Hiroshima
Maggie and I spent a very rainy Sunday in Hiroshima. We took the JR shinkansen from Kyoto to Hiroshima, with a quick change in Osaka. Between those train rides and the bus rides to and from the train stations, it was a long day of traveling on public transportation. But Hiroshima was worth it.
In truth, I had not originally planned on going. I am ashamed to admit that the main reason I went was to get as much use out of my expensive JR pass as possible. I should have known better. After the impact The Killing Fields had on me, I should have realized that Hiroshima would be no different. While everything I've seen so far is beautiful here in Japan, certainly The Peace Memorial Museum and the Atomic Bomb Dome are by far the most important. It was a sobering experience, and a vivid reminder of why I travel: to understand all aspects of the world, the good, the bad, and the miraculous.
The Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb, which was 2000 times more powerful than any bomb used to date, at 8:30am on August 6, 1945. It detonated 600 meters above Hiroshima's Industrial Promotions Hall, leaving a shell of a building behind. Everyone inside the building died. At the heart of the city, the Atomic Bomb Dome is the starkest reminder of the horror Hiroshima endured.
Across the Motoyasu River is the Peace Memorial Park. It is such a fitting name for the park, not only because it promotes world peace, but because it is such a peaceful park. Despite the dreary rain, the chill in the air, and the cloudy sky, walking through the park was a sublime experience. Nestled between two rivers and full of large trees and lush green grass, I imagine it serves as a reminder that, always, life endures. Also in the park is a cenotaph on which all the names of known victims are engraved. Housed within the cenotaph is the Flame of Peace, which will only be extinguished once the last nuclear weapon on earth has been destroyed.
Finally, the main attraction is the Peace Memorial Museum, which presents a very thorough and surprisingly balanced narrative of events leading up to the war, the bombing, and the aftermath. Some friends who had been before commented to me that they found the museum interesting because it came from the Japanese perspective. I found this not to be true at all. I thought it presented a very clear and honest depiction of why the US chose to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. In fact, they seemed to understand it much better than I do. Of course, they also showed the harrowing effects of the bomb, and I can honestly say that it was far worse than I had even imagined. Approximately 75,000 people were killed instantly. Another 35,000 died in the following months due to effects of the bomb: illness, injury, burns, and of course, radiation. The city was completely obliterated within an 1 mile radius of the epicenter, and it was for all instensive purposes destroyed over a 3 mile radius past that. It is amazing to me how quickly the city recovered, though it is clear that the people will be scarred for decades still to come.
I wish I could write more, say more, explain more about the museum in this post. But even if I tried, I could not do it justice.
Man's inhumanity to man continues to baffle me. I can't believe I did this, but on the train ride home, I actually wondered to myself which was worse: the Cambodian genocide or the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. My conclusion? There is nothing worse than humans purposely and violently killing innocent people, whether that is through weapons of mass destruction or genocide.
"People say you can't change the world. But you can change people. And they say that history will repeat itself. No. People will repeat history." -Clemantine Wamariya (Rwandan Genocide Survivor)
In truth, I had not originally planned on going. I am ashamed to admit that the main reason I went was to get as much use out of my expensive JR pass as possible. I should have known better. After the impact The Killing Fields had on me, I should have realized that Hiroshima would be no different. While everything I've seen so far is beautiful here in Japan, certainly The Peace Memorial Museum and the Atomic Bomb Dome are by far the most important. It was a sobering experience, and a vivid reminder of why I travel: to understand all aspects of the world, the good, the bad, and the miraculous.
The Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb, which was 2000 times more powerful than any bomb used to date, at 8:30am on August 6, 1945. It detonated 600 meters above Hiroshima's Industrial Promotions Hall, leaving a shell of a building behind. Everyone inside the building died. At the heart of the city, the Atomic Bomb Dome is the starkest reminder of the horror Hiroshima endured.
Finally, the main attraction is the Peace Memorial Museum, which presents a very thorough and surprisingly balanced narrative of events leading up to the war, the bombing, and the aftermath. Some friends who had been before commented to me that they found the museum interesting because it came from the Japanese perspective. I found this not to be true at all. I thought it presented a very clear and honest depiction of why the US chose to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. In fact, they seemed to understand it much better than I do. Of course, they also showed the harrowing effects of the bomb, and I can honestly say that it was far worse than I had even imagined. Approximately 75,000 people were killed instantly. Another 35,000 died in the following months due to effects of the bomb: illness, injury, burns, and of course, radiation. The city was completely obliterated within an 1 mile radius of the epicenter, and it was for all instensive purposes destroyed over a 3 mile radius past that. It is amazing to me how quickly the city recovered, though it is clear that the people will be scarred for decades still to come.
I wish I could write more, say more, explain more about the museum in this post. But even if I tried, I could not do it justice.
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| A photo of the city very soon after the blast. |
"People say you can't change the world. But you can change people. And they say that history will repeat itself. No. People will repeat history." -Clemantine Wamariya (Rwandan Genocide Survivor)
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