Hiroshima

We have put off our trip to Hiroshima until someone would come to go with us. Traveling in Japan is expensive. We knew once we had a visitor, we would go to Hiroshima, so we waited to make the trip.

We rode the Shinkansen from Himeji to Hiroshima. The trip took just under an hour on the train called the Nozomi. This train has limited stops between these two cities.
From the Hiroshima station we took a bus downtown just east of the Atomic Dome. As we approached the park, the epicenter the first atomic bombing, we could see people walking around. The crowds weren’t huge, but the Peace Park was busy. We walked up the east bank of the river to the Atomic Dome. This building is beautiful. I am sure that it was a beautiful building before the explosion, but now in its destruction it is still awe inspiring.

The target of the bombing was the T-shaped bridge just in front of the Atomic Dome. The dome is very close to where the bomb actually exploded. The Peace Park is on an island across one of the river branches from the Atomic Dome. At the park there are many monuments in memory of those who died in the bombing. The museum has excellent displays of the bombing, some of them graphic, though. There are portions of buildings, sidewalks, clothes, and artifacts of the old city. One building’s stoop has a permanent atomic shadow cast on its steps.

Toward the end of the museum tour we came upon Sadako’s paper cranes. It was her hope that if she folded 1000 paper cranes that she would receive her wish. She died before she finished. Outside the museum there is a monument to Sadako’s paper cranes, the Childrens’ Peace Memorial. Children from Japan & all over the world fold paper cranes and bring them here to be displayed. Every year the memorial collects hundreds of thousands of cranes and even had to build display structures to protect them. Each years crane collection is then saved in an archive nearby the park. Inside the museum there is a small collection of the paper cranes that Sadako folded. I was shocked at their size. The paper cranes she folded are no larger than a nickel. They are very small.


While in Hiroshima we took a lot of pictures, however none of us felt like we wanted or needed to be in the photos. There were people taking pictures of themselves and of groups around the Peace Park and the Atomic Dome, we just didn’t feel like it was what we wanted to do.

It is a requirement for all Japanese school children to visit Hiroshima sometime during their schooling. I think it is a great idea. History should be witnessed and felt; it shouldn’t just be an assignment out of a textbook.

If you are looking for a good book about the bombing of Hiroshima, recently, I read the book “Shockwave” by Stephen Walker. It is an excellent book based on first hand accounts of the scientists, bombing crews, and survivors of the bombing. It follows very personal stories, but he gives a good perspective of the bombing and the reasoning behind using the atomic bomb. I recommend this book highly.