A bright light shatters the darkness over the predawn Pacific. The light envelops the entire sea and changes from yellow to orange, purplish orange to red.
Eardrum-shattering rumbling follows and shakes the planet. Hours later, white ash begins to fall.
"I kept wondering, 'What is going on, what is going on,' " says Matashichi Oishi, recalling what happened 50 years ago. "But I couldn't come up with an answer. I had very little knowledge about nuclear bombs then."