10 days in Japan - 10/29/2022 to 11/7/2022

Day 8- Peace Memorial Park & Museum, Hiroshima-11/5/22

Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park is one of the most prominent features of the city. Even visitors not looking for it will likely stumble upon the large park of over 120,000 square meters. Before the bomb, the area of what is now the Peace Park was the political and commercial heart of the city. For this reason, it was chosen as the pilot's target. Four years to the day after the bomb was dropped, it was decided that the area would not be redeveloped but instead devoted to peace memorial facilities

We are now entering the park. 

The Flame of Peace designed by Kenzo Tange, then professor at the University of Tokyo, the base of the sculpture represents two wrists joined together, and the two wings on either side represent two palms facing upwards to the sky. It was designed both to console the souls of the thousands who died begging for water and to express the hopes for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the realization of lasting world peace.

The flame at the top was lit on August 1, 1964, and has been burning ever since in protest of nuclear weapons, and will continue to burn until there are no nuclear weapons left on earth.

In the middle is the Cenotaph for the A-Bomb Victims.

The Cenotaph is an arched tomb for those who died because of the bomb, either because of the initial blast or exposure to radiation.

Below the arch is a stone chest holding a register of these names, of which there are over 220,000

The  Flame of Peace can be seen through the arches.

View of the Cenotaph from the second floor of the Museum.

Every year on the anniversary of the bomb, a ceremony is held at the park. Speeches are made, wreathes are laid at the Cenotaph, and a moment of silence is observed at 8:15 am, the precise moment of detonation. Other activities occur throughout the day, and many staff are employed to help foreign visitors.

The cenotaph view from the 2nd floor of the Museum.  You can also see the A-bomb Done in the back.

Buying tickets to get in the Museum

The Peace Memorial Museum collects and displays belongings left by the victims, photos, and other materials that convey the horror of that event, supplemented by exhibits that describe Hiroshima before and after the bombings and others that present the current status of the nuclear age. Each of the items displayed embodies the grief, anger, or pain of real people. Having now recovered from the A-bomb calamity, Hiroshima's deepest wish is the elimination of all nuclear weapons and the realization of a genuinely peaceful international community

Large picture of Hiroshima before the Atomic bomb.

Large scenes of how Hiroshima looked like and how people live before the bombing.

A tramway in Hiroshima.

We are now headed to the exhibit.

On August 6, 1945 at 8:15AM the atomic bomb was dropped in Hiroshima and changed everything.

We are entering the 1st exhibit: room for survivors.

On the floor is a newly installed "White Panorama" showing a miniature of Hiroshima City out to 2.5 Km from the hypocenter.

Aerial photographs taken before and after the bombing and hi-vision video recreating of the A-bomb explosion are projected on the floor.

The explosion from the bomb, named “Little Boy,” obliterated nearly everything within 10-square kilometers (nearly four square miles) in downtown Hiroshima, killing around 80,000 people. Radiation poisoning eventually sickened others, resulting in an estimated final death toll of 192,000 souls.

In this picture you can see the A-Bomb Dome standing amongst ruin.

Most of the buildings are turned into ruins.

People gathering around right after the bomb.

Mushroom cloud over Hiroshima-Devastation on August 6

The city was instantly destroyed, and many people were killed not knowing what had happened to them.  Those who escaped death were fleeing fires in confusion with their appearance completely changes.

Clothes on display of children who lost their lives to the bomb blast

A student' jacket, trousers, and waraji (straw sandals) and a what is left of a dress.

The intense heat, thousands of degrees Celsius, emitted by the A-bomb instantly burned human beings to death, melting iron and soon rendering the city to a sea of flames.

Sakura Okada was running a pharmacy. He died in the bombing along with his wife and two employees. Finding this safe in the burned ruins, Sakaru's older brother Ichio took it home along with the remains of this brother and wife.  The rice, documents, and paper money inside were carbonized.

The tremendous blast smashed housed and the people.  Many were severely injured.  Having managed to escape immediate death, they desperately sought safety, their burnt skin dangling from their flesh.  Massive doses of radiation penetrated deep into the bodies of survivors causing pain and suffering.

Those who escaped death were fleeing fires in confusion with their appearance completely changes. The faces were swollen by the burns, the peeled skin was hanging down, and the bodies were covered with blood.

A man laying down with a body that is charred after the blast.

Their hair was scorched and fizzy.  Their faces, arms, backs, legs, their whole bodies were badly burnt.  Blisters had burst and sheets of burnt skin hung from them like rags.   The scene through my viewfinder was blurred by tears that streamed down my cheeks.  This was hell!- written by one of the survivor.

Black and sticky rain fell over people fleeing fires.  The injured and thirsty people drank the rain pouring onto them.  The rain was radioactive.

The city was totally destroyed.

Soldier with "Spots of Death"  This 21 year old solder experienced the bomb explosion in a wooden house within 1,000 meter from the hypocenter.  On September 1, his gums began bleeding persistently, and blood spots proliferated all over his face and upper body.  His consciousness became unclear on the 2nd, and he died at night on the 3rd, shortly after this photo was taken.

Soldier bleeding from the tongue.

A 22 year old soldier experience the bomb explosion indoor and suffered injuries.  On August 2o, this hair began falling out, and blood spots appeared all over his body.  His gums and throat were swollen and he had persistent high fever.  He died on September 8.  The black spots on his tongue are the blood spots.

Testimony from people right after the bombing.

" I was afraid that if I fell asleep, I would be mistaken for a corpse and burned alive.  So I didn't Sleep."

Yukiko Fujii, aged 10, photo taken near Hiroshima station 3 days after the atomic bomb fell.

Hugo Lasalle (on the right) was a German priest, experienced the bombing in the Catholic church in Nobori-cho abour 1,230 meters from the Hypocenter.  Although glass fragments penetrated his back, and his left leg was severely injured, he escaped from the fire to the river bank in Sentei garden (now, Shukkeien). At that point, he was no longer able to walk but was rescued by German priests from Nagatsuka Monastery. They took him back to the monastery. In addition to Father Lassalle, three other German priests experienced the bombing in Noboricho Church. Naturalized in Japan after the war, Father Lassalle devoted himself to building the Memorial Cathedral for World Peace, a place to mourn the victims and pray for a peaceful world.

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Scars and lasting effect on survivors.

Remains excavated seven years after the bombing

2nd exhibit: the danger of Nuclear weapons.

This museum was established by the city of Hiroshima to convey the reality of the atomic bombing to the world, and contribute to the total abolition of nuclear weapons, and realization of lasting world peace.

Resident forced to watch nuclear test later developed skin cancer.

Boy with burns caused by the ashes of death from the Bravo hydrogen bomb test. The boy seven years old at the time died six years later from a disease thought to be cancer.

NEXT.... Day 8-Hiroshima castle