So, feeling nostalgic about living in Iwakuni, I decided to take out my super old Geocities website that I had, that got some pretty decent hits in the old hey day. It even got reviewed and received 3/5 stars (read: crappy) in some Internet magazine. (Jeff remembers that one I’m sure.) Anyways, this portion is what I wrote about Hiroshima so long ago (1997 or so – that’s the geocities days right? And sorry the image is so small! Even the clicked on image is a bit small.):
If you were to go north of Miyajima, taking the JR for about 6 or 7 more stops (don’t quote me on that one), then you would arrive at Hiroshima. Hiroshima is historical worldwide not for it’s commerce, or industrial power, but because it was the first city to have a nuclear device used upon. On August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay dropped “Little Boy” upon the city of Hiroshima, and an estimated 200,000 people were killed that day. It is truly sad to know while we would walk through Peace Park that not so long ago, people were fighting to survive this catastrophe. Surely, as my friends and I, as part of the United States Navy, were very guilty to be walking through the park, feeling rather remorseful. However, we know that we did not do it, and that made it feel a bit better. But walking through the hallways of the Peace Park Museum, it was very hard to not feel somber. The displays had remnants of clothes, watches, uniforms, and other structures showing the effects of the A-Bomb. I would have to say that all in all, Peace Park and the Museum was a very sobering experience. There were people from all over the world, and in this one place, we could see what devastation such devices wrought. In some areas of the newly designed Museum, you can see the current growth of nuclear arms in the world, and it is by far rather sad. Though I have not been there in a long while, I’m sure it hasn’t changed. War is not a good thing.
You can see me in the above picture standing in front of what is now called the “A-Bomb Dome”. This is all that is truly left of 1945 Hiroshima, a reminder of those times of war. It is truly a breathtaking site, in the middle of this industrial city lies a now dead building, shown as a shrine would be.
[tags]Hiroshima, Japan, A-bomb Dome, nuclear arms, Peace Park[/tags]
- Excited
- Fascinated
- Amused
- Bored
- Sad
- Angry
I wish I’d gotten to go there when I lived in Japan. I actually wish that everyone would get to go there in their lifetime, maybe then we would all understand why it’s so important that we try to put our differences aside and find a way to co-exist peacefully.
I hope my kids never have to experience war. I don’t understand why people/countries can’t settle their differences without going to war.
I hope we never understand why there is war. That is for sure.
Yosh,
I caught a show the other day on HDNET called InFocus
Hiroshima Reborn
Extremely good if you can catch it.
InFocus
Hiroshima Reborn –
Following the explosion of “Little Boy” on August 6, 1945, not a trace of the shops, inns, homes and schools of Sarugakucho district remained. Hiroshima City University was among the major sponsors of a ground-breaking project that, with the help of a handful of aging survivors and their personal photographs and diaries, made this remarkable “virtual restoration” come to life. This documentary presents the extraordinary story of the project, and the years of slow and painstaking work that went into it.