of the atomic bombs, and were published in the first issue of Life magazine in 1936. It was a photograph of the scene of Hiroshima after the atomic bombing. Soldiers from the U.S. occupation forces surveyed the desolate, charred wreckage of a bus in which an atomic bomb had been dropped and its occupants had perished.

The August 9, 1945 explosion of the Nagasaki atomic bomb derailed a streetcar that was destroyed by the blast and burned in early September 1945 near Urakami Station, about 1.5 km south of the hypocenter.

The August 9, 1945 explosion of the Nagasaki atomic bomb derailed a streetcar that was destroyed by the blast and burned in early September 1945 near Urakami Station, about 1.5 km south of the hypocenter. Approximately 16 of the approximately 63 biaxial cars of the tramcar were destroyed by the Nagasaki atomic bomb.

　The bombed area, centered on Urakami in Nagasaki, was a burnt-out area. In addition to the wreckage of the streetcars, there was also the overturned and burned wreckage of automobiles. Both sides of the railroad tracks were covered with debris. The bombed area in Nagasaki City was a long, narrow basin from north to south, surrounded on the east and west by mountains. Urakami Station was located approximately 1 km from the hypocenter. The station building was completely destroyed and many bodies were scattered around the premises. The casualties among JNR employees were also enormous: 65 of the approximately 70 employees on duty were killed, including 20 who died instantly.

　Nagasaki Electric Railway Company (Nagasaki Dentetsu) suffered severe damage to its main facilities, buildings, vehicles, and employees, with an approximately 3 km section between Nagasaki Station and Ohashi destroyed. The entire line in the former city was also shut down for several months. About 21 cars were destroyed by fire, 120 utility poles were toppled and broken, several power lines and tracks were destroyed by fire, and more than 100 employees were killed. The company was forced to suspend operations due to the inability to operate trains. Of the 56 cars owned by the company, about half were movable cars, and the deaths of employees (including mobilized students and female volunteers) accounted for 23% of the total of about 500 employees. On November 24, three months after the Nagasaki atomic bomb was dropped on August 9, 1945, streetcars again began running through the streets of Nagasaki.