We got up nice and early Sunday morning after a good sleep and were greeted with a warmer day than we'd known in Osaka or Koyasan. The advantage of being in a hostel rather than our previously slightly fancier lodgings was that there was a kitchen to make our own breakfast. So I popped out to buy Rob what he has been missing the most - cereal and milk (it has been two and a half months). It wasn't cheaper than eating out really but the free tea and coffee to have with it certainly was and we got some supermarket priced snacks for the day (we're determined not to be completely bankrupt when we get home). While we had brek we also got our last bits of Japan accommodation booked up, making sure we get to stay in all different types of fun Japanese accommodation.
So we headed out for the day feeling nice and sorted and happy to be in Nagasaki as it had already sold itself to us the night before somehow. Funny how you get an instant feeling about a place when you arrive, and it's often places you wouldn't expect that you end up liking the most. Nagasaki just had a good feeling to it; friendly, welcoming and prettily laid out along the river. There was even a heron catching fish in the river straight outside the hostel that morning.
We had not come to Nagasaki just to visit the town but mainly to visit the site of the Atomic bomb explosion of 9th August 1945 and learn about the effects this had upon the town and country.
The Atom bombs dropped on Japan during WWII were the first and only to have been used in attack. The Hiroshima atom bombing was the second explosion in three days: the first A-bomb the world had ever seen was dropped on Hiroshima. At the time the bombs was justified by the Allied forces (USA, UK and USSR) as a means to bring to an immediate end to the war in Pacific, make Japan surrender unconditionally and therefore prevent years more of war. The murky horrible undertone to the justification is that the US wanted to show the USSR it was in control now and that they should be scared. Instead it started the nuclear arms race, the Cold War and now the state of unease that the world is in now with nuclear weapons.
So we went straight to the A-Bomb Hypocentre park in the north of the city where the bomb hit that day. Here they have created gardens in which people can come and pray and remember their lost loved ones, there is a fountain and a number of different statues built in memory of the lives that were lost that day and to promote peace. Plus there is an A-bomb museum to document what happened and teach the world about the effects of nuclear warfare.
At first when you are walking around the park it is hard to get your head around it all. The park now is such a pretty place filled with plant life. However when you force yourself to picture that this space used to be filled with houses and buildings and people living their lives, you start to get it into your head how that once vibrant part of the city was wiped off the map.
The plaques in the park also begin to work the realisation into your mind as they talk about the numbers of people, homes and lives that were destroyed. 70,000 people died in the first seconds and this rose to 140,000 from radiation exposure by 1950 and 40% of the city's houses were destroyed in the blast. Roughly two thirds of the whole city were either killed or injured - no-one escaped the effects one way or another.
The peace statue is particularly suiting as it points to the sky where the bomb blew.
And this pillar shows the exact spot of the blast.
But then the stories behind the statues and they messages they hold begin to bring home the real people behind those statistics. The information provided does not shy from telling the horrors of the story. The fountain in the picture below was designed to represent the wings of a dove to promote world peace. But a fountain was chosen to represent the water desired by the tens of thousands of people burning to death that day after the bomb hit. Straight after the blast, many thousands crawled around the floor desperately needing water after the heat and radiation swarmed them. The fountain now gives those people the water they needed that day.
In the nearby Nagasaki atomic bomb museum, the horrors were laid out even more plainly. I won't go into all the details as I know how hard it can be to take in out of context. But the lasting impression that will stay with me is how a one second explosion leaves decades of pain. The images of the day were horrific; people burning alive and 2km radius of the town flattened. But it didn't end there, it had just begun. In the years that followed people suffered with long term psychological effects, poverty and desolation, and longer term physical effects that radiation exposure creates. Everyday after the blast more and more people dropped dead, babies were born dead and cancer levels in the city were high for years.
What made me the saddest was one man's story of how he came home that day from work to find that his town, home and family were gone. How he wished he had gone too instead of being left to suffer alone grieving and agonising. It was people's stories such as these that get under your skin and make you feel the fear and dread that something like that could happen to you and others in the future in this age of nuclear arms.
The museum finished on a positive, or at least determined, note. It outlined the details of the current worldwide ownership of nuclear weapons and the steps being taken to raise awareness of the dangers and horrors of nuclear war and bring about disarmament. Interestingly there has been recent stories in the news this week on the subject. Obama announced alongside Russia that they are to reduce the number of nuclear weapons that each own and try and secure the stock piles of weapon grade nuclear elements. This is a positive sign.
So with our heads spinning and full we went in search of some lunch. We found a little cafe to get a quick sandwich and coffee and talk over everything we'd learned. By the time we'd finished these the sun was coming out and we took a leisurely walk back to our hostel along a street lined with temple after temple. Many of them were built by the Chinese merchants in the 17th century. Nagasaki used to be a major trading port for Japan with Chinese, Korean and even Portuguese and Dutch trading out of it around 17th century.
Back at the hostel it was just shutting for lunch which meant we couldn't hang around there so instead we headed off to the station early hoping we might get an earlier train via the tram.
At the station there happened to be a big community dance demonstration happening so that kept us quiet for a bit before our train. It amazing what we find in Japan. There does seem to be a great sense of community.
Then three hours of train journey's later we arrived in Hiroshima back up on the main island. The tram trip to the hostel was a bit further than the day before and the hostel was a bit hostelier than the day before but we were glad to have arrived. We found a restaurant near the hostel for dinner which had a menu with some English words on so we went there for a nice grilled dinner.
We then had an exciting evening of doing our washing and selecting some belongings to chuck out to try and make our bags lighter. We were very sleepy when bed time finally came.
We awoke to the sound of rain and so decided to have a little lay in until the rain stopped. We had some more cereal, free drinks and waited some more but then eventually we realised it was going to let up and so borrowed some umbrellas and headed out for our day.
We went first over to the Hiroshima A-bomb dome, as again that's why we were here really. The dome is now heritage listed with the aim for it to remain as evidence for what the bombs can do. The dome is derelict and once belonged to the cities landmark Industrial Promotion Hall but now is all that remains. The bomb stripped virtually the whole city apart. But this building was only partially destroyed, despite it being metres from the centre of the blast. It's skeleton haunts some of the A-Bomb survivors (called hibakusha, 95,000 still alive in Hiroshima today). Many believed that it should be demolished. But many more thought it would serve as a reminder.
We then walked through the park to the museum. In the park there is a fountain that has become the focal morning place of the bomb. It is designed to look like the plane dropping the bomb and has the Flame of Peace inside it that will only be put out once the last nuclear bomb is removed from our Earth.
At the main memorial state there was a crowd gathering. An official looking Italian guy was being escorted to solemnly approach the statue and lay a wreath of flowers at it's foot. We could not tell what was going on but you got the impression it was an official state visit on the subject of nuclear arms. The Italian official then went in to visit the museum just as we were too.
The museum here told more details of the city pre 1945 and also more about the war context. Rob was particularly interested in this as it gave a very detailed account to the run up of the bombing complete with letters from Einstein, Roosevelt, Churchill and other important people of the time.
It also gave quite a frank account of the Japanese before and during the war. They were brutal to their neighbours and expected everything from its citizens. They pretty much enslaved the whole of Korea. I think they are particular ashamed of this period of their history as they very honestly cover it in all accounts, make apologies and now take a very different approach.
Amongst the information, one thing that was particularly shocking was that the USA removed the possibility of a warning to the people of Hiroshima or Nagasaki before the bomb would be detonated. Why?! This could of saved so many thousands of lives and still proved the brutal military point.
Something that made a definite impression on us were the two scale models in the museum: one of Hiroshima the day before the blast and one the day after.
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As you can see, total destruction and 80,000 dead within seconds. Upstairs in the museum was a lot of information about Hiroshima campaign against nuclear weapons. The major of the city has sent a letter to the offending country every time a nuclear test has been carried out since 1946. Needless to say there were a lot of plaques.
We spent quite a long time in the museum and by the time we emerged lunch was overdue and it was raining harder than ever and so we decided to call off the afternoon plans to visit Miyajima Island. With that decision made we went in search of the local delicacy, okonomiyaki, a sort of pancake made in layers starting with a wrap, then cabbage and beansprouts, then pork and egg and then topped off with a sticky brown sauce. We shared one and it was surprisingly nice, especially the vegetable interior.
We were not full though so we found somewhere that made gyoza dumplings that I love and then since it was a horrid rainy day we felt this was justification for going to have coffee and a cake in the department store. The day was getting on by this point and with just a short detour to collect our book that I left in the museum earlier we headed back to the hostel to watch a pre-dinner film as it was so wet. It was such a good decision, we watch Grand Tourino and although it didn't leave me cheery but it was excellent. Then we decided to stay on the cosy theme and bought spag bol ingredients from the nearby supermarket to cook a cheap and comforting dinner.
We both felt a lot more rested by the time we went to bed that night. Sometimes you have to slow down a little to recharge for the next step and we were now really looking forward to getting out and about the next day. Just as well as we are off to a castle and then to Kyoto. I think the next few days will be more light hearted and we're ready for that. But I'm really glad we came to Hiroshima and Nagasaki as although we're leaving the sites of the bombs behind us, the impression of sadness, fear and desire for peace will stay with us.
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