Hiroshima

We had a 3 day weekend a few weeks back, and so a group of us went to Hiroshima! It was great (its a beautiful city) but quite sad (obviously) because the city had formerly been flattened by, you guessed it, the atomic bomb that was dropped on its head by, yours truly, America.

Here is a few places we went and a few facts about the grueling event.

Hiroshima is located in the south of Japan.
It was targeted in the war for the bombing because it had become a center for industrial production for the war (war ships etc were built here by Mitsubisihi). It had been this center not only in World War II, but also had taken this role in the previous Sino-Japanese war that was occurring leading up to WWII.

Because of the threat to bombing during WWII, many children had been evacuated from the city, but also, many Jr. High Schools and High Schools had been turned into work-schools. Kids would go to school and work on clearing fire paths etc through the city.

On the day the bomb dropped, many children etc were working outside, as well as many other civilians. Although the US had previously offered a treaty to Japan for its surrender, this bomb was dropped without warning, much to the protest of many people who had worked to create it. Partially, this was done in order to justify the money that had been spent on developing it. It also was thought that this would be a quick and definitive ending to the war, which might carry on for ages given the Japanese dedication to the war effort.

So, on August 6, in the morning, the bomb was dropped and the city flattened within a 3km radius. People were burned very badly, some were completely destroyed if they were towards the very middle of the bomb. For instance, one man had been sitting on the steps of the bank. All that was left of him was a shadow against the wall.

Needless to say, after seeing this museum, and the city that was completely destroyed against the background of the beautiful modern city or Hiroshima now, we were a bit exhausted from the magnitude of what had happened here (I was at least) and I found it a bit hard to believe that this had happened not only here, but in Nagasaki as well. 300,000 victims is no small number in a morning's work.

The second half of the museum is now dedicated to promoting peace and nuclear disarmement. I find it really fascinating that, despite there being real players in this scenario (aka the United States) Japan seems now to look only to prevent any sort of similar disaster from happening around the world. The museum does little to point fingers and instead points towards the future as an opportunity to preserve peace.

Hiroshima is now a beautiful city with the Peace Park that stand adjacent to the Peace Museum. It was wonderful to sit in this park (complete with free wifi) and draw, talk, and bask in what is now a very peaceful city. The park is filled with small dedications to various victims, the most pronounced perhaps being the monument for the children. Many chidren, as I said, were killed by the immediate effects of the bomb. Many others were affected by the radiation and got diseases like leukemia. The most famous child, Sadako Sasaki, is known for trying to fold a Thousand Paper Cranes in order to be cured from this deadly after-effect from the bomb.

A Moving Weekend.

Ill leave you with some images from the statues that around Hiroshima ;) They perhaps convey it the best.