A Sombre Visit to Hiroshima

 The Crystal Weather Bubble finally broke as we headed toward Hiroshima. The captain had said there was rain in the forecast, but we think he may have understated the amount. It wasn't raining really hard, but it was constant, and it didn't take long for our feet to be soaked through our shoes. Good thing we had rain jackets and our umbrella with us! Larry was looking forward to this visit, so he'll start us off.

Our sail in to the harbour. Those flat floating docks
are oyster beds. Hiroshima is the capital of oyster
production in Japan

Sitting in the bus as we waited to leave for the tour

As the bus drove us into the city, our local guide, a pleasant young lady, explained some of Hiroshima's history, and also some of the wartime experiences, as well as what to expect from the tour. I had recently re-read a book, 140 Days to Hiroshima, so the history was fresh in my mind. 

The Enola Gay's "aiming point" for the bomb drop was a very distinctive T-shaped bridge. As we stepped off the bus beside the Atom Bomb Dome, I realized we were standing on that bridge, in almost that very spot! I had seen pictures of the Dome, but had no idea of its relative position. The bomb exploded 3,800 feet above ground about 500 yards to the right of the bridge, not bad aiming from 35,000 feet. 

The actual "Hypocentre", or Ground Zero was directly over a building whose roof is now painted robin's egg blue for easy identification, and about 250 yards further to the right of the Dome. That building, and the Dome were among only five buildings to survive within a five kilometre radius of the blast, and all were heavily damaged. The bomb exploded with a force estimated at 12,000 tons of TNT, and because it was an air blast, the force of the downdraft hit the ground and "bounced" over the buildings, instantly killing everyone in them. It is estimated that 80,000 people died instantly, or within hours of the blast, primarily from burns, with total casualties of approximately 140,000 by the end of 1945.

Some stone markers on the riverside nearby. We
don't know exactly what they commemorate.

After the war, when the government started to think about rebuilding the city, the plan had been to tear down the Dome, but it was decided to retain it, and reinforce it, as a monument to those who died in the attack. Interestingly, the building with the blue roof was saved and is now an office building for an insurance company!

This upside down pagoda is the Monument to the Mobilized Children. In 1944 there was a labour shortage in Japan, so students at high-school level were required to perform labour service as part of their school time. After November, 1944, many of them were sent out to tear down old houses, most of which were made of wood and paper, to create fire breaks in case of air attack. About 6,300 of these students died in the blast. As there was no place to commemorate these children, especially those who couldn't be identified, the bereaved families started a movement to collect funds and built this tower.

This is the Sadako Memorial, named for Sadako Sasaki, a young survivor who later contracted leukemia. Japanese tradition says that if you fold 1,000 origami paper cranes your wish will come true. Sadako folded 1,000, and when her disease persisted, she folded over 1,000 more before she died. Now every year school children from all over Japan are brought to Hiroshima so that they will understand the cost of war and they bring paper cranes to adorn both monuments.

Some call this the Eternal Flame, but in fact it is the Peace Flame, meant to be extinguished when the last nuclear weapon on earth is destroyed. Maybe Eternal Flame is a more realistic name, given the current state of the world.

The Hiroshima Memorial is at the end of the path through the park in front of the Peace Museum. The box under the arch contains the names of all of the known victims of the attack, including ironically, the names of three US POWs who were killed in the blast! Why Hiroshima?? The Americans had four cities listed as possible targets for the first bomb and required four conditions; surrounded by mountains to concentrate the blast, military significance, had not previously been attacked, and had no known POW facilities nearby. Hiroshima best fit the criteria, except for the 12 POWS. Ironically the surviving POWs were taken to Nagasaki after the attack where they were bombed three days later, and actually survived!

After our sombre "walk in the rain", we next visited The Peace Memorial Museum, which contains the records of the attack. The first thing you see is a picture of a clock stopped at 8:15 AM, August 6/45, the exact moment of the explosion. This is followed by a  floor mounted "video simulation" that starts with an overhead shot of Hiroshima that morning, followed by the sound of aircraft engines, with the Little Man bomb, named for FDR, falling through and exploding, followed by film shot from the B29 Enola Gay of the mushroom cloud as it boiled into the sky!!

This is a dioramic picture taken days after the attack. I have seen similar pictures taken from the air, and they do not do justice to the total destruction.

 

We had decided that, much like our visit to Auschwitz back in 2019, that we would not take pictures in the museum. It just did not feel right to us, though many were taken by others. This one was the exception as I had read about its existence. What many do not realize is the in the moment of the initial explosion, anyone within the immediate area of Ground Zero simply ceased to exist, vaporised by the heat of the blast, estimated at over 2,000 degrees Celsius. It is speculated that this shadow is of a man sitting on the steps of a bank waiting for it to open. He disappeared, but his shadow remains etched in the marble of the steps and it is much more obvious in this picture than it was in person!

We spent more than an hour slowly walking through the displays, some more than a little painful to look at, especially pictures of the survivors and the burns and injuries they suffered in the attack.

Our guide was excellent, and she did not shy away from the hard question, how do the Japanese feel about the United States and the A-Bomb attacks. She said that for the most part the Japanese know that it was probably necessary to end the war. She pulled out a picture of an eight year old boy in a "samurai-type" uniform standing at attention with his brother's dead body strapped to his back. He stares straight ahead, back and shoulders straight. She said that had the US invaded Japan, civilian casualties would have been in the thousands -I have seen estimates of over 1.5 million - and she pointed at the boy in the picture and said, he and other children like him would have paid that price.

A fountain outside of the opposite entrance to
the Museum and Peace Park.

We could call this photo that I took through
the rain spattered bus window
'The Tears of Hiroshima'

We're not sure of the specific meaning of this
monument, but it is situated along 'Peace Avenue'
and seems also to be dedicated to children.

Our second stop for the day - yes, we had yet another walk in the rain - was at Shukkeien Gardens, a large Japanese garden around a pond in the centre of the city. It is beautifully laid out, with a number of walking trails around the pond in the surrounding hills. We're sure it would look spectacular on a sunny day; even in the rather heavy rain - just take a look at the surface of the pond - it was lovely.

This garden actually dates from 1620, but it was destroyed during the atomic blast. The Hiroshima Prefecture Board of Education instituted the restoration of all of the buildings and plants to how they were prior to the bombing.

We wandered around the pond for about 45 minutes and then returned to the bus to head back to the ship.

If we had to have a rainy day, it was appropriate that it should be this one. We will also be visiting Nagasaki next week on the second leg of the cruise.