A Day in Nagasaki

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On this day off I spent the day in Nagasaki. Of course Nagasaki is famous for the day we sent a nuclear bomb called the "Fat Man" and destroyed most of the city on August 9th, 1945. The two main sites in Nagasaki are the Atomic Bomb Museum and Peace Park. It was a very emotional experience. My first stop was Peace Park and it was a fun place to check out. Peace Park is a park designed to give the world the promise of peace. The largest statue in the middle of the park is a representation of God watching down on a peaceful world. The park also has a large water fountain for peace and many little statues which as depict peaceful images such as children playing and a mother with her baby.

Just a few thousand meters away is the Atomic Bomb Museum. This area has a different atmosphere. It's art is much darker....depicting bodies burnt and bones piled on top of each other. On this paticular day I saw several amateur painters enjoying the sunny day to paint a scene from ground zero. Inside the museum I was greeted by a volunteer that was also a survivor of the bombing of Nagasaki. He told me he was in the second grade when the bomb dropped and was going to school on an island just off of Nagasaki. He lost many of his friends and family in the blast. He currently gives guided tour of the atomic bomb museum and offered his personal experiences as he guided me through the museum. The museum doesn't allow photos so I will attempt to describe what I remember of the tour. When you first walk in you see many films playing in Japanese with English subtitles showing the effects of the blast. One of the first things you see on the tour is the clock that survived the blast yet stopped at exactly 11:02 the time the bomb landed on the city. You also see the remains of the church close to ground zero. The museum shows the effect of heat and radiation on various objects like melted beer bottles and films and photos of the effects of radiation on the people. This part of my tour was very depressing. The tour also showed us every step the order was made to let the bomb drop. The next part of the tour discussed the number of nuclear weapons currently on the earth and how many each country has. I was surprised to find out that Russia has at least one third more nukes than the USA yet if all the nuclear bombs were set off at once we would destroy the earth 100 times over. The end of the tour covered all the steps we as a planet are taking to insure this tragedy will never happen again. The only thing on the tour that was left out was any mention of Pearl Harbor. Now I understand Pearl Harbor was the reason we dropped the bomb and it help end a world war but this nuclear attack was a completely set on a civilian target. Pearl harbor was a military target, not to say any attack is right but the attack of Nagasaki was an act of terror on innocent people which hit the heart of a very active Nagasaki city with schools and churches and art museums. It was really a shame this tragedy had to happen the way it did. I remember walking through the exhibits and seeing school children on field trips and thinking these are the ages of the kids that were victims of the nuclear attacks on a beautiful city.

After my tour of the Atomic Bomb Museum I needed a fun break so I went to the Nagasaki Fine Art Museum. They had a temporary exhibit with all the famous artist like Monet, Picaso and Rodin, the artist that sculpted "The Thinker". The museum also included all the famous artist of Japan. That was very interesting to see the best artist of Japan and how the art was a major influence on the art on Japan today. I saw a painting of a temple in the rain, many buddist art pieces and some works in the abstract. Unforunately, I couldn't take any pictures in the art museum so this is all I can describe about my experience. Overall I had a wonderful time in Nagasaki.

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