Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

Bullet Train to Hiroshima

From Osaka we take the 9:00 am bullet train to Hiroshima. About a 1 1/2 hour ride. The train arrives exactly on time. We grab a cab and drop our luggage off at the hotel.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

We then head straight to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. This park honours the victims of the world’s first nuclear bomb dropped on August 6, 1945 at 8:15am, destroying the city of Hiroshima. The park is located at the epicenter of the nuclear blast. About 350,000 people were in Hiroshima at the time of the bombing. An estimated 140,000 people died that day and in the next five months of their injuries or radiation sickness.

The park consists of many memorials, monuments and museums relating to that day.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

We had to get timed tickets to the museum and it was still very crowded. The museum reminded me of Auschwitz. It was the same feeling of horror, suffering and sadness.

The museum highlights the human stories and devastation from after the bombing…and it wasn’t only the deaths on the day and the months after, but also the effects including cancer years later.

The Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims

Not only are all the names listed in the round hall but there are pictures of many of the victims. There is a lot of symbolism in this monument. There is a counter-clockwise slope going down into the building to signify going back in time. There is a 360° photo of the impact area taken by the US army a few months after the bombing. This same photo is etched into the Hall of Remembrance. There are 140,000 tiles below the picture, signifying the estimated number of victims who died by December 31, 1945. In the centre of the room is a fountain shaped like a clock face showing 8:15am. The water represents the water that the dying kept begging for.

A theatre shows a 20 minute movie about a student suicide squad and their rescue efforts.
As the war went against Japan the military asked for student volunteers. These boys aged 15-18 joined a marine unit that trained them to drive fast motor boats armed with a depth charge at US naval vessels. This suicide unit was based just outside of Hiroshima. When the bomb went off they drove their boats to Hiroshima to help survivors. The surviving students, now old men, talk about what they saw and experienced in Hiroshima in the days after the blast. Their stories are chilling especially knowing they were just young boys themselves. Some of these stories brought me close to tears.

The Memorial Cenotaph

This memorial shaped as an arch always has a line up of people offering prayers and many flowers. Looking through the arch it lines up directly with the Flame of Peace, Children’s Peace Memorial and the Atomic Bomb Dome.

The Flame of Peace

The flame is placed above the Peace Pond and represents open hands, connected at the wrists holding the flame. The flame has been burning for over 50 years and will not be extinguished until all nuclear weapons are destroyed.

The Children’s Peace Monument

This monument is also known as the Tower of a Thousand Cranes. A girl named Sadako Sasaki died of leukemia ten years after the bombing. She was 2 years old when the bomb went off. There is a tradition that if you fold 1,000 origami cranes, your wish will come true. When Sadako found out she was ill, she folded over 1,000 cranes and wished to get better. She died after eight months. Her story spread internationally and the origami cranes became a symbol of peace. People still continue to leave cranes.

The Atom Bomb Dome

This building was only two streets from ground zero. It is oddly beautiful in its destroyed state. It is now known as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

It is a hot, sunny day with blue skies. It is hard to comprehend the massive destruction and death toll that happened here with such a beautiful day.

Lunch

We cross the road and go to a restaurant for a late lunch and rest. Hiroshima has some specialties and I try a seafood Okonomi which seems to be a crepe covered in noodles, onions, shellfish, eggs, seaweed and I don’t know what else. All of this is covered in a sauce. Whatever it is, it is delicious.

Jizo Statue and it’s Nuclear Shadow

Although within a few metres of ground zero, this Jizo statue survived. Jizo are guardian deities to protect children, both living and ones that have passed on. The bomb exploded directly above the statue, causing a nuclear shadow at its base. Parts of the statue exposed to the bombing are rough, but the area in the nuclear shadow is smooth.

Pheonix Tree

These Chinese Parasol trees were 1.3 km from ground zero. Their trunks were burned out in the blast and so they lost all their branches and leaves. They were thought to be dead but in the spring, new growth and buds appeared. This was taken as a sign of hope and seeds from these trees have been planted around Japan and around the world.

The trees were replanted in the Peace Memorial Park thirty years later.

Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Hypocentre Monument Plaque

This is the exact spot where the bomb detonated 600 metres directly above the Shima Hospital. The hospital was destroyed but rebuilt after the war.

Memorial Tower to the Mobilised Students

Hiroshima had a well respected university where people came from all over Japan and internationally to study. During WW2 a law was passed forcing the students to work in munitions factories due to a labour shortage. The students were some of the first responders.

This memorial is dedicated to the 6,300 students who died due to the bomb blast.

It’s been a busy day. We head back to the hotel for a rest before heading out to supper.