Hiroshima

Hello everyone! We arrived safely in Tokyo last night via the train. We are staying in western Tokyo, which is primarily a business district. In fact, we are directly across the street from the American embassy. It’s a little strange because we can look out our hotel window and see two American flags flying even though we are in Japan. The only sightseeing I have done in Tokyo so far is the inside of a laundromat. Tomorrow, we hope to be able to see more of the city.
Our hotel is very nice and we are staying on a special floor called the Grand Comfort Floor. There is an enormous spa on the floor complete with oxygen and juice bar and we get free access to it. We also get one free 20-minute treatment every day which is quite nice. We have definitely taken advantage of that amenity!
Before we left Osaka, we got the opportunity to take the train down to Hiroshima for the day. The trip to Hiroshima is definitely the most memorable thing we have had the opportunity to do since arriving in Japan. There is so much history in the now prosperous city. It is especially interesting to visit the city in light of the recent North Korean nuclear test. The Japanese take a strong stance against the use of any nuclear weapon and the North Korean test is a huge deal here. The Japanese are extremely unhappy about it.
Hiroshima’s main attraction is the Peace Park, built to remember the victims of the nuclear bomb that was dropped on the city on August 6, 1945. The first thing you see when you walk into the park is the A-bomb dome, the only remaining building after the blast. I was immediately filled with emotion upon entering the park and Dave and I found ourselves mesmerized by the incredible story Hiroshima holds.
Our last stop in the park, the Peace Memorial Museum, told us the most about the history of the bomb, but the visual image of the ruins of the former Industrial Promotional Hall was incredibly powerful.
The Peace Memorial Museum was enormous. The first floor told of the history leading up to the United States’ decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The second floor went into details about the effects of radiation on the human body and the third floor detailed how an atomic bomb works and which countries still have atomic bombs. After looking at all this, we thought the museum had ended, but after passing an oddly cheerful gift shop, we found ourselves in a whole new section of the museum that told stories of many of the people who barely survived or died in the bombing. The exhibit had scorched school uniforms along with the stories of the children who had worn them, locks of burned hair parents had saved from their dead children, and large photos of the damage the bomb had done to the people who were in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped.
Along the way to the museum, we had the chance to see many monuments commemorating the victims of the bomb. There was a monument for the children who were affected by the bomb. The monument is a tall and cylindrical with a girl standing on top of it with a crane flying overhead. Cranes are symbol of longevity and happiness in Japan. The story tells of a girl who was a victim of the bomb but believed if she could make 1,000 cranes she could recover from her injuries. The girl did not survive, but her story lives on. Japanese schoolchildren visit the monument and bring paper cranes to lay near it.
The Flame of Peace burns in the middle of the park. The Japanese are determined to burn the flame until all nuclear weapons in the world are destroyed.
Another interesting sight is the Phoenix trees which have interesting shapes after surviving the blast. The trees were originally a mile away from the hypocenter of the blast and are show where they are scorched from the blast.
Visiting the park humanized the bombing for us. It was a really fascinating and memorable experience for both of us.
We also had some interesting people experiences while in the park. We ended up being part of an assignment for the tons of school kids that were visiting Hiroshima that day. They recognized us (obviously) as Americans and continued to come up and ask us questions in English. And in the tradition of Dave being unable to escape the Japanese females, one schoolgirl seemed to develop a crush on him and she and her friends were very giggly in his presence. At one point, she asked him for a kiss. Dave, being the faithful husband that he is, didn’t give her one. It was definitely amusing though. After being approached by about six or seven groups of school kids, an older man engaged us in conversation. We innocently thought he was trying to just talk to us but we were wrong. You would think you could escape them halfway across the world, but the man was a Jehovah’s witness who tried to convert us.
And today I got mistaken for a famous opera singer.
We will be writing more as we explore Tokyo. Hope you are all doing well!