Minecraft workshops build understanding of cityscapes before atomic bombings

During workshops organized by a University of Tokyo graduate student, participants recreate in a computer game the cityscapes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki before the August 1945 U.S. atomic bombings — aiming to help people think about what the two cities lost in the nuclear attacks that occurred in the closing days of World War II.

Misaki Katayama, 27, who researches peace education, has been holding the two-day workshops in Hiroshima and Nagasaki since 2023.

At the workshops, fourth- to sixth-grade elementary school students reproduce the cityscapes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki before the bombings in Minecraft, a game that allows players to build structures and communities in a virtual world, by using maps, photographs and video footage from that time.