Hiroshima

One thing I would recommend everyone trying: riding on a train, looking out at the surroundings with their favorite music. It's the best. Kind of like in the famous quote in "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" (and if you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm purposefully not putting the quote in because everyone should have to read the book, so go find out what I'm talking about!).

Anyway, I was riding on the train from Kyoto to Hiroshima, listening to my music, trying to predict the emotions I was going to experience when arriving at the Hiroshima train station. An Atomic bomb is a incomprehensible thing to me, but not so much to the people that live there. I didn't really know (and still don't know) how the Japanese felt/feel about the subject. And to make matters worse, we were the only westerners on the train going to Hiroshima. Thoughts were flying through my head like, they probably don't like us etc... and I had a big lump in my throat as we kept getting closer to the city...

Out the window, you could see old houses, crops and mountains, Japan. It was beautiful. And all I could think about was the bomb, the people, death. 15 minutes away from the station, the houses that we were passing looked new... this is how far the bomb had reached... (Shinkansen travels about 177 mph).

We arrived at the station....... we were the only westerners around.

Checked into the hotel. I couldn't stop thinking about what other people were thinking... it was bad. I just felt like I should go up to someone an say sorry. We put our bags up in the room, and headed out to the Peace Memorial Park.

My parents and I had to take the street cars to the park. We were milling around trying to find them..... (when you look lost in Japan, almost always someone comes up to you and helps you)...... So this Japanese man comes up and asks us where we were going... and my dad says, "the Atomic bomb"... I kind of wanted to melt into a puddle like Alex Mac... and the man said... "oh! get on Car No. 6", so we did.

The conductor kindly took our money and asked "...are you going to the Atomic Bomb (very loudly)?", and my dad said yes... and the conductor told us it would be 5 stops.

4 stops came and the conductor came up to us and said that it would be the next stop (note: we are still the only westerners on the street car, and the car was quite full, and me, with an imaginary American flag on my forehead). My heart was pounding at this moment... i was really nervous, I didn't know what to expect.

The street car stopped, we got out, an there it was: The Atomic Bomb Dome. I can't really tell you what it felt like to look at it face to face. Overwhelming, overbearing and calm. But it is what life is made of. It is the skeleton of everything.

There were many people there, praying, taking pictures, laughing, crying, talking, observing, singing, playing, giving away free hugs, music, language, protesting. It is a place of consistency and change.

We went to the Museum... depressing and fair. Depressing because of the magnitude of despair brought upon Hiroshima, fair because the information stuck to the facts... no pointing fingers.

We finished with the museum and we saw the Cenotaph for all the victims... then the peace flame... and then the children's monument.
When we were walking towards the children's monument... this little old Japanese guy says, "Hello!", hello we said.... "it's very hot today.", yes it is.... "you know how old I am? 82"... wow, my dad says..my mother is 84... they talk a while, he has lived in/near Hiroshima all his life (do the math). "I'm sure glad that you are here and to have met you all! have a nice day." Wow.
All my apprehensions that I was making up in my head about being in Hiroshima flew away.

I'm so glad I went. I wish everyone could go. I don't really have an opinion about what happened on August 6, 1945- who was right or who was wrong. I don't think it necessarily matters in that regard. All I know is that in WWII, there are many examples of how ill the human condition can, how volatile a power struggle is. I was able to see an extreme result of that sort of evil. But I also saw how such a devastating event could be so positive at the same time. That sort of thing really brings you down to earth and to your knees, it really speaks to you. Shows you how compassion for people can over come anything. A piece of my heart will always be dedicated to Hiroshima, I will never forget my visit.



A lot of you are probably wondering if I cried... because I am a big crier for the world per se...

I'll leave that up to your imagination.