JAPAN: Tourist Day 4

Most of the last two day’s text has been written by Brenda.  She will continue, describing the Hiroshima memorials and Peace Park.

 

 

We took  Shinkansen (Bullet) train from Kyoto to Hiroshima, about 2 hours.  The train is so smooth.  The train restrooms had bidet toilet seats which we are discovering all across Japan.  A streetcar took us to the Peace Park, about a 30 minute ride for 160 JY (less than $1.60).  The first site we came to was the epicenter of the atomic bomb landing in Hiroshima.  The bomb exploded about 600 meters above ground over the Hiroshima Prefecture Industrial Promotion Hall. This building was built in 1915 and had had many uses over the years, including an art gallery.  It was an administration building in 1945.  The dome of the building survived and some of the exterior walls.  There have been 4 renovations to the building to shore it up and protect it from further damage from earthquakes. 

Damage from an atomic blast comes in 3 forms:  heat rays, blast and radiation.  The heat from the blast was estimated to be 3,000 – 4000 C.  The blast force was around 984 mph.  The radiation lingered around 4-5 months.  For a 2 km radius from the building nearly everything was turned into ash.  All public records were destroyed which resulted in the inability to accurately determine how many people perished in the blast.  The estimate is 140,000 +/- 10,000.  That was the death toll from August 6-December 31 1945.  Many continued to die from injuries or diseases related to the atomic blast.

The next site was the Children’s Peace Monument.  There was one girls that lived about 10 years after the blast and was dying of leukemia.  As her health deteriorated she folded colorful paper into strings of cranes.  Today school kids come from all over to present their string of cranes.  There were probably 10 different school groups there today (which is Sunday), in uniform, singing, reciting and presenting their cranes.

Our last stop was a memorial for the victims.  There were pictures and verbal accounts. There is also a searchable library for those searching for lost loved ones.

One thing I forgot to mention about Kyoto.  Kyoto is considered a premier training ground for Geisha girls and practicing the art of being a Geisha.  We saw many tourists in rented kimonos.  Two different guides told us that these people are typically Chinese and they like to walk around all day in that garb.

It’s ironic to be in Hiroshima; a couple of months ago we were in the National Museum of Nuclear Science in New Mexico. This is dedicated it the Manhattan Project which developed the Atomic Bomb.