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So I wake up early in my Hotel, and in my head is the song I heard at the club. Man, last night was so much fun, holy moly.

I find my way to an ATM and I lost my umbrella along the way, withdraw some cash, and then hop on a train to Hiroshima. I get there, and I ask my way to the Atomic Bomb dome, the castle, and the famous shrine in the water. I find that to get to the shrine is another hour, AND a boat ride, and because it was raining, that seemed really not fun. So I got on the local train (that ran in the street, first time I saw that in Japan), and I headed to the Genpaku Dome (A-bomb). On the way there, I was kinda worried that I would feel awkward because I am an American going in a city where 120,000+ people were killed in less than 1 second, but when I got off the train and saw the dome, I realized that my life INSTANTLY, in that same 1 second of the bomb, was changed forever. Tears welled up in my eyes as I slowly walked to the building, and there was a eerie peaceful silence over the whole area as the rain fell slowly on my newly bought umbrella. The dome wasnt a monument, as I previously thought, but old capital building that barely was left standing when the bomb hit, and remained maintained and unchanged ever since. The destruction on this building was terrifying. The bomb exploded 600m above and 140-160m to the side of this building, for it bordered the T-shaped bridge that was the target of the Enola Gay. Literally standing on the spot the bomb went off, I gazed at the building in silence for about 5-10 minutes.

Im getting choked up as I write this journal entry.

Everyone inside the building were instantly disintegrated, and the copper roof 'dome' was melted and particalized, so only the creepy metal frame remains. The only other time I saw something this horrific and real was the wreckage of the Twin Towers the week after 9/11.

Thus began my journey through Memorial Peace park. If I wrote about everything I saw and all the feelings I felt in one journal entry, it would easily be 20 pages long without even going into detail. So I'll talk about the highlights.

I saw tons of monuments, including the Childrens memorial, with a bell that I rang to remember all of the children that were killed. A story is that one of the girls present during the bombing actually lived, and seemed relatively healthy. She then got lukemia and died while in middle school. During that time, she would make Origami cranes every day, getting more complex until she started to use a needle to make them, nearly microscopically. She believed that the thought of the crane and the pain to make it would represent the hope. Eventually, kids from all over the world started to send cranes to her, and she passed away. I actually stumbled across her school, and it was so sad, but at the monument there were millions of cranes from all over the world, with messages in every language. It was so powerful.

I found a tall clock that rings at the exact time the bomb went off. Also was the endless torch monument and a sculpture that every year is updated with the names of those who have died from the A-bomb and its radioactive effects. Last year the sculpture contained approx. 210,000 names, and their tomb of the unknown contains the ashes, remains, or IDs of 70,000 people.

Inside the museum, I found a lady who was there, and she was talking to an NHK reporter about her experience, and how she worked on a floor of the school building when it hit. She was in a wheelchair and her legs were definitely not normal, and she was sorta bald which made me think she had cancer at one point. It was powerful, to say the least.
Inside the museum were videos, information, drawings, and objects from the blast. A boy looked for his father at his work area, and all he found was the watch he gave him for his birthday, stopped at the exact time the bomb detonated. There were remains of people, clothing, and others. I stood in a room that had a 360 panoramic of the damaged city with you standing at the Hypocenter.

The facts were painful by themselves, but they explained the Manhattan project, how Hiroshima was chosen (another target was Kyoto. Dear God.), and everything of that sort. The bomb exploded and exerted pressure that was nearly immeasurable on the immediate vicinity, and temperatures reached 4000deg C, and the blast traveled 980+ mph. People were disintegrated and their shadows were stuck on buildings. Others had their skin melt of their bodies, and still lived. It was horrible.

But the best aspect of the museum was that it wasnt critical against the US for using it, for no one knew the results, and it did provide a swift and crucial end to a war that would have destroyed Japan. However, the continual testing and holding of nukes is what keeps this museum going, for they send letters to every country with nukes and tests to try to get them to stop.

There is a clock that has a counter for days since Hiroshima, and days since the last nuclear test, which was conducted by the French 150 days or so ago. In the clock is a series of cogs, that spins faster or slowly depending on the war and nuclear testing situation of the world. If the cogs all spin in succession, the bottom cog with try to spin, but cannot due to a concrete bottom, so if it tries to move, the whole clock will shatter, a symbol that will represent the end of the world. Right now, the top cog is spinning really quickly...

So, okay, enough about the Abomb thing. But while walking through Hiroshima, I felt like it was the safest, nicest city ever. The Carp baseball game was going on, and everything was so peaceful. I saw Hiroshima Castle and famous temple, along with some war sites, all reconstructed because they were destroyed. I found some trees that were black on the sides facing the site of the bomb blast. I looked for the art museum but couldnt find it lol Well, I wanted to see more but I was so tired that I couldnt, and I headed back to Osaka for my last night.

If you are interested in more about the Abomb and the museums quest to end Atomic powers, contact me for more pictures or information.