Nagasaki ‘45 – The legacy of Takashi and Midori Nagai

The Archdiocese of Lucca, together with the Comitato Amici di Takashi e Midori Nagai, is promoting an important initiative within the ‘Legacy’ theme of Lucca Comics & Games 2026, presenting to the public the testimony of faith and hope of the Nagai couple, whose lives were profoundly marked by the events of 9 August 1945.

Lucca Comics & Games is the foremost international festival dedicated to comics and video games. It is held every year in the historic centre of Lucca, Italy, and attracts an average of 500,000–600,000 visitors annually. This year, its sixtieth edition will take place from Wednesday 28 October to Sunday 1 November 2026.

The ‘NAGASAKI ‘45’ pavilion, set up in the Chiesa di San Cristoforo in Lucca, focuses on the work of French comics artist Nathalie Fourmy. In 2024 she published the graphic novel ‘Nagasaki ‘45’ in France, winning the Christian comics award at the prestigious Festival international de la bande dessinée. It was subsequently translated into Italian for ITL by Paola Marenco in 2025.

Eighty years after those events, the story of Paul Takashi and Marina Midori Nagai bears witness that a new beginning—filled with light and hope and capable of inspiring an entire people—is always possible when we embrace our wounded humanity and allow ourselves to be embraced by Christ, living in the Church.

As Pope Leo XIV stated in his Message for the 59th World Day of Peace, in the face of the logic of war, ‘we must encourage and support every spiritual, cultural and political initiative that keeps hope alive, countering the spread of fatalistic attitudes, as though the dynamics at work were produced by anonymous, impersonal forces and structures independent of human will’.

Promoted by:
Arcidiocesi di Lucca
Arcidiocesi di Nagasaki
Dicastero per l’Evangelizzazione – Section for First Evangelisation and the New Particular Churches
Ambasciata del Giappone presso la Santa Sede
Comitato Amici di Takashi e Midori Nagai

Under the patronage of:
Comune di Lucca
Fondazione Giacomo Puccini – Lucca
Fondazione Italia-Giappone
ISC ICOMOS PRERICO

In partnership with:
Lucca Crea | Lucca60 Legacy