A-bombs and so much more

After a wickedly fast train ride from Osaka to Hiroshima, we found our (excellent!) hostel quickly and dumped our bags (hostel link: http://hiroshimahostel.jp/). We were off quite soon afterward, as the majority of the atomic bomb memorials are very close by. We decided to take a look at all of the cenotaphs, statues, etc. during the nice light of the setting sun. Hiroshima has a series of rivers running through it and they have taken one island and turned it into Peace Memorial Park. It was basically the entertainment/nighlife district of Hiroshima until the bomb hit. The entire island was decimated; the bomb dropped a mere 500 metres from the island.

They have left a building, now known as the A-Bomb Dome, standing as it was just after the bomb hit. Very little of it remains, but it's amazing that anything is there at all! You can still see some of the steel from of the dome. The copper roofing was completely melted by the heat of the fireball (which reached an internal temperature of one million degrees celcius, the air at ground level hit 3 to 4000 degrees). We walked around that site and marvelled at the destruction that humans are able (and willing) to cause.

We also saw the cenotaph where they have a register of all the known victims of the bomb. Every year they open it up and add the names of the people who have died in the past year. There's also a memorial for a little girl named Sadako, who died of leukemia. While she was in the hospital she decided to fold 1000 paper cranes, because they believe that if you fold that many that you will be granted one wish. Some reports say she folded the full 1000, others say she didn't make it. Either way, she died and her classmates asked to have a memorial put up for her. Now they get millions of folded cranes donated every year. They have them housed in little houses all around the sculpture. It's a really touching memorial.

Many other memorials and statues exist and we pretty much saw them all, I think. This morning we got up in time to hear the bells chime at 8:15 (the time the bomb exploded). They chime as a hope and prayer for peace. The park is filled with wonderful symbols, such as the chimes. There is also a Flame of Peace that will be extinguished once the world has been cleansed of all nuclear bombs. Let's hope we see the day when it's put out.

After the bells, we headed to the Peace Memorial Museum, knowing that it wasn't going to be a very uplifting experience. One of the neatest things in the museum is a clock that counts the number of days since the attack. It also counts the number of days since the last nuclear test (at least, the last known one). The smaller the interval between the tests, the faster certain of its mechanisms turn. So, the more real the threat of nuclear war is, the faster these things turn. Once they turn too quickly, the clock will self-destruct. A very intersting concept. Check it out: http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/top_e.html

As expected, the museum was full of depressing photos and stats. Don't get me wrong, it was all very interesting. A lot of the time all you could do was shake your head at the idea of it all. And to think that world leaders are still considering using nukes in this day and age! It was shocking to see the photos of Hiroshima right after the blast. Total obliteration. One of the most touching stories was of a little boy who died and his father couldn't bear the thought of burying him all by himself in the family plot. Instead, they buried him with his tricycle in the backyard. Something like 50 years later they exhumed his body, buried him in the proper place and donated the tricycle to the museum. So sad.

We saw pieces of walls that had the shadow of the person standing in front of it when the blast hit. We saw pieces of glass removed from peoples' bodies 20 years after the attack! Imagine! The scenes and the stories kept coming--there was no end to the suffering. And there still isn't, really. We still don't fully know the effects of radiation and what other health problems will arise for the hibakushi (A-Bomb survivors). They don't believe that it affects genetics, but they can't be 100% sure.

Anyhow, it was fascinating and we really enjoyed it (as much as you can really "enjoy" something like that!). This afternoon we went for a hike up to a pagoda. We walked through a bunch of red gates that were built into the windy path up the side of a big hill and through the trees. It was gorgeous and we loved the different shrines taht we came across. Lots of good photo ops. Too bad that our batteries keep running dry and our charger doesn't work on the Japanese voltages! arg.

We're really loving Japan. It will be difficult to leave. Good thing we have such an exciting place to head to after this!
:) m&j