{"id":725,"date":"2020-09-07T16:27:55","date_gmt":"2020-09-07T15:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/?p=725"},"modified":"2021-01-10T14:44:27","modified_gmt":"2021-01-10T14:44:27","slug":"finding-peace-in-hiroshima","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/finding-peace-in-hiroshima\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding peace in Hiroshima"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u2018Excuse me, may we ask you some questions?\u2019 The three school girls spoke in chorus, politely and in good English. We naturally agreed and, armed with a clip-board and a work-book with a set of these questions, they proceeded to \u2018interview\u2019 us.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were to be the first of many. Our progress through the Hiroshima Peace Park was regularly interrupted as group after group of school children spotted us, hurtled towards us, paused, maybe giggled or nudged each other, and then began to quiz us. In mixed levels of English, from the reasonable to the almost non-existent, they asked about our visit, our home country, our perceptions of Japan and, usually, our dreams for world peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Children
Our companion Phil being interviewed in the Hiroshima Peace Park<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

After each interview we might be asked to write something in their work-books \u2013 our names, where we lived, and in one, our message for peace. They posed for photos for us, and asked us to pose with them. And often there were gifts \u2013 a paper crane, a hand-made bookmark, a photo of their school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think we must have given about ten of these \u2018interviews\u2019, but I have to confess that in the end we did tire of them a little and learned to take a circuitous route around the classes we saw ahead of us. Not that the experience of meeting these kids wasn\u2019t a special one \u2013 it was \u2013 but we had lots to see in the park and a train back to Osaka to catch at the end of the afternoon. But we left with their halting English voices and shy smiles as lasting memories of the positive side of Hiroshima and its efforts for world peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"School
School children in the Hiroshima Peace Park<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The dropping of the bomb<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When, at 8.15 am on August 6th 1945, the first atomic bomb was detonated over Hiroshima, the city became in an instant one of the most famous in the world; but what city would ever have wanted that sort of fame?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bomb killed an estimated 80,000 people instantly. It flattened an area of five square miles (13 square kilometres) and destroyed about 69% of the city’s buildings were completely destroyed, with another 7% severely damaged. Three days later a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, and five days after that, Japan surrendered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the effects of the bomb were much longer term, with estimates suggesting that the final death toll was about 140,000, (out of a population of about 350,000), including those who died later from radiation. Many also suffered long-term sickness and disability as a result of the bomb\u2019s radiation effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hiroshima would never be the same again<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Glass jars fused together by the heat of the blast (on display in the Peace Museum)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, today Hiroshima has succeeded in reinventing itself as a modern city that pays tribute to its past in the best possible way \u2013 using those terrible events as a platform from which to campaign for peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is so much I could write about all the monuments in the Peace Park \u2013 their history, their significance etc. In fact, I have already done so in my TravellersPoint journal, so I suggest you head over there if you want to read a very full account: https:\/\/toonsarahvt.travellerspoint.com\/121\/<\/a>. Meanwhile here I will focus on just a few that moved me the most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Genbaku Domu: the Atomic Bomb Dome<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This was the first sight we saw on leaving the bus from the station, as it must be for most visitors. Its stark silhouette is probably the most graphic, and iconic, symbol of the events of the day the bomb fell. The intended target point of the atomic bomb was the nearby Aioi Bridge but it missed this slightly and exploded almost directly above this building. Because the blast was felt from immediately above, hitting the structure vertically, a surprising amount remained intact even though, of course, everyone inside was killed instantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some years after the war the skeleton of the building remained as it was. There were some who felt it should be pulled down and the site redeveloped, while others argued for its restoration and yet others for its preservation as a ruin, to stand as a memorial to what had happened and to those who had lost their lives. The latter group won the day, and in December 1996 the Atomic Bomb Dome was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Its listing was based on its survival from a destructive force, the first use of nuclear weapons on human population, and its representation as a symbol of peace.<\/p>\n\n\n