Ho-Ho-Hiroshima

So after getting on another overnight bus to Hiroshima (8.5 hours) we got in at about 6:30am. Early in the morning with nothing to do for the next hour and a half until things open. You can disparage McDonald's all you want, but I will sing their praises forever. They have late and early hours, the food is cheap, and they let you sit down for free. Happy meal indeed. First we headed out to an island in Hiroshima Bay that is considered one of the top 3 most sacred Shinto shrines in Japan. We took a ferry out to it and it cost...you guessed it...500 yen. 

 The island is famous for its deer (as pictured) and for the Tori gate in the water. When the tide is really high, it looks like it is floating out in the water. It always looks like it is floating, but more when the tide is high. It was cold! I didn't think snow could coincide with ocean, but it did here...

 Looking at the shrine on the island.

 5 story pagoda with snow in the background if you look closely. It was bizarre, snow and sunshine.

Tour of the island (kind of)

Deer eating kelp (or drinking seawater, I can't be sure).

Walking on the promenade to the shrine.

Hopefully you can see the snow in these two videos.

I can't figure out how to make it not sideways.

 Floating Tori

 This island was more than a little obsessed with rice scoopers. Really obsessed. They were everywhere for lots of money! I think they probably used them with the shrines somehow. This one is probably the largest in the world. It was giant!

 Next we went downtown to the A-bomb dome. This was the real purpose of coming to Hiroshima. The epicenter of the bomb was near this building. It detonated high above in the sky for maximum effectiveness and devastation to the target. This building was one of only a few that were left standing. The building has remained like this ever since it happened as a memorial. 

 Another view looking from the bridge that was the intended target of the bomb.

 The river splits into two different courses leaving a peninsula that used to be a thriving district. Since the bomb, it is now the peace gardens and the park. 

 The whole park is strewn with memorials for different people and groups. This is the peace bell that you can ring in hope for peace. 

 Brad rang the bell.

 One of the more famous memorials is the children's peace memorial. It has a bell in the middle that is made with a brass paper crane. Children from all over the world make thousands of origami cranes and send them in hope for peace. The tradition was started in memory of a girl named Sadako: 

Sadako was two years old when she was exposed to the A-bomb. She had no apparent injuries and grew into a strong and healthy girl. However, nine years later in the fall when she was in the sixth grade of elementary school (1954), she suddenly developed signs of an illness. In February the following year she was diagnosed with leukemia and was admitted to the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital. Believing that folding paper cranes would help her recover, she kept folding them to the end, but on October 25, 1955, after an eight-month struggle with the disease, she passed away.

 Artwork done entirely with tiny folded cranes.

 They tie the cranes into long strings and put them on display.

 More cranes.

This mound is a memorial to those that died during the blast near the epicenter. Thousands of bodies were around with no real way to identify them, and no where to bury them. They took the ashes of the cremated remains and made this mound as a resting place. It is commemorated every year.  

 I found this memorial to be very interesting. Japan has often been accused of omitting parts of history that does not portray it in a positive light. Possibly the most famous of these is the issue of Korean 'Comfort Women' who were sex slaves of the Japanese army during WWII. Japan still hasn't come to a resolution on that, and they have been consistently criticized for omitting the issue, and the Rape of Nanking, from school textbooks. That is all I will say on those matters. This memorial took a long time to accomplish and to recognize as many as 20,000 to 30,000 foreign workers (primarily Korean) who were working in Hiroshima and perished in the blast (the plaques indicated that most had been taken against their will to be workers). This turtle is the monument for those Korean workers. 

 The main monument is here. The box underneath the archway contains a register of all the names of those whose lives were damaged by the blast. If you look through it, you can see the eternal flame and the A-bomb dome. 

 This memorial marks the entrance to the Memorial Hall. The sculpture is of a clock with the hands on 8:15 (the time the bomb dropped). Water is constantly flowing from the piece in memory of all those who died desperate for a drink. The ground around the pond is covered with pieces of tiles and buildings that survived the blast. 

I wish I had pictures of the next parts, but I don't have many as they prohibited photos. The Memorial Hall moved in a counterclockwise motion to a circular room with another memorial with running water and a 360 degree panorama mosaic of the devastation left and the neighborhoods destroyed. Near the end of the memorial, there was an interactive display of the journals and accounts of the survivors. It is hard to capture in words the true horror of what it was like. I would encourage you to look up the accounts of the survivors, though it is quite sobering. 

The next exhibit was the National Museum. The museum was divided primarily into two 3 parts: The history, the horrors and the future. The first section talked about the history of Hiroshima, the military significance and why it was targeted. This was all essentially straightforward stuff. 

The horrors shared stories of survivors, pictures, artifacts and some very graphic exhibits. Flesh melting off of bodies, fingernails left over, shredded clothing and graphic pictures of the burns that came with the heat from the blast. In my mind, there is no question about the terror and awful, awesome power of those bombs. 

 This is a picture of the devastation 3 days after the bomb was dropped.

The last exhibit, the future, made up nearly half of the entire tour. I was initially somewhat skeptical of what would be said and how the information would be presented. Along with the information presented in a matter-of-fact tone about the bombings, there was a significant amount of now-declassified Allied documents talking about using the bomb. The papers were clearly authentic, but they were highlighted in a very damning tone about the use of the bomb. The rest of the tour discussed in length the damages of nuclear weapons on the environment and people. They had a giant globe that outlined which countries had the most nuclear weapons and called for the dismantling of the world's nuclear arsenal. All in all, it felt rather preachy about nuclear arms (though I suppose they have some right to say something on the matter). I believe that they handled it rather well and did not pull any punches when it came to acknowledging fault. It was generally very matter-of-fact. 

 Leaving the museum.

 A memorial for children who perished in the attack.

 A last view of the A-bomb Dome. It is an incredible memorial, and very worth seeing. You can notice in the picture that the metal framework of the dome is bent inward from the shock. You can see where the epicenter of the blast was by looking at the way the metal is bent. 

In summary, I feel I understand more fully the horrors of war, and especially of nuclear weapons. I believe that (nearly) all people wish for a nuke-free world and they are right to. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were small bombs by comparison, but the devastation was still incredible. Here is to a nuclear-free world.