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| notes from underground - societal whispers all the news that print will fit. |
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Saturday, August 06, 2005 np: sixty years of solitude. today marks the 60th anniversary of the first atomic bomb dropped on hiroshima, japan. in a way it's fitting that i return to my blog after the unintended absence to write about this. had i been able to continue my blogging while in japan, the next stop on our trip was hiroshima. so, i'd like to write what i had in my hand-written journal to share with you my experience there. -- we rode into hiroshima from kyoto. the rail system here is amazing. quiet, fast, comfortable (even for huge, gaijin me). hiroshima is a gorgeous, bustling, lovely city. not quite what i expected, but what was i expecting? it is green and dynamic. it's about the size of charlotte, population wise, yet a million times the charm. sorry, queen city. the peace park has several striking features, the most immediately noticeable being the a-bomb dome, a building at the epicenter of the blast that has been preserved in its post-blast state. (ed. the bomb exploded 600 m. in the air directly over this building.) across the river is both the children's peace memorial, dedicated to all the children killed by the or as a result of the blast, and the peace bell. both of these left me low. tears in my eyes, horrible images in my mind. the peace bell can be, and is, rung by anyone who comes by. the idea is that you're tolling for peace, ringing loudly so that its pulse is heard in all ears. a great feeling to have clapped that bell. (ed. the bell is designed with a map of the world on it. the part where the clapper strikes is decorated with an atomic symbol. a symbolic destruction of the terrible beast.) cynthia and i were in the peace park when we were approached by an elderly woman. on a small placard, with six different languages, she had written a question: would you mind if i prayed for your happiness? when we said okay, she asked cynthia to bow her head and close her eyes. i watched as the old lady held her hand up in a gesture i can't describe. after a minute or so, she finished and did the same to me. when done, she turned the card over and showed us that "your blood has been purified." we later discussed the possibility that this woman was a survivor of the blast. she was certainly of the right age group. sadly we did not see her again to talk to her. the hiroshima peace memorial museum was incredibly haunting and is not easily written down, but rather can be somewhat conveyed through glances. two horrible memories and one positive. - a three year old boy, riding his tricycle in the front yard, is horribly burned by the blast. when he finally dies, his father buries him in the backyard along with his beloved tricycle, hoping, in his inconsolable grief, that his son may still be able to ride his favorite toy. - a girl, forced to go to school despite a headache, returns to her home so burned she's barely recognizable. after her death, her mother spends the rest of her life blaming herself for having sent her to school. she never gets over blaming herself for her daughter's death. - since 1968, ever time a country tests a nuclear weapon, the mayor of hiroshima sends the country's leader a letter pleading with them to stop perpetuating the useless fear of annihilation and to cease testing these weapons and ignoring the lessons of hiroshima. all of the letters are on display. most disturbing is the number of letters sent to the united states in the past 13 years. i had no idea we were still conducting nuclear tests that often. -- i feel almost inadaquate trying to sum up what it's like to set foot in hiroshima. it's frightening. it's sickening. it's forever etched firmly in my memory and i'll never be the same for having been there. at the time i'm typing this, we are actually 8 hours past the precise time the bomb went off (8:15 a.m. japan time). as much destruction as went on there, we are still in the midsts of an unbelievable build up of our nuclear arsenal with bombs that would equal 1,000 times or more the power contained in the hiroshima blast. eventually more than 200,000 people died as a result of the bombing. can you even begin to imagine the toll if anyone set off a full size nuclear bomb today? on today, and every august 6th, we are all japanese. may everyone reading this take peace with them everywhere they go. let the tolling of the peace bell echo in your ears always. posted by J. Neas | 8/06/2005 03:21:00 AM
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