Chapter 11
Day 11 - Hiroshima and Miyajima
Hiroshima
The sun rose on a sleepy Nara. The 10000 Lanterns Festival was just in our memory as in the streets there wasn’t any more the slightest trace of it. We left the hotel that was really early and we reached the station. Here we took a train that took us to Kyoto, and from Kyoto another to Hiroshima. In Kyoto we bought a couple of Bento Box (Lunch Boxes) to have a snack on the train. The train left Kyoto that was under a cloudy sky and as much as we went southward, it got cloudier and cloudier until we reached Hiroshima that was pouring. At the train station we left our backpacks in a coin locker and we started the exploration of the city.
We left the station and with a tram we crossed the shopping district of this modern city and we reached the WWII memorial area.
We left the station and with a tram we crossed the shopping district of this modern city and we reached the WWII memorial area.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park - The A-Bomb Dome
We left the station and with a tram we crossed the shopping district of this modern city and we reached the WWII memorial area.
The first monument that we met on our way was the famous “A-Bomb Dome”, that is one of the few buildings that survived the explosion of the Atomic Bomb on August 6th 1945.
The first monument that we met on our way was the famous “A-Bomb Dome”, that is one of the few buildings that survived the explosion of the Atomic Bomb on August 6th 1945.
What happened the August 6th 1945
It was a mid-summer morning. The long WWII was going to face its end soon, all the World was sure of it. The Germans already surrendered in Europe the May 8th 1945, but the Pacific was still an open warfare. The allied forces called for a surrender of Japan on July 26th 1945 with the Postdam Declaration, but Japan didn’t want to listen. The ultimatum was clear, stop all the activities or there would be “prompt and utter destruction” of the Japanese country. But how could the Japanese Emperor, a man who believed to be a God to accept orders given by simple men? No way. He was still convinced that he couldn’t give up the fight, and accepting the defeat would be a terrible dishonor for him and the whole country. Such a dishonor would make fall Japanese people down from the status of human to sub-human, the same way that the Jap Soldiers treated all the POWs (Prisoners Of War) in the Pacific war. No way. The Japanese Emperor wouldn’t surrender, her was glad to sacrifice until his last citizen for his honour. The allied forces decided that they had this weapon, the most heinous ever built. A bomb so powerful that could wipe away anything in a second. Why using it on Japan? Japan was a step away from its downfall. The army and navy were keeping on losing ground and there was almost no more petrol in the whole country. But someguy decided that this war had to end the sooner, it didn’t matter the outrageous amount of casualties if using this new bomb. And somebody gave his blessing to the disaster. Specialists, scientists, engineers, strategists; all worked together to plan the strike, and soon all was set up. The organization was that a group of bombers would take off from the Mariana Archipelago and head up from the south of Japan. At the same time, many other bombers would storm the country in order to cause the “usual” havoc and destruction of the last times. The designed target was Hiroshima, a city with a large Military Compound and a weapons stocking facility. It was early morning in Hiroshima. The previous night the Radar Early Warning had seen large groups of bombers and at midnight gave an alarm. People took shelter waiting for a bombing that didn’t come. Later was sounded the “All clear” and people were reassured that, at least this time, all was fine. It was around 7.00 a.m. when a single airplane was spotted in the sky. The Radar Early Warning gave the alarm, but the airplane just passed by without dropping bombs. This airplane was a B29-class bomber codenamed “Straight Flush”. This was a reconnaissance airplane and while flying over Hiroshima broadcasted a radio transmission saying that the sky over the city had clouds for only 3/10, so the primary target was clear. The Japanese alarm, as soon as the airplane went away sounded again the “All clear”. By the same time on board of another B29 airplane codenamed “Enola Gay” the personnel started the preparations for the bombing. It was 8.15 in the morning when the Enola Gay crossed the sky of Hiroshima. The target was the Aioi Bridge and as soon as the airplane aligned on the target, the bomb codenamed “Little Boy” was released. Nobody on board suspected the effective power of the device that they just dropped. The fall lasted 43 seconds. A crosswind from the north dragged southward the bomb, straight over the Shima Surgical Clinic. At the height of 600 metres the bomb suffered an almost-total failure as only the 1,7% of the Uranium reacted, but still exploded. In was just a moment when an unprecedented shockwave pushed forward at supersonic power a huge fireball, turning a city into an hell of destruction. Most of what was in the epicenter was disintegrated instantly, while the shockwave and fire destroyed all the rest. In a matter of seconds, about 70% of the city was turned into a mass of wrecks and debris. In that moments the central military control lost contact with Hiroshima on all the channels. The only news were fragmented messages that spoke of a terrible explosion there, but nobody could understand what happened, so were sent pilots to verify what was going on in Hiroshima. When they approached to the city, the only thing that they could see was a mushroom shaped column of smoke rising from the scorched land that once was the city. The pilots landed nearby and reported all the destruction that happened. The radiation fallout poisoned the air, soil and water. Those that were in the surrounding areas were both poisoned by the radiation exposure and the radioactive fallout. In the end, counting those that died in the direct blast, those that suffered burnings, injuries and radioactive poisoning the victims accounts was over 166.000 casualties. Three days later the story repeated on another city. That time it had been Nagasaki. |
The A-Bomb Dome is part of the large “Peace Memorial Park”, and this building is the only one kept exactly like it was after the nuclear attack. It was scary to witness the memorial of such atrocities, which are impossible even to imagine.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park - The Young Workers Memorial
Just nearby the A-Bomb Dome there is the memorial for the “Young Workers”, that means, the youngsters forced to work into the factories building supplies for the WWII.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park - Sadako Sasaki Memorial
In front of the “Young Workers” memorial there is a bridge. We crossed it that the rain was getting stronger, and on the other side we found ourselves into the “Peace Memorial Park”. The dark sky and the rain added a stronger dramatic tone to the consciousness of what happened in the far 1945. We were in the Ground Zero. This area, that actually is an island of the delta of the Ota River, was literally flown over by the Little Boy bomb. Coming from the mainland side of the bridge, once stepped on the memorial area, we could say that the primary target, the Aioi Bridge, was on the right hand side, just at the end of this small island, let’s say about 200 metres far, while the detonation point would be on the left hand side, across the island and back again on the mainland, about 400 metres far. It was literally scary. It didn’t take a strong effort of imagination to picture how would be the scene and the horror of that August 6th 1945.
Near the main street, at the beginning of the Peace Memorial Park there’s the Sadako Sasaki Memorial, and we went to pay respect at this monument. This monument is a sort of a small bronze dome with on the top a girl holding a crane origami over her head. Under the dome there’s the so called “Peace Bell” and people stay in queue to ring it. Sadako Sasaki was a girl that survived the nuclear blast, but was irradiated by the bomb and the nuclear fallout. In a matter of year she developed leukemia that killed her. In her last days she started to craft many crane origami as it was believed, by that times, that if somebody would craft 1000 crane origami, which are symbol of life, could ask to the Shinto Gods a wish. It’s told that she would ask to be healed. The story is sad as the girl never reached the 1000 origami. When she died her class mates kept on her task and the 1000 cranes were placed into her coffin. In our days, people that visit this monument take crane origami as a tribute to her and the wish of World Peace. Near the memorial now there are showcases with the origami taken there, many of whom are real art masterpieces, like mosaics made combining many small coloured crane origami. We arrived there that we were unprepared. The rain was drenching us, like a baptism with the tears from the heavens on this scarred land. The acute sound of the bell under this gray sky was making us shiver. The silence, beside of the bell sound, was heavy. We decided that we had to leave cranes too. I opened my backpack to search for some paper but I could only chose between taking a page from the guide-book or a piece of my Kyoto map. I looked at the map, with noted addresses and deer-bite marks, so I spotted a part that was still good and I cut it away. I made with it two squares and we crafted two cranes with our precious map. As we are tourists, cranes made with maps is the most matching to us. May be World Peace now.
Near the main street, at the beginning of the Peace Memorial Park there’s the Sadako Sasaki Memorial, and we went to pay respect at this monument. This monument is a sort of a small bronze dome with on the top a girl holding a crane origami over her head. Under the dome there’s the so called “Peace Bell” and people stay in queue to ring it. Sadako Sasaki was a girl that survived the nuclear blast, but was irradiated by the bomb and the nuclear fallout. In a matter of year she developed leukemia that killed her. In her last days she started to craft many crane origami as it was believed, by that times, that if somebody would craft 1000 crane origami, which are symbol of life, could ask to the Shinto Gods a wish. It’s told that she would ask to be healed. The story is sad as the girl never reached the 1000 origami. When she died her class mates kept on her task and the 1000 cranes were placed into her coffin. In our days, people that visit this monument take crane origami as a tribute to her and the wish of World Peace. Near the memorial now there are showcases with the origami taken there, many of whom are real art masterpieces, like mosaics made combining many small coloured crane origami. We arrived there that we were unprepared. The rain was drenching us, like a baptism with the tears from the heavens on this scarred land. The acute sound of the bell under this gray sky was making us shiver. The silence, beside of the bell sound, was heavy. We decided that we had to leave cranes too. I opened my backpack to search for some paper but I could only chose between taking a page from the guide-book or a piece of my Kyoto map. I looked at the map, with noted addresses and deer-bite marks, so I spotted a part that was still good and I cut it away. I made with it two squares and we crafted two cranes with our precious map. As we are tourists, cranes made with maps is the most matching to us. May be World Peace now.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
In the Peace Memorial Park there is also the Atomic Bomb Museum (Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum). We knew that it would be sad, but we couldn’t avoid it. Inside the Museum there are many parts, some depicting the city before and after the bombings. There were also showcases with dummies showing the life in those days and there were collections of things that survived at the bombings, like the famous wristwatch that stopped working at 8.15, the exact moment of the explosion. There were pictures and models. It was interesting, but still horrible. How did happen that humanity came up with this? Was Japan be an innocent victim on the altar of the WWII? Surely not. Jap Army did atrocities exactly like those done by the Nazis. And here, in Hiroshima (and Nagasaki), still the innocent civilians paid for the crimes of the generals. It is unfair. It’s disgusting. And it’s sad that, so far, humanity didn’t learn a thing from it.
Japanese War Crimes
From Wikipedia Historians agree that during the WWII the Jap Army and Navy was more brutal than the Nazi’s. Just the number of victims, though both scary, give an example of the heinous ferocity perpetrated on the occupied countries. The Nazis killed about 26.000.000 people (About 6.000.000 Jews and 20.000.000 Russians) while the Japs killed about 53.000.000 people (About 30.000.000 in the occupied South East Asia and 23.000.000 Chinese people). Among the war crimes there were:
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The way to Miyajima
We left the Museum that just stopped raining and some Sun ray was piercing the thick layer of clouds coming down on golden streams of light. It looked like, somehow, leaving Hiroshima, the Sun wished to reassure and cheer us up. We took our backpacks back at the station and we took a train (Hiroshima-Miyajima-guchi) to the ferry terminal. The ride took about 10-20 minutes and when we got off of it, we felt like we were in a whole different region.
The train station is just near the terminal and in few minutes we reached the docks. We boarded the ferry, which fare is included in the Japan Rail Pass, and in few minutes we left the mainland. The ferry journey takes very short as the little island of Miyajima just lays in front of Hiroshima. We were greeted at our arrival by the famous portal O-Torii, which is usually shown into the iconic images of Japan. The O-Torii is a very huge Torii portal which rises from the water of the sea, just off the coast of the famous Itsukushima Temple, also known as “Floating Temple”, which doesn’t float, but is more like a “Stilt House Temple”. The town around the docks is quite clean and tidy, the same way that most of the docks areas aren’t. But this is Japan, and here the rule number one is to make all perfectly organized, quiet and tidy.
The train station is just near the terminal and in few minutes we reached the docks. We boarded the ferry, which fare is included in the Japan Rail Pass, and in few minutes we left the mainland. The ferry journey takes very short as the little island of Miyajima just lays in front of Hiroshima. We were greeted at our arrival by the famous portal O-Torii, which is usually shown into the iconic images of Japan. The O-Torii is a very huge Torii portal which rises from the water of the sea, just off the coast of the famous Itsukushima Temple, also known as “Floating Temple”, which doesn’t float, but is more like a “Stilt House Temple”. The town around the docks is quite clean and tidy, the same way that most of the docks areas aren’t. But this is Japan, and here the rule number one is to make all perfectly organized, quiet and tidy.
Miyajima
Outside the ferry docks we found the Hotel Mini Van waiting for us. We boarded the Van and following the beautiful and curvy coastal road we reached our hotel, the Ryokan Miyajima Seaside. This hotel was the more expensive that we had in our journey. The fact the thing that it’s a “Ryokan” means that it should be a traditional accommodation. When we arrived at the hotel we seen this modern building rising just behind a beach. We entered and as soon as we stepped in, we were asked to leave our shoes at the entrance and we were offered two pairs of very comfortable slippers. We made our check-in and we were taken at our room. It was on the second floor with the balcony facing the gulf. Here we discovered the real “Ryokan” side of the hotel. In fact, the room was furnished in Japanese traditional way. It was empty. A wide room, wardrobes embedded in the walls. A very low table. A higher table with two chairs. Nothing more. The whole room was on a stage higher than the entrance, which was separated using a rice-paper sliding door. The sliding door was like a barrier which separated the higher world of our room from the “lower” and more material world from where we were coming. Still at the sides of the entrance there were two doors which leaded one to the toilet and the other to the shower room, even if, the hotel was equipped with a public bath, and I chosen this second way of washing myself. It was still early, it already stopped raining for a long while, and we decided that it would be a nice time to have a stroll around the hotel.
We went outside of our hotel and we followed the beach going right. As soon as we turned the corner, we found ourselves into a shanty harbour. Now I could recognize a real harbour. Japanese can hide it well, but they’re like us when we talk about harbours. We walked along the only street. On our right side there were warehouses, while on our left hand side there were small housing where, we supposed, the fishermen lived. Every now and then we seen piles of oyster shells that were as high as us. Ok, we’re not tall, but those piles were very big. In Miyajima the oysters production is a flourishing business and this was a clue of it.
Seeing that this piece of road at sunset, soaked into a terrible smell of rotting fish, was both dreary and spooky, we decided to leave it and to follow the main road. Far away, on the opposite side of the harbor, where there was a small dirty beach. On that beach, where garbage was going back and forth at the rhythm of the small waves, there was a deer that was eating something from a pile of rotting oyster shells.
We went along a tunnel and in the end of it, we found ourselves into a new part of the island. Here there was a long empty beach. The sand was brownish and not very clean neither. The sea water, maybe for the tides, looked like full of seaweed. Actually, Japanese beaches aren’t quite famous for their beauty. The best ones are in Okinawa, in the deep south tropical Japanese islands.
The sun started going down and the darkness was falling very fast. So we hurried all the way back, first along the beach, then across the tunnel, then through the harbor, until we reached again our hotel.
We went outside of our hotel and we followed the beach going right. As soon as we turned the corner, we found ourselves into a shanty harbour. Now I could recognize a real harbour. Japanese can hide it well, but they’re like us when we talk about harbours. We walked along the only street. On our right side there were warehouses, while on our left hand side there were small housing where, we supposed, the fishermen lived. Every now and then we seen piles of oyster shells that were as high as us. Ok, we’re not tall, but those piles were very big. In Miyajima the oysters production is a flourishing business and this was a clue of it.
Seeing that this piece of road at sunset, soaked into a terrible smell of rotting fish, was both dreary and spooky, we decided to leave it and to follow the main road. Far away, on the opposite side of the harbor, where there was a small dirty beach. On that beach, where garbage was going back and forth at the rhythm of the small waves, there was a deer that was eating something from a pile of rotting oyster shells.
We went along a tunnel and in the end of it, we found ourselves into a new part of the island. Here there was a long empty beach. The sand was brownish and not very clean neither. The sea water, maybe for the tides, looked like full of seaweed. Actually, Japanese beaches aren’t quite famous for their beauty. The best ones are in Okinawa, in the deep south tropical Japanese islands.
The sun started going down and the darkness was falling very fast. So we hurried all the way back, first along the beach, then across the tunnel, then through the harbor, until we reached again our hotel.
Night in Miyajima
That night I went first to the public bath of the hotel. Here I made another etiquette mistake. In fact, it wasn’t an Onsen, but a Sento, that means Public Bath. I washed myself as I learnt in Tokyo, but then I laid in water like I were in an Onsen. Actually I should just stay there a few minutes, but I didn’t know the difference so far. Anyway, it had been a really warm and relaxing experience.
Just few minutes after that we came back to our room the hotel staff came to our room and took our dinner. They prepared our table with all the dishes and servings, and then left us alone. The dinner was really good and it was great to have it in our private room at the sound of the sea. After dinner we ordered a bottle of Sakè and when the staff took our bottle, they cleaned the room and set our beds up, I mean the futons up for us.
The night came like a warm hug on Miyajima. Everything was peaceful. The only sounds were the sea and a deer that was wandering in the beach in front of the hotel. The lights of the far Hiroshima were coloured sparks reflecting on the surface of this sea smooth like a mirror.
That night we slept with the open window at the sound of the sea.
Good night Miyajima.
Just few minutes after that we came back to our room the hotel staff came to our room and took our dinner. They prepared our table with all the dishes and servings, and then left us alone. The dinner was really good and it was great to have it in our private room at the sound of the sea. After dinner we ordered a bottle of Sakè and when the staff took our bottle, they cleaned the room and set our beds up, I mean the futons up for us.
The night came like a warm hug on Miyajima. Everything was peaceful. The only sounds were the sea and a deer that was wandering in the beach in front of the hotel. The lights of the far Hiroshima were coloured sparks reflecting on the surface of this sea smooth like a mirror.
That night we slept with the open window at the sound of the sea.
Good night Miyajima.