Saturday - Hiroshima

---

Today I was off to visit the site of the Hiroshima A bomb explosion. Is checked out the map and spoke to the staff at the hostel and found out it was close by and very easy to get to, so I set off on my travels. It was a cloudy day and cooler of late so for the first time in ages I donned my long trousers lol.



I ended to catch the tram which ran between the train station and the location of the A bomb memorial. To be honest I couldn't have picked a better location to stay since my sole purpose of visiting was to see the memorial park.



As luck would have it there was a tram just pulling up and I jumped in it, my second piece of luck was thatbit was going my way as at one point toe trams split and go in 3 different directions. Good karma! The fair is a flat rate and you pay it when you get off.



I alighted at the relevant stop which wasn't hard to mis really as you can see the domed building from the road and is the first thing you see when you visit the site. The domed building is one of only a handful of buildings left standing after the bomb was dropped. Most other buildings were torn down when the city was completely rebuilt. However there was a group of people who wanted to leave the dome as a lasting memorial to those who perished in the atrocity.



The complex consists of a memorial to the students who perished when the bomb was dropped. I learned later at the museum that younger students 13 - 16 were out building war defences to protect the city from conventional weapons when the bomb was dropped, some 7000 alone. A memorial to the old people perished. A large purpose memorial for the children which consists of a tall slightly domed shaped structure with a bell inside, and images of a boy and girl on side and a crane on top. Around this memorial are glass cases housing colourful origami paper cranes.



The crane is a symbol which was adopted after the death of a girl who used to make them from her sick bed before she died after being caught in the bombing and after suffering a lingering death.



There was also a monument to everyone who died in the bombings. Their names are contained in a marble box under a marble dome structure. The memorial also includes water and and eternal at the far end.



There is so do a museum with a cafe so I stopped if there for dome food as I had skipped breakfast. In the museum you can get an audio guide which was very useful. Only half the museum was open as the other half was undergoing renovation. However this didn't detract from the exhibits on display. A watch which is frozen in time when the man wearing it was killed, children's clothing and personal effects. Melted roof tiles and twisted metal girders and window shutters etc.



It was quite harrowing to see the images and hear snout peoples experiences. As with 9/11 some peoples remains were never found and disintegrated completely when the bomb exploded. In some cases only bone and teeth fragments ere found. One family gave an account where they couldn't find any remains of their daughter at the school she had been attending so they collected some bone fragments from those that had been found and hoped that some of them were from their daughter and had them buried in a grave. It was upsetting to seethe pictures of people who survived with burnt skin and to hear how they suffered for days after the bomb was detonated. With no medical supplies or proper medical care they must have been in agony and fir parents to see their children die in that way I can only imagine the pain and suffering they sent through.



As with the chemical bombings during the Vietnam war there are after effects of nebular poisoning, various cancers and child defects when born etc. Also the contamination of water, ground and sir, after the bomb went off the was a deluge of black rain containing all sorts of chemicals and radiation which added to the death toll and impacted people's health and well being, many dying years later of cancers etc.



There ere also pictures and displays to show at whist height and where the first bomb exploded and the level of devastation and radius impacted to try to guide the visitor a sense of how huge the area affected was. I just hope to god no one ever pushes the button again and unleashes this weapon of madness on the world ever again!



The display did finish on a positive note though. No one ever thought that anything would grow there again for many years if at all. However about a year later canna lilies started to bloom in the scorched earth it was said giving people hope and courage for the future.



After the museum the final place I went to was the Peace Memorial Hall. This building is sunken into the ground and on the top there is a water feature which features a pseudo clock set at 0815 and incorporates rubble from some of the rubble from the buildings. Inside you walk down and round in a spiral and cabin read various facts and figures. In the centre is a large room clad with tiles each one representing a life lost in rather bombing and a list of all the districts obliterated from the city. Their place on the wall signified how far away they were from the epicentre. In the centre is a small water feature. It very quiet and solemn. Me and one other guy were the only people which I appreciated so I could sit and reflect in peace a while.



******** adult content ********

When I came out I was heading bs k to the tram and a guy caught my eye, my initial thought was that he was peeing against a tree, which I thought was disrespectful especially when there were plenty if facilities located around. But no he wasn't peeing he was masturbating!!!!!! In public, at a memorial for the Hiroshima victims and children were around too,luckily not near him. FFS!!!!!!! Is nothing sacred!!!!!! I had a few choice thoughts in my head about what a horrible man he was but I was so shocked I just walked away shaken. I should have really called security but how do you get across the situation in Japanese when you don't speak Japanese?



***** all ok now *****



I thought that would be my lasting memory of the last thing I experienced there but as it happened I was stopped by 4 female students who wanted to practice their English so we chatted for about 10 minutes and did the usual selfie photo and got a passer by to take on on my camera since my selfie missed one of the girls out lol.



After the memorial park I headed back to the hostel to do some admin for future trios, hotels etc.i had asked early in the day about the night boat trip along the river and my excursion to rabbit island with a girl who works at the hostel. She was so lovely and gave me the train details where to change and my final destination station - star lady! And rang the cruise company to book me on the sunset cruise along the fiver bless her she was so helpful.



So in the evening I grabbed some food, took the tram back up to the A bomb area where the river was and walked yo to the cruise boat. I paid my fee and climbed aboard and sat at the back as it was quite warm inside the covered area. On board we got a drink, chocolate biscuits and the gentle sound of piped music and a saxophonist! There was only a handful of people on board including an older guy who sat outside and asked me where I was from. When I told him I was from England he spoke tommies wife inside who came out to chat. She spoke some English but her husband dint really speak any and so we communicated through her. They were from the Philippines and she had been over studying Japanese cooking and they had a daughter who was aged about 8,. It was nice to have a bit of company on the boat.



We passed the a bomb building and the cruise took about 40 minutes in total and i managed to get some photos of the sunset and the skyline before it got dark. It was all very lovely and peaceful and quiet, we even got some waves from people on the shore ;-)



I took some extra photos of the A bomb building at night. I think the best time to see this would be at sunrise as the sun sets on the opposite side. After the boat cruise I headed back to the hotel to blog and have sun early night.



Xxx

---