Our Trip to Hiroshima Part II: Atomic Bomb Dome

Konnichiwa, Tyson, Audrey, Charlotte, and Christine!

On our second day in Hiroshima, we visited Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. At Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, there are many monuments and museums to commemorate victims of the nuclear bomb that was dropped in Hiroshima during World War II. Among that is Atomic Bomb Dome.

This is the Atomic Bomb Dome. At 8:15am on August 6th, 1945 during World War II, the nuclear bomb was dropped and exploded 600 m (2,000 ft) almost directly above this dome.

0.2 seconds after the explosion of the bomb, the heart rays from the blast covered the area, and they were a few thousand times stronger than the sun light. The temperature of the ground reached 2,000 C (3,632 F). 0.8 seconds after the explosion of the bomb, the dome was destroyed as you see in those photos.

The area within the radius of 2 km (1.243 miles) turned into ashes. The only reason this dome retained its form was because the bomb exploded almost right above it.

With this single bomb, the lives of over 200,000 people were lost and many suffered fatal injuries from the radiation.

This monument is dedicated to children who lost their lives to the nuclear bomb. The girl on top of the monument is a little girl who passed away from the radiation of the bomb. She folded 1,000 paper cranes, believing she would be cured if she did. (In Japan, we believe that if we fold 1,000 paper cranes, then it can cure diseases, because cranes are the symbol of good luck since they live for many years.)

There is also Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in this park. However, we have been told we have to mentally prepare ourselves before entering this museum, because it really shows the horrific damage caused by a nuclear bomb.... It is very important to know what went on in wars and the damages caused by a nuclear bomb so that we really understand the horrible reality of wars and learn from the mistakes we have made in the past, but we felt that we were not ready to face it yet at this time, so we did not go inside the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. But someday, we will...

In order to write this blog post, Yuki's mom tried to read a bit more about this nuclear bombing in Hiroshima, but just reading even a bit was too much to bear. She could not keep reading even in an effort to tell you guys about it...

In late 19th century and in early 20th century, Japan was invading other countries. Japan was attacking those countries viciously and doing many horrible things to their people. There were other countries in Europe doing the same at the time, and Japan formed an alliance with them. However, even after those countries Japan formed an alliance with surrendered, Japan refused to stop and kept fighting. In order to stop it, the nuclear bombs were dropped in Hiroshima and in Nagasaki in 1945. By losing so many lives all at once by such a horrific way and having so many people suffer fatal injuries, Japan finally learned how wars hurt people.

After World War II, Japan implemented a new Constitution, which was drafted by the US. It includes Article 9, which states that Japan will not go into wars with other countries and will not have armed forces to fight with other countries.

Yuki's mom remembers feeling very proud that Japan is now a very peaceful country when she learned about Article 9 in school. However, some people question the validity of self-armed forces in Japan with Article 9 while others call for the complete revision of Article 9 so Japan can go into wars with other countries when it is necessary. (To our knowledge, Japan's self-armed forces serve people within the country in times of disasters and also provide people in war zones in other countries with resources such as food and water without actually being involved in the act of war.)

This past Tuesday morning, North Korea shot a missile that passed over Japan and dropped into the ocean very close to Japanese shores. This incident stirred a big debate over Article 9 yet again. We sure hope we can remain to be a peaceful country...

But at the same time, because we live in a very peaceful country, we often forget that there are countries in this world that are at wars right now and that there are people who live everyday fearing for their and their loved ones' lives...

There are just so many thoughts and feelings that cannot be put into words, so we will end this blog right here... We hope and pray that the world will be a peaceful place someday soon...