Hiroshima

Today began a bit more hectic then previous days. We had to get up in the morning and catch the Shinkansen (the high speed train) to Hiroshima. Even after riding on the high speed trains a few different times, I'm still amazed just how fast they go. Seeing the landscape fly by is so entertaining and the you do not feel it at all when you're in the actual train. Anyways, so after reaching Hiroshima, we stopped by our hotel so that we could drop off our luggage before heading out to our major stop for the day; the Atomic Bomb Museum and Peace Park.

A-bomb Dome

This turned out to one of the most amazing, information, and almost depressing trip so far. First we walked around the Peace Park. There were some groups singing by the lake (quite talented singers at that), a few areas that looked like you could write wishes for peace, and a few different personal accounts about the A-bomb. One of the most interesting things to look at out there was the A-bomb dome. This was one of the few buildings that survived the A-bomb and also one that Hiroshima decided to preserve in order to remember the devastation from the day the bomb was dropped. It was amazing to see such a solid looking building so destroyed, but still standing. It was hard to stop from looking at it, especially the closer you got. Right outside the dome was one of the more descriptive personal accounts from a man who lost both his parents when the A-bomb was dropped. The story of how his family managed to survive the blast but died later from the horrible effects of the radiation was heart-wrenching.

A-bomb Dome

After everyone had time to explore the park a bit, we all met back up and headed to the Atomic Bomb Museum. The building you enter in starts off by telling the history of Hiroshima and Japan as a whole, all the way back to their founding. I really enjoyed learning about the entire history of Hiroshima. However, there were also some parts that explained just the basics of the A-bomb and about nuclear weapons in general. What I found extremely interesting in here was that they said that, since 1968, the mayors of Hiroshima have been sending letters of protest to any country that does nuclear testing. They even had a copy of all the letters, including the last eight or so, all from the year 2012-2013, that have been sent to President Obama. Some of the letters to countries that have repeatedly ignored the mayors cries for nuclear disarment have been getting harsher and harsher.

After looking through three floors of all this information, I thought the museum had finally reached the end. Then I found out that this was just the warm up. After reaching the end of the third floor, you had to walk across a sky-walk to the second part of the museum. While this part was all just one floor, it was by far the most intense part. This was the part of the museum that actually had demonstrations about just what damage the A-bomb did. Both to the buildings and to people. The damage done to buildings was astounding. They had displays that let you feel the difference from a section of tile from Hiroshima that was not damaged by the blast to a section of the same tile that was damaged by the blast (mostly by the intense heat created). The displays about the people though were the most gruesome. They had some displays that depicted people with their skin literally melting off of their bodies and they even had pictures of some of the victims that had all sorts of boils and injuries from the blast. Some of the worst parts though were the stories. One story told of a boy whose injuries from the blast were so bad that, when he got too thirsty and could not go on anymore, he tried to drink the pus from his boils in order to slake his thirst. There was just so much there that I cannot even begin to really describe just how horrifying the effects of the A-bomb were for some of the civilians. One thing for sure was that when I was finished with the museum, I was glad the exit went directly outdoors, because I really wanted to be in fresh air.

This was pretty much the end of the day. We all met up after the museum, had a group discussion, and then were given the option to head back to the hotel and find dinner there, or to find dinner in here. I ended up finding a pizza place with Laura, Dani, Charles, Ryan, and Andy nearby. From there, we explored more of this section of Hiroshima and then went back to our hotel to sleep.

Hiroshima before the A-bomb

Hiroshima after the A-bomb