Today (after a good night’s sleep on a real bed with fluffy pillows) we visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Peace Memorial Park and Atomic Bomb Dome. All three sites are situated within the same area so even I could stroll between them. The museum was very interesting and very sad. I don’t think you can visit the exhibits there without feeling moved by the atrocities. I would say that the museum has a strong agenda, namely, to show the reality of nuclear warfare and to press upon its visitors the need to eliminate all nuclear weapons to ensure there is never a repeat of what happen at 8:15am on 6 August 1945.
The museum is split into three exhibits over three floors, starting at the top. The top floor is dedicated to the the history of the development of the weapon, what happened when it hit and in the moments afterwards. Everything is in English and Japanese so you can fully immerse in the educational experience, listen to eyewitness accounts and physically touch roof tiles and glass bottles that had blistered/disfigured by the heat of the blast. The middle floor deals with what happened afterwards and describes the various illnesses/injuries which the blast survivors contracted in the days, weeks and years following that day (including severe burns, radiation sickness, atomic cataracts, leukaemia and other cancers). The ground floor is, in my opinion, the most moving. This shows personal effects of those who had died, donated by their surviving relatives. The image which will stay with me is the little boy’s tricycle - my heart breaks to think about it.
After the museum we took a walk through the Peace Memorial Park to the Atomic Bomb Dome. The interesting part about the explosion was that, scientifically speaking, it was not a success - the bomb detonated 600m above ground level. Directly below the point of detonation was what is now known as the Atomic Bomb Dome, back then it was an Exhibition Hall. As a result of the bomb detonating directly above the dome, it managed to retain its shape.
The park was a wide open riverside space, bright, beautiful and full of life. A complete contrast to the images we had just seen. We stopped at a little park side cafe and enjoyed some Italian food (and Gavi) in the sunshine.
After lunch we went to visit the Shukkeien gardens (I think Phil felt a bit sorry for me as I missed out on seeing the Himeji gardens yesterday due to injury and weather). The gardens were great. We saw little turtles and giant carp (which apparently jump out the water - who knew!?). We wondered around the little paths and over the little bridges in what can only be described as a miniature landscape complete with little mountains, valleys, islands and beaches. I loved it. Phil apparently also enjoyed himself… mostly by taking pictures of the flying carp.
- Hippie -
