Hiroshima

If you’re at all interested in modern history this has to be on your ‘to see’ list. And actually, even if you’re not, come here. See what happened. Hear the stories from the people who were here while they can still tell you. Our guide today was born four days after the Enola Gay delivered her heartbreaking payload. She was not at the epicentre but her parent’s family was, and they went in to the hit zone to find them. Can you imagine caring for a newborn whilst looking for your own parents in that devastation?

We met this wonderful woman early in the morning and she started our tour by teaching us how to negotiate the public transportation 

Tram to the port

Ferry to Miyajima

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If I ever  come back to Japan I’d like to spend a three or four days here.  It’s beautiful and calm and there seemed like so much do. Having a couple of days here would be very restful I think.

On the way out of here we sampled the local cuisine. We all had cream cakes (yum) & Mike had grilled oysters straight from the local oyster leases. They were HUGE!

Back into Hiroshima after this pleasant sojourn, we walked on the T-shaped bridge that was the target. 

We stood on the spot that Little Boy exploded 600m above. 

We walked around the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, now called Atomic Bomb Dome, where people were working that morning when it looked like this

And we’re all killed instantly when the bomb dropped

Kept now in this state of preserved ruin as a reminder of the terrifying destruction of nuclear weapons. The people in power took 22 years to agree to preserve this building. The resistance came from survivors who found the remains too painful to encounter as a regular part of their day to day life. 

These memorials are dotted around the building. All of them have water bottles as a reminder of the poor desperate people begging for water, there is still a sense of guilt at not being able to get it for them or getting it for them & actually killing them with the toxins. 

The museum in this precinct is confronting. It’s the square, blocky building at the back. There are no ‘quiet please’ signs and no need for them. The huge crowd moved through the exhibits in almost total silence. Perhaps if the crazy lunatics waging war out there spent some time without these walls they might re-think? 

This whole area has a strong focus on the desire for peace. A perpetual flame burns until all nuclear weapons are abolished. The children make paper cranes in an effort to ask world leaders for peace. We placed one too, that our wonderful guide made for us. It was such a privilege to spend the day with her. And hear her stories so generously and gently shared. Such a privilege, a memory to be cherished.