Why Hiroshima is a place where everyone should visit.. at least once.

Peace Park Hiroshima

I’m writing this post out of respect for those who lost their lives at Hiroshima 65 years ago. In 2006, I went to Japan the first time. My trip that time was short. I went to Kyoto for 3 nights, and made a day trip to Hiroshima as I was determined to visit the city where such a terrible part of history had occurred. Since I was young, the unimaginable destruction was impossible to comprehend. This an account of my experience as I went there the first time.

As I arrived via Shinkansen into Hiroshima station, I began to feel nervous. I couldn’t explain why. I decided to walk to the Atomic Bomb Museum and Peace Park. The closer I got to the site, the more nervous I felt. I stopped to compose myself.

eery skeleton of the atomic bomb dome

20 mins later, I arrived at the site and in front of me was this erry skeletal structure. It was almost hypnotic, I couldn’t stop staring as I was trying to get my head around what had happened. I looked at a picture of what the surrounding area was like before it happened and after it had happened. I took a deep breath and walked on to the first of the two museums.

The first museum contained accounts of survivors ‘Hibakusha’ and relatives of the victims which you could listen too and read. This was particularly difficult to listen to as my mind tried to indentify with the horror they had experienced, but couldn’t even begin to.

This week there have been numerous TV programmes on NHK world focusing on the Hibakusha and their stories. Their experiences need to be heard by everyone. Regardless of who was right or wrong, good or bad in WW2 – bottom line is that innocent people like you or I paid a horrific price that no one ever in anyone’s lifetime should have to experience or learn about.

I moved on to the main museum. As I walked in there were photo’s of the destruction after.

the destruction at Hiroshima

There was a watch that had stopped at 8.15am

8.15am - clock stopped by EMP

with a words on a poster above it…

poster above watch

As I walked around the museum you could touch artifacts from fused roof tiles to a rusted child’s tricycle,

a child's tricycle

read historical accounts and see declassified photos which showed children with sores and melted skin, and a wounded mother nursing her baby child. To see something in a museum that was so horrific that had such an impact on me, makes you wonder just how horrific that day must have been for the people of Hiroshima. To read that the world has weapons 3000 times as destructive as what was used that day, and that our governments have many many more of them is so frightening, especially after visiting Hiroshima. I pray that we never ever see, hear or experience or even get to know that something like that happens in our lifetime and that of any future generation. We all, to some degree understand the horrors of war, but this was something else entirey – what I learnt and saw at this museum shocked and scared me to my bones, a feeling that stays with me to this day. At school in the west, we are taught one side of history so to discover the other side is something I’m very grateful for.

I left the museum filled with a mix of emotions I cannot begin to convey through this post. I was angry, hurt, upset. I was confused. I felt dizzy. I sat by the river, looking at a picture of the destruction trying to pin point the location I was sitting at. I looked around me, then at the photo of the destruction and then around me…. I couldn’t get my head around it. My only release of these emotions was to cry for a while and chain smoke a pack of cigarettes. I then remember the trees I’d read about.

surviving trees

There were two trees that were badly burned by the blast around 2km from the hypocenter. The trees were moved to the peace park site and have been healing themselves… all you can see is a scar… I thought it was a lovely story..

To this day, that emotion, that memory has stayed with me. I can’t state the importance of everyone in their lifetime going to visit the site and museum, now more than ever, to understand what happened there.

It annoys me that now when Hiroshima is mentioned to most 13 – 18 year olds in the UK, they do not know or care what happened, let alone know where it is. This event is not something to be forgotten, but to be remembered so positive and peaceful change can come about in the world.

Last year my I went back to Japan, this time with my wife and took her to the site. She had the same emotional experience I did. All the cherry blossoms were out in bloom – such beauty in place of horror in true Japanese poetic style.

cherry blossoms in bloom at the peace park

We stayed a night. That evening we went to Okonomimura to eat Okonomiyaki. By chance, we had a chef who was a hugh John Lennon fan… and we finished our day eating great food, listening and singing along to ‘Imagine’ whilst in Hiroshima… it was a surreal experience to end an emotional day.

If you are in Japan, you must make time to visit Hiroshima. Its important that we do…

Gizmodo has a collection of interviews with survivors from the Hiroshima attack, painting a harrowing picture of the day the bombs fell. Please read.