After scooping up seven Oscars — including best picture — and grossing over $950 million at the box office, Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” has definitely earned its place among the most successful biopics in cinema. A sweeping tale about the so-called father of the atomic bomb, which was used to destroy two Japanese cities and killed hundreds of thousands of civilians during World War II, “Oppenheimer” toppled global box-office records after it was released worldwide — except for in this country.

Last summer, the film’s simultaneous release alongside Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster comedy “Barbie” led to the emergence of “Barbenheimer” memes, which were poorly received by Japanese social media users. This controversy, as well as a lingering sensitivity toward the subject matter and the release date’s proximity to the anniversaries of the bombings, kept “Oppenheimer” off screens until now — Nolan’s film will finally hit cinemas here on Friday. In an official statement, distributor Bitter End said: “The film’s subject matter is of great importance and holds special meaning for Japanese people, so we decided to release it in Japan after various discussions and considerations.”

Indeed, J. Robert Oppenheimer and his creation had a devastating impact on Japanese people. An estimated 140,000 perished in Hiroshima when the U.S. military dropped the first bomb on Aug. 6, 1945. Three days later, a second bomb killed a further 74,000 in Nagasaki. Yet nowhere in Nolan’s three-hour odyssey does the detonation of the weapon itself, or the destruction wrought at ground zero, feature. Responses to this omission have varied. Some praise it as an ethical choice to protect the dignity of victims and to resist Hollywood’s tendency to leverage suffering as entertainment. Others condemn Nolan’s sympathetic portrayal of another white male genius as well as an America-centric narrative that does not show a single Japanese person.

Regardless, filmmakers in Japan have been crafting their own thoughtful narratives about the atomic bomb since the 1950s — in genres as varied as war dramas, documentaries, fantasies and anime. The following titles may not have broken box-office records, but they provide nuanced insight into Japanese perspectives on the significance of Oppenheimer’s creation and its aftermath.

“Hiroshima” (1953): Combining real footage with a fictional narrative, “Hiroshima” is an ambitious docudrama that casts over 80,000 survivors, union members and residents of Hiroshima Prefecture as extras. Originally commissioned by the Japan Teachers’ Union as an educational tool, “Hiroshima” is based on a 1951 book of children’s testimonies. Part of what makes this movie so illuminating is its dual timeline: It begins eight years after the bombings, in a classroom where a third of the students suffer from radiation disease. This timeline deals with the attacks’ lasting social impact on surviving civilians — discrimination, economic hardship and personal trauma — while the simultaneous 1945 timeline offers an unflinching account of ordinary life changed forever as a once-prosperous city is blasted into a hellscape.

“Godzilla” (1954): “Godzilla,” which launched a 70-year-old franchise that recently won its first Academy Award, was born during the height of nuclear panic in a country still reeling from the devastation of the atomic bombings. With a thick, scaly hide and gnashing jaw, the reptilian monster that levels Tokyo was originally conceived as a metaphor for nuclear weapons. Director Ishiro Honda told the press that he “took the characteristics of an atomic bomb and applied them to Godzilla.” Detached from the politics of “was it right or wrong” debates, this kaijū (monster) epic presents atomic warfare as a force of evil, no matter who is wielding it.

“Barefoot Gen” (1983): An animated film that revolves around the life of 6-year-old Gen Nakaoka, who must grow up quickly due to the harsh reality of living through wartime food shortages and constant air raids in Hiroshima, this one is devastating. The aftermath of the bomb is all the more disturbing from a child’s point of view, as Gen is forced to overcome his own trauma to save himself and his family. This narrative is based on a 1973 semi-autobiographical manga series by Keiji Nakazawa. Director Mori Masaki’s adaptation of Nakazawa’s chilling bomb sequence is a timeless example of animation’s capacity to evoke abstract experiences of atrocities that are difficult to capture on film.

“Black Rain” (1989): This cinematic masterpiece by Shohei Imamura follows Yasuko, a young Japanese woman who survives the bomb in Hiroshima, along with her aunt and uncle. Based on a novel of the same title by Masuji Ibuse, “Black Rain” opens with harrowing shots of fire, rubble and melting flesh. Five years down the line, Yasuko lives in fear of radiation sickness, which threatens her prospects of marriage. Unraveling beyond its antiwar message, Imamura crafts a sharp critique of Japanese society itself and the prejudices that plagued survivors long after the bomb dropped.

“Rhapsody in August” (1991): Set 50 years after the attacks, Akira Kurosawa’s gentle family tale deals with the intergenerational effects of war. Four siblings from Tokyo visit their grandmother, a survivor of the bombing, in rural Nagasaki Prefecture for the summer. The grandchildren visit the spot where their grandfather was killed, and they are confronted with the emotional consequences of the war for the first time in their lives. Meanwhile, their grandmother struggles with a faltering memory as she recollects her painful past. Like many Japanese people affected by the bomb, she still harbors hostility toward America.

“Rhapsody in August” received mixed reviews after premiering at Cannes, with critics saying the film depicted the atomic bombings as war crimes while leaving out Japan’s own wartime brutality. One scene in particular — in which a Japanese American relative, played by Richard Gere, apologizes to the grandmother — drew criticism for seeming to offer an apology for the bomb on behalf of Americans. It is through this interaction, however, that Kurosawa comments on the lasting impact of war — not just on individual trauma, but on daily interactions and relationships so many decades later.

“White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki” (2007): Kyoko Imori was just three blocks from Hiroshima’s ground zero on that fateful summer day in 1945. She lost her entire family at age 11 and was the only survivor from her school of 620 students. “Why did I survive?” she asks, clutching a weathered photograph of herself as a child. “I’ve come to realize the reason I’m alive is to tell people what happened.”

Sansei Japanese American director Steven Okazaki’s comprehensive documentary is largely told through heart-wrenching testimonials by 14 survivors, alongside hard-to-watch archival footage and interviews from the American side of the attack. We meet the navigator of the Enola Gay — the B-29 bomber that dropped "Little Boy" over Hiroshima — as well as staff at Los Alamos, the New Mexico facility where Oppenheimer built the bomb. Okazaki provides a concise and objective documentary with a sobering end title: The world holds enough nuclear power to re-create Hiroshima 400,000 times over.

“In This Corner of the World” (2016): Serenity meets chaos in this animated wartime drama, as 18-year-old Suzu’s quiet life is thrown into turmoil. Having just married and moved to the small town of Kure in Hiroshima Prefecture, Suzu’s days are spent cooking for her family and painting the tranquil landscape that surrounds her home. Slowly, this peace is interrupted by daily air raids and, eventually, nuclear fallout. Directed and co-written by Sunao Katabuchi, this cruel but poignant tale depicts the beauty of nature and the horrors of war with equal potency, highlighting the everyday challenges faced by ordinary families during a period of violent warfare.

Honorable mentions by masters of film

Though not strictly centered on the effects of the atomic bomb, two films made by Japanese auteurs offer further understanding of the hard lessons learned from World War II.

“The Wind Rises” (2013): Hayao Miyazaki’s film about Jiro Horikoshi, the inventor of the Zero fighter plane, offers an intriguing comparison to Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” as it takes place on the opposite side of the conflict. This anime traces the life of Horikoshi, whose creation was used to devastating effect during the war, much like Oppenheimer’s atomic bomb.

Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli has consistently taken an antiwar stance — most obviously in “Grave of the Fireflies” (1988) and “Princess Mononoke” (1997) — but this glorifying tale has attracted controversy. In emphasizing its protagonist’s internal moral struggles and avoiding the terrible reality of mass slaughter, “The Wind Rises” is an example of how Japanese narratives can be ambivalent about their country’s own bloody past, too.

“Labyrinth of Cinema” (2019): Blending fantasy and drama, cult director Nobuhiko Obayashi’s swansong centers on three men who travel through time to pivotal moments in Japanese history. Their portal is an old cinema in Onomichi, the director’s hometown in Hiroshima Prefecture. Each time the protagonists are propelled into yet another war-torn scene, they attempt to save civilians. Manic, maximalist and curiously comic, this dizzying drama is as much a celebration of cinema as it is a heartfelt plea for peace.