Sightseeing in Hiroshima – The Atomic Bomb Museum, Itsukushima Shrine in Miyajima, and Kintai-kyo Bridge

Since the museum was closed last time we went to Hiroshima, Momo’s parents decided to takes us back so we could have a tour. I must say, it was an overwhelming experience. Before I walked into the museum I remember laughing and joking around with Joel about something stupid. During my tour I almost cried a few times and afterwards, I was somber and disenchanted. Furthermore, there was a bit of anger which had built up inside of me but I will explain why a little later. It is difficult to describe everything that I saw and I wish I would have taken a few more pictures. Here is what I remember from the museum…

There are only a few things which stand out in mind nearly a week after I have visited the memorial. For starters, the reasons why the United States chose to drop the bomb as well as why it chose to drop it on Hiroshima. From what I gathered, the war in Europe was already over and the United States and the Soviet Union had already begun to claim their territories. Japan had yet to surrender. America had invested a lot of time and money (approximately two billion dollars in 1945) in to developing nuclear weapons and foresaw the Cold War on the horizon. In regards to Japan, there were two viable options available: a land assault with Soviet assistance or the atomic bomb. Since America wanted sole control over Japan in order to give them an advantage in the Cold War, it decided to drop the bomb on August 6th, 1945, killing over 140,000 people in Hiroshima within ten years. As if the bomb in Hiroshima wasn’t enough, the United States dropped another one shortly thereafter in Nagasaki. If there was another solution which involved military targets, I do not understand why innocent civilians had to be burned to death and die from radiation poisoning. Secondly, Hiroshima was chosen because there was believed to be no POW’s as is seen in the classified letters at the museum. Now this tells me that there were other military targets which were perhaps more strategic but were not chosen in order to save American lives. I do not understand how you can justify killing hundreds of thousands of people you do not know but not a single American. It just makes no sense to me.

The second thing which still stands out in my mind is the utter as well as everlasting destruction the atomic bomb has left on the city as well as survivors. Within an instant an entire city was destroyed, demolished without any warning. President Truman had given the order not to inform the populace of Hiroshima that the bomb was going to be dropped and several thousand people were outside when the bomb was dropped. There are reports that people were so badly burned that the jumped into the river, which by the end of the day and thousands upon thousands of dead bodies lining its shores and waterways. There were pictures of people with their entire bodies covered in burns. One display showed the skin melting off children and women as it oozed off their faces and dripped down from their fingers. I am not particularly sure about the physics but it seems as though there is a heat wave which is sent out after the bomb is dropped and darker materials are burnt. There was a piece of paper which was still in tact but the letters had been perfectly hollowed out from the paper. One woman was wearing a Kimono and the pattern was permanently imprinted on her skin as the heat wave branded the dark design on her body. A lot of stories and photographs were suppressed immediately after the bombing as British and U.S. troops occupied the city.

In addition to the immediate effects, there is also cancer and leukemia. There was a girl who was two years old when the bomb was dropped and she contracted leukemia. During her struggles with the disease, she believed that if she made 1,000 paper cranes her wish to stay alive would come true. Sadly, she died at the age of ten and a children’s memorial was erected to honor and remember those children who had passed away. Today, the paper crane is still a symbol of peace.

(This is the same statue as the first picture and all the beautiful colored items on the ground are cranes. Hundreds and thousands of cranes are made every year and delivered to Hiroshima.)

(A view of the Atomic Bomb Dome)

(A panaromic view of the city after the bomb was dropped.)

(Another photograph of the destruction. A lot of things I saw in the museum made me sick to my stomach and I could not even take photographs. In the foreground of this picture is the Atomic Bomb Dome so you can clearly see the devestation of the bomb.)

Moving on to a lighter topic, Kintai-kyo bridge was an amazing experience. The bridge is over 193.3 meters in length and 5 meters wide. It is said to be a an engineering feat as well as a national treasure in Japan. The view was beautiful as the mountains arose in the background and along the ridge I could see Iwakuni Castle. In the spring, the banks of the river and area surrounding the castle is besieged with Cherry Blossoms and I assume it is absolutely magnificent. The castle was the first one which I was actually able to enter. The outside was magnificent and the view from the top was amazing; however, the inside left much to be desired. I guess there was a period in Japan when all the castles were destroyed so that many of the castles standing today had to be reconstructed. I forgot to mention, in order to get to the castle we had to take an incline which had an amazing view. There was also a park we passed through as we passed from the bridge to the incline. Overall, it was one of my favorite places in Japan, probably ranking within the top two. There was lots of nature, lots of history, and lots of scenic sights.

(Kintai-kyo bridge - If you look carefully in the upper right hand corner you can see Iwakuni Castle.)

(Me thinking about life atop Kintai-kyo bridge)

(Iwakuni Castle)

(Armor inside the castle)

(One last shot of the castle)

(Justin and Momo with funny faces at the summit of the incline. What a beautiful view in the background.)

After visiting the bridge we went to Momo’s favorite restaurant for dinner. To me, it appeared to be chaotic. We walked in to one room and they sent us to another. There was no hostess to take names. It seemed as though you just walked from room to room until you find a place to eat dinner. The dinner itself was very traditional as we ate at a table which was no higher than a foot and a half. As we entered the place we would be dining for the evening, there was a large open fire directly in front of us and the cook was grilling chicken on a stick. The smoke from the fire was poorly ventilated and the room had a thick haze which made it difficult to see the far wall when standing. The tea hung from a rope above the ashes of the fire which kept it warm. There were no boundaries and I walked right up to the fire. In America, someone would have sued this place already for something or other. Overall, there appeared to be about eight or nine dining structures similar to ours and several places to eat outside (which were also filled with people on January 2nd). The chicken came out on a stick and a mini kettle which held a fire inside was placed on our table. A skinny metal grate sat upon the top and we laid the meat directly on metal. I must say, it was rather an interesting dining performance and I am not sure if Japanese people eat there for the experience or the quality of the food.

The final place we visited on the 3rd was Itsukushima Shrine in Miyajima. Momo explained to me that in Japan, this is place is considered to be one of the three most beautiful locations. Needless to say, I was excited to go. Our adventure began the night before as we went to Round One, a sports facility. We played ping pong as well as several other games with Momo and her friends. By the time we were ready to leave it was already 3 am by which point I decided I was going to stay up the entire night since we would not even get home until 4:30 in the morning. On our way back we stopped at the convenience store and picked up some drinks and snacks. Anyway, Momo’s mom served breakfast around eight – French onion soup, tea, and I still had some beer left from the night before. I must say, it felt kind of awkward drinking beer with breakfast but since I had yet to fall asleep I figured why not.

We left the house shortly thereafter and went to Momo’s uncle’s house. We followed him to the pier and hopped on a boat. The uncle’s friend owns a boat which he uses to transport people to and fro as the shrine is on an island. Once again, my motion sickness got the best of me so I sat outside. I had already had three cups of coffee and it was probably 30 degrees with the wind chill factored in on the back of the boat; but, I still think I fell asleep for a minute or two. We got to the island and did some sightseeing for a few hours. There were a lot of different temples and shrines as well as a few pagodas. I must say, this place was extremely beautiful as well, especially after the enjoyable boat ride. It was another beautiful location in Japan and the picture from the top of the blog comes from Miyajima.

(The view from the boat as we approached the island.)

(Itsukushima Shrine. It was pretty interesting because it is the first shrine I have seen actually in the water.)

(Itsukushima Shrine)

(A view of a few of the temples nestled in to the foothills of the mountain on the island. The island was created for the gods; therefore, there are no human graveyards permitted on the island.)

(The lucky creature. Not exactly sure what it is, all that I know is that it is lucky! So, I put some money in its mouth.)

(The five storied pagoda)

(To the right you can see the five storied pagoda and on the left is a huge shrine. Hiroshima is known for its paddles which are used in some sort of spiritual way to pray. Inside the temple to the left there were hundreds of paddles ranging in size as well as lots of pictures.)

(Inside the aforementioned temple)

Well everybody, as far as I can tell, that concludes my New Year's trip to Hiroshima. If you have any questions about anything feel free to send me an email. Hope everyone is doing great and I know I forgot to mention it before so...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hope everyone is doing well and had a very enjoyable New Year. Also, I hope you kept the pounds off over the holiday, I know I didn't. Take care, miss you all, and love you.