One of the places that has impressed me the most out of everything I have seen in the world so far!
HIROSHIMA, JAPAN
I doubt there’s anyone who doesn’t know, but I’ll briefly recap here, even if only to remind us all: Hiroshima is the city that was the target of the first atomic bomb ever used in a conflict. It happened during World War II, on August 6, 1945, at 8:15 a.m. The Americans, in order to force Japan to surrender, loaded the bomb nicknamed Little Boy onto the plane nicknamed Enola Gay and detonated it at about 600 meters above the city. Hiroshima was struck by thermal rays with temperatures of 3,000–4,000 degrees Celsius, along with shock waves and radiation!
The result? 70,000–80,000 people died instantly or within just a few hours after the explosion!
By the end of the year (1945), the death toll had reached 140,000, due to injuries, burns, and the effects of radiation! And in the following decades, because of illnesses caused by radiation, the number rose to over 200,000!!!
These figures are estimates, because many documents were destroyed and, as far as I understand, many people simply disappeared without a trace.
The city was largely wiped out!
But Hiroshima knew how to rise again and truly became a symbol of peace. The people, however, do not want to forget, so almost everywhere you go, there is something to remind you of the tragedy.
PEACE MEMORIAL PARK
As soon as you step into the Peace Memorial Park, you are struck by a silence that makes it hard to imagine the disaster that hit this place 80 years ago!
It feels like a Sunday in a city from which everyone has escaped to the mountains or the seaside…
The park is located on the spot that, back in those days, was Hiroshima’s commercial and residential center – the most crowded and lively area.
Now it is filled with monuments and structures dedicated to commemorating the victims of the bombing.
GENBAKU DOME (ATOMIC BOMB DOME)
Although it is across the river, outside the Memorial Park, the “Dome” is considered one of the park’s most important elements.
Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall – this was the name of the building before the atomic bombing, and it was basically an exhibition and administrative center meant to promote trade and crafts in the area.
Designed by a Czech architect and completed in 1915, with a tall vertical structure made of concrete and steel, it is the only building in the area that survived the explosion!
The Dome has been preserved exactly as it was right after the blast.
At the time, many people wanted it torn down because it reminded them of the nightmare of that day. However, under pressure from various organizations, the decision was made to keep it as it was.
In 1996, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List for its cultural importance and for its symbolic role as a “witness” to the nuclear horror.
THE CENOTAPH FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE ATOMIC BOMB
I admit I called it an “arch” because I had no idea what a cenotaph was. I found out: a funerary monument in memory of someone whose body has disappeared or is located elsewhere.
Beneath it, a stone chest holds a register with the names of all known victims who died as a result of the bombing – over 220,000! (The list has been updated annually as more people died from radiation-related causes)
On the arch it is written: “Rest in peace, for the error will not be repeated”. What can I say? God willing, let’s be optimistic…
The Cenotaph is located right in the center of the park and is perfectly aligned with the Peace Flame and with the Dome across the river.
The Peace Flame has been burning continuously since 1964 and, as I understand, its purpose is to remain lit until all nuclear weapons in the world are eliminated. Hm…
THE MEMORIAL MOUND FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE ATOMIC BOMB
This grassy mound holds the ashes of over 70,000 unidentified people who died immediately after the explosion! Being very close to the “ground zero” of the blast, all the victims from the area were brought here, and later, others from all over the city as well.
Nearby, there is an offering altar with flowers and incense brought by visitors.
It is one of the most peaceful areas in the park. And one of the most emotionally charged.
THE CHILDREN’S PEACE MONUMENT
Very touching story: the story of a girl named Sadako!
Sadako was 2 years old at the time. She was exposed to nuclear radiation, but she didn’t seem to have been affected, so her life went on in the most normal way possible.
However, at the age of 12, she was diagnosed with leukemia. The verdict was harsh: she was given only one more year to live…
In Japan, there is an old belief that your wish will come true if you fold 1,000 paper cranes. While hospitalized, Sadako began folding cranes from medicine wrappers and other scraps of paper, hoping she would get better. Unfortunately, although she made more than 1,300 cranes, her condition worsened, and she died after only 6 months 🙁
I understand that the monument, which is dedicated to all children affected by the bomb, was built with funds collected from children across Japan, including Sadako’s classmates.
It represents a stylized bomb, with a girl at the top holding a paper crane in her hands. Inside, there is a bell with a suspended crane, which visitors are encouraged to ring, like a prayer for peace rising to the sky.
What’s impressive is that the monument is surrounded by display cases filled with thousands of colorful origami cranes, made and brought continuously by people from all over the world. In fact, the entire park is full of such cranes!
One of the places with many chains of origami cranes – a traditional Japanese symbol of peace – is also a pagoda-like structure.
The Memorial Tower to the Mobilized Students is dedicated to all those in schools who were mobilized for labor during World War II, many of whom lost their lives in the bombing of August 6, 1945.
The Peace Bell is another bell in the park that visitors are encouraged to ring as a sign of hope for peace. The sound is very pleasant!
Many people come here not only to ring the bell but also to take pictures with it…
Also in the park is the tomb of a counselor from a famous Hiroshima family, a tomb that has been here since 1689, when the site was part of a temple. The stone above the tomb was toppled by the atomic explosion.
I also came acrossThe Monument to Korean Victims and Survivors, built in memory of the Koreans who were (forcibly) working in Japan and who died as a result of the blast.
We’ll soon head to the Museum – which left a deep mark on me! – but first, I want to show you the “ground zero” of the bomb’s explosion.
THE HYPOCENTER
I searched for it in the little streets near the park. I kept looking for some sort of monument, something big, but instead…
…on a quiet street, on the sidewalk, there is, basically, a memorial plaque with the story briefly written.
The atomic bomb exploded approximately 600 meters above this point.
The photograph shows a view of the destruction taken from the hypocenter in November 1945 by the U.S. Army.
HIROSHIMA PEACE MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Oh my God, this visit completely drained me!!! Everything is so emotional! If you have a weak heart, it’s probably best not to linger too long in this museum.
Opened 10 years after the bombing, the museum presents the story of the 1945 tragedy through survivor testimonies, photographs, and, most strikingly, objects and belongings! Things that can deeply affect you emotionally…
I took many photos, filmed a lot, and I can say that what impressed me the most were two “exhibits”:
The story is heartbreaking: 1.5 kilometers from the explosion site, a boy of almost 4 years old was playing with his tricycle in front of his house. Both he and the tricycle were simply burned!
His father buried the child behind their house, along with the tricycle.
Forty years later, the family moved his remains to the family grave and decided to donate the tricycle to the museum.
I had read that this was the most shocking exhibit. But… it’s just a photograph. Still, believe me, it is truly shocking!
It is the shadow of a person, imprinted by the heat of the explosion on a stone staircase.
Just 260 meters from the hypocenter, someone was sitting on the steps of a bank, waiting for it to open, when he was struck by the flash from the bomb’s explosion. The surrounding step surfaces turned bluish from the intense ray, while the spot where the person had been sitting remained like a… shadow.
I walk through the museum and everything feels heavy. In every display case, I see something that moves me.
The Black Rain
The huge mushroom-shaped cloud, the one we all know from so many images, carried into the air dust, earth, and other debris. The soot from the fires was lifted high by hot air currents. All this mix became radioactive, combined with water vapor in the atmosphere, and then fell to the ground as what is called “black rain”.
Here is a piece of wall on which this black rain became embedded.
This wristwatch, stopped exactly at the time of the blast (8:15 a.m.), was donated to the museum by its owner.
At 370 meters from the hypocenter, the owner of a house retrieved this deformed bottle from the ruins.
The man lost almost his entire family in those days! The remains of his wife and one of his daughters were never found, and his 13-year-old son, who was working alongside other students, died from burns.
This is Sadako, the girl who died of leukemia 10 years after the explosion. And these are some of the cranes she folded in the hospital, hoping she would recover…
Every story of each object or exhibit sends shivers down your spine and leaves a lump in your throat…
This portable safe was in the basement of a shop located just 80 meters from the hypocenter.
The shop belonged to a family who also had their house there. Although it was completely destroyed that morning, with many employees and customers killed, the family who owned it had the greatest luck of all!!! They had moved to another area, into another house, so all members survived!
Like almost everyone, the owner was often asked after the bombing who in his family had died. Although it was hard for him to answer, he would eventually say: “My whole family survived”.
Others – most of them – were not so lucky…
Surviving relatives donated to the museum the clothes their loved ones were wearing on the day of the blast. And they told their stories…
Several junior high school students were exposed to the bomb while participating in building demolition work. Most of them died. The clothes of three of them are now in this display case in the museum.
I only visited the Park and the Museum, but I understand that the entire city “speaks” about that fateful day: you can see damaged schools where children died in large numbers, the garden where the injured were treated, statues, monuments, and also the Memorial Hall for the Victims of the Atomic Bombing – a circular hall with the names of the victims, where a clock is fixed at the time of the explosion (8:15).
It was my first stop on my trip to Japan a few years ago, and I can say it left me deeply moved! These people, by showing us what they went through, achieve what they set out to do: they – to never forget, and we – to become aware…
Here are some shots I took in these places:
