Hiroshima, Japan

New-to-us Port #55.

Due to a number of schedule changes, what should have been an 8-hour day in Hiroshima had, over time, turned into a 6-hour day. Not ideal, but doable. But wait. The 3-hour delay leaving Kagoshima yesterday ended up further impacting our time in port. By just one hour, luckily … thanks to the Bridge team making up some of the delay as we cruised towards our destination overnight.

Unfortunately, what with shuttle time to get to and from the port into the Hiroshima city center, we were essentially left with about 3-4 hours to do our sightseeing. All the more reason we were happy to have engaged Victor, a Goodwill Guide, to take us around today. Without him, we would not have experienced half as much as we did.

Victor, himself a survivor of the bombing (he was six months old), gave us somber insight into the sites we visited … punctuated by moments of smiles and cheer that he managed to bring out … reminding us that one must enjoy every minute of the life with which we are gifted.

(Goodwill Guides are local volunteers who use their language skills and insider knowledge of the cities in which they live to escort visitors. There is no charge for their services … except to cover any incurred expenses. Here’s the link Mui started with … https://www.japan.travel/en/plan/list-of-volunt… … in case anyone is interested in looking into using this service.)

As everyone knows, Hiroshima is the first city in history to be hit by a nuclear weapon. The bomb was carried from Tinian Island by the Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber, and dropped on Hiroshima at 8:15a on 6 August 1945.

A man small in stature but very fast on his feet, Victor first hurried us over to the hypocenter — aka Ground Zero — above which the bomb exploded on that fateful morning. As one might imagine, with the temperature reaching a mind-boggling 5,400F to 7,200F (3,000-4,000C), nothing and no one in the immediate area survived the moment of detonation … made worse by the blast wind and the radiation that followed. The hypocenter has been rebuilt, and a small plaque on the side of a building is all that marks that sad moment in history when a single bomb killed a countless number of people and incinerated into ash a city area equal to 1.2 square miles. (I say countless, because the estimates from various sources vary greatly.)

The very short version of today’s story is that we spent all of our time visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park … from the Atomic Dome; to the Memorial to the Mobilized Students; to the Children’s Peace Monument; to the Bell of Peace; to the Atomic Memorial Mound; to the Flame of Peace; to the Cenotaph; and finally to the Peace Memorial Museum.

If the short story is sufficient, you can stop here and go back and look at the photos. If you want to read the details of the places mentioned above, however, you can read on. You won’t find much “emotion” in the continued writing … simply because it was all quite overwhelming and difficult to put into words.

✍🏻 Long Story …

From the hypocenter, we walked to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial … more commonly referred to as the Atomic Bomb Dome. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Genbaku Dome is the only structure in the hypocenter that was left standing after the bomb detonated. Victor explained that some people wanted to tear it down. But the majority wanted it to remain as a memorial to peace. The ruined building — a mere skeleton of what it once was — has been preserved in the exact state it was immediately after the bombing. It stands today as “… a stark and powerful symbol of the most destructive force ever created by humankind … expresses the hope for world peace and the ultimate elimination of all nuclear weapons. …”

As we walked around the Atomic Bomb Dome, Victor pointed to Aioi Bashi, a t-shaped bridge in the distance. He explained that the original three-way bridge was used as the target identifier by the Enola Gay to ensure that the bomb was dropped in the center of the city. The bridge was heavily damaged, but survived the bombing. It was repaired eventually and continued to be used for another four decades before it was replaced by a new bridge built as an exact replica in 1983.

Before crossing the Motoyasu River, we stopped at the Memorial to the Mobilized Students. In August 1944, a Student Labor Service Act was enacted by the government to make up the labor shortage. Some three million students from middle school upwards were drafted to work in munitions factories and similar places. They were also sent to help in demolishing buildings in order to create fire-breaks to stop the spread of fires resulting from air raids. Many of these students — some 10,000 according to some records — died during WWII … 6,300 alone in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was detonated over the city.

Crossing the river, we walked to the Children’s Peace Monument, which is dedicated to the memory of the children who died as a result of the bombing. Atop a concrete shell — inside of which is a peace bell that one can ring — stands the statue of a girl. Her arms are outstretched and she is holding a folded paper crane over her head. The sculptor’s inspiration for the statue was a young girl named Sadako Sasaki. Before she died from leukemia, resulting from the radiation she received during the bombing, she is said to have folded over 1,000 paper cranes … an idea she got from a traditional Japanese story. To honor Sadako, visitors leave folded paper cranes at the monument … which are displayed on a rotating basis in glass cases.

From the monument, we walked to the tip of the park to see the Atomic Bomb Dome from a different perspective. Then, our meandering walk took a break at the Bell of Peace … where Victor encouraged us to ring the bell in the name of world peace … the sound ringing through the park. The outer surface of the bell contains a barely visible world map with words that translate as “Know Yourself.” The spot where the shu-moku (the wooden log used to ring the bell) hits — aka the “sweet spot” — is covered with an atomic symbol. Very meaningful!

Our fast-paced wander then took us to the Atomic Memorial Mound where the ashes of the victims of the bomb have been entombed at the spot where the corpses of the dead were collected and cremated.

We made many more stops in the park … skipping some due to our time restrictions. Passing the Flame of Peace at the north edge of the Pond of Peace, we reached the Memorial Cenotaph. Inside the stone chamber is a register of those who died in the bombing and were later identified … regardless of nationality. The register is updated with new names annually.

From the Cenotaph, we headed to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The purpose of this museum is to educate visitors about the bomb and its aftermath. Exhibits provide information … from the buildup to war … to the role of Hiroshima in the war up to the bombing … to extensive information on the bombing and its effects … along with substantial memorabilia and pictures from the bombing. It’s all incredibly somber.

That the museum is a must-visit goes without saying. Unfortunately, all of the halls were packed with people … walking shoulder to shoulder. It was impossible to stop and read much or even see most of the exhibits. With our limited time also an issue, we did a speed walk through the museum today.

A lot of places that we have visited in our travels have left a lasting impression on us. Hiroshima, I would say, is amongst those places now. Sadly, our fast-paced visit did not leave much time to dwell on and fully digest what we saw today. We hope to rectify that when we return to Japan on an overland trip.Read more