Hiroshima

In Hiroshima, we saw sites related to the first atomic bomb dropped here by the US on August 6, 1945.

The Atomic Dome is the preserved ruins of an office complex near the epicentre of the bomb strike. Reports vary, but maybe 60,000 people died instantly, another 60,000 in the next few months, and who knows how many died years later from cancers and other diseases linked to radiation exposure.

The museum told the sad stories of those who were never found, those who survived for some time after their clothes had been burned on to their bodies, and those who died years later.

One of those was Sadako Sakai, two years old when the bomb hit. She was fine for ten years, then developed leukaemia. She decided to try the ancient legend of folding 1000 origami paper cranes to be granted a wish by the gods. It didn’t work. She became a symbol of the impact of nuclear war, and paper cranes a symbol for peace. Barack Obama contributed one on his visit to the city, the first by a US president since the war.

The Children’s Peace Memorial

with paper cranes from around the world, and the Peace Memorial with a flame that won’t be extinguished until there are no more nuclear bombs were some of the other sobering reminders of this horrific moment in history.

We finished the day in Hiroshima with karaoke. Your group rents its own little room on a floor in a neon-lit high rise. Some rooms have bunny and bear costumes you can rent, but we missed out on that 🙁