Hiroshima

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We got up early and took several trains to get to Hiroshima, the southernmost point of our trip. We spent most of the day on the train, so we arrived in Hiroshima with very little time left to see the atom bomb museum. It was just devastating to see the human cost of one bomb. It was really well laid out - there was no sense of blame attached, it even had a section showing the reasons why the US dropped the bomb. It had an overall message of “never again” - it showed how the mayor of Hiroshima writes a letter to governments around the world condemning the testing of nuclear weapons every time they are tested. It was interesting that the most recent one was written to the US in August of this year. It’s interesting how we never hear about it, but when North Korea wants to make a test, we do. Some of the most chilling things on display was a watch that had stopped at exactly 8:15 when the bomb fell, a little girl’s shoe that had the imprint of her foot burned onto it, and story after story of people who had died. They had a display of the middle of the city before the bomb, and then right after. There was nothing left. I think we were both kind of glad that we only had a short amount of time to spend because you leave feeling so sad you are almost sick with it (but it is still very moving and worthwhile to see).
The museum is in the middle of this beautiful park called the peace park, where a flame is lit that will remain until the last nuclear warhead is dismantled. We also saw the children’s memorial with the paper cranes that are made by children all over the world. That was really neat because I remember my elementary school principal reading us the story of Sadako and the 1000 paper cranes over the loud speakers in grade 3 or 4, and it was neat to see the memorial to her and other children who died of leukemia after the bomb because of radiation poisoning.
We sat beside the river for a long time staring at the A-bomb Dome, the only building left standing after the blast. It was a beautiful night. Eventually a group of teenagers started playing guitar and singing under the bridge close-by, and we moved closer to listen to them. They were really good, and their music served to uplift our spirits. It was a neat juxtaposition: the devastation that the dome represented with the music filled with life of a new generation.

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