On March 1st, 1954, the U.S. detonated Castle Bravo on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. This detonation was the first in a series of six thermonuclear weapon tests, and remains the largest and most powerful nuclear weapon detonated by the United States. The blast was three times larger than predicted, and deposited radioactive fallout as far away as Australia. Not far away, 23 fishermen aboard the Lucky Dragon No. 5 immediately began experiencing symptoms of radiation sickness and, when they returned to Japan two weeks later, they were quarantined. During their 15 months in a Tokyo hospital, they became the subjects of intense medical scrutiny by both Japanese doctors who sought to treat them, and American doctors who sought to study them. When they were finally released from the hospital, they had to integrate themselves back into communities that did not understand radiation sickness. Many of the fishermen were shunned by friends and family and eventually forced into hiding. Day of the Western Sunrise is a human interest documentary that uses first-hand survivor accounts to craft an urgent and heartfelt narrative about the dangerous of nuclear testing and the importance of advocacy for victims of all kinds of nuclear incidents.