After the Osaka Castle visit, we were on our way to Hiroshima. We had our lunch as usual at an Indian restaurant.
Our 330 km journey that day from Osaka to Hiroshima was effortless due to the smooth Japanese roads.
After an hour, our driver stopped at a comfort stop, and we all got down to stretch our legs. The toilets there were so neat and professional that it was a pleasant experience to use them.
As soon as we landed in Japan, the first instruction our guide gave us was to be careful with our waste disposal. In the van, we always had a small trash bin, which would be emptied scrupulously by our driver. We didn’t see a single dustbin on the streets, but still the streets were sparkling clean
Most of the comfort stops had goods on sale, ranging from food items to eat to things to drink.
I used to wonder how and where people who stay in Japan dispose of their trash, so now I have my answer in front of my eyes, seeing the different bins grouped together in a row and labelled meticulously.
Typically, there are four major trash categories: burnable, non-burnable, plastic, PET bottles and cans/bottles.
There are generally illustrations denoting plastic, paper scraps and disposable chopsticks on the cans we’re supposed to throw them in, so one shouldn’t have any issues with mixing up where to throw the trash away.
Many Japanese people carefully abide by these complicated rules.
We were wondering if this system would work in our country. Yes, strict rule enforcement and compulsory education may be the correct solution, I thought
When we reached Okinawa, we stopped again for a few minutes as our guide went to buy water bottles for us.
Our driver, a very soft-spoken person, suddenly turned around and asked one lady in our group how her health was in English. Poor lady, during the entire trip, she was suffering from an upper respiratory tract infection and spent more hours in the van than in seeing places.
We were all surprised and asked how he could talk in English. He showed us his language translator. I immediately wanted to buy one, and others also agreed. We asked him the price, and he said 200, and we thought 200 yen.
We all went excitedly, taking the gentle driver with us, and asked for the electronic translator in the multi storied electronic shop just adjacent to where we had parked; there, to our utter disappointment, we came to know that the device was 200 dollars and not yen.
In the shop, we saw the famous Hazuki specs display.
When we returned to our van, our guide, who was waiting at the van anxiously for us, learnt about our misadventure and had difficulty controlling her laughter.
We were asking her about the LG Styler dry cleaning unit that we saw in the stores; it uses steam to reduce odors and wrinkles and gets rid of pollen. It was introduced in 2017, and now it is a big hit in Japan.
At last we reached Hiroshima, which was founded in 1589 as a castle town on the Ota River delta and went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), which serves as a memorial of the bombing and was opened in 1955.
Our guide showed the already reserved tickets at the counter and we entered the museum.
The museum had a mission statement like an institute
Near the entrance we saw a clock frozen at 8:15, the time the bomb went off.
There were a lot of exhibits of Hiroshima before and after the bombing.
The museum contained a seminar room, library, temporary exhibition area and victims' information area.
The Hall of Remembrance contained a 360-degree panorama of the destroyed Hiroshima recreated using 140,000 tiles—the number of people estimated to have died from the bomb by the end of 1945.
We found out the reason why Hiroshima was selected for the atomic bombing
The regional army was headquartered in Hiroshima, and the army marine headquarters was located at Ujina port. The city also had large depots of military supplies and was a key center for shipping
The city was also a center of military activities during the imperial era, playing significant roles in first Sino Japanese war, the Russo-Japanese War, and the two World Wars.
On Monday, August 6, 1945, at 8:15 a.m the nuclear weapon "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima from an American Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the Enola Gay, flown by Colonel Paul Tibbets, directly killing at least 70,000 people, including thousands of Korean slave laborers.
Ironically, fewer than 10% of the casualties were military. By the end of the year, injury and radiation brought the total number of deaths to 90,000–166,000. About 70% of the city's buildings were destroyed, and another 7% severely damaged.
Even after this devastation, Japan did not surrender. Three days later, another nuclear bomb, code-named “Fat Man," was dropped by the Americans on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.
Little Boy used Uranium-235 as the filling and had a blast yield of 15 kilotons of TNT, while Fat Man used Plutonium as the filling and had a blast yield of 21 kilotons of TNT.
Shortly afterwards, on 15 August 1945, Japan finally admitted defeat, and World War Two was over.
While going through the museum, I observed that the visitors were going around in a sad, dazed mood; there wasn’t a single dry eye. All of us had tears in our eyes, and our hearts became heavy. Wars, wherever they are fought, for whatever reason, take a toll on innocent lives
Since being rebuilt after the war, Hiroshima has become the largest city in Japan and Oleander was made the official flower of the city of Hiroshima because it was the first to bloom after the explosion of the atomic bomb in 1945.
Looking out through the windows of the museum, we could see the Peace Park extending over 120,000 square meters.
Its tall trees, green lawns, and walking paths appeared like an oasis in the busy downtown area.
We walked down and went to the center of the park, where there was a concrete, saddle-shaped monument that covered a cenotaph holding the names of all of the people killed by the bomb. The arch shape represents a shelter for the souls of the victims.
Every year on the anniversary of the bomb, a ceremony is held at the park. Speeches are made, wreaths are laid at the Cenotaph, and a moment of silence is observed at 8:15 am, the precise moment of detonation.
We next went to Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, the closest surviving building to the location of the bomb's detonation, which was designated the Genbaku Dome or Atomic Dome.
The dome stood like a mute witness, almost exactly as it did after the bombing on 6 August 1945. Changes to the ruins, meant to ensure the stability of the structure, have been minimal.
The Children's Peace Monument "Atomic Bomb Children Statue" was built to commemorate Sadako Sasaki and other child victims.
Sadako Sasaki died of leukaemia from radiation from the atomic bomb; the monument was built using money from a fundraising campaign by Japanese schoolchildren, including Sadako Sasaki's classmates
The statue was unveiled on 5 May 1958, Japanese Children' s Day holiday. Sadako Sasaki is immortalised at the top of the statue, where she holds a wire crane above her head. Shortly before she passed, she had a vision to create a thousand cranes and wished to have a world without nuclear weapons. Thousands of origami cranes from all over the world are offered around the monument by children who desire to have a world without nuclear war.
At the base of the monument is a black marble slab on which is inscribed in Japanese:
"This is our cry, this is our prayer, for building peace in the world."
The figures that surround the monument are angels, representing that Sadako is in heaven among the other fallen angels who died during the atomic bombing in Hiroshima.
We next went to the Hondori shopping street a very favorite shopping place for people of Hiroshima and saw the trams which still run in Hiroshima
It was a pedestrian arcade closed to the traffic and lined by restaurants.
Some served local dishes and nearly 200 shops were there, mostly selling clothing from the latest designer brands,electronics and souvenirs.
There were pet shops exclusively meant for pet lovers
I could find my favorite shop—a bookstore. My hands were itching to buy some, but alas, space constraints restricted me.
Some of the shops were selling shirts ,jackets and kimonos at very reasonable prices.
Most of the people in that area were very stylishly dressed, with the latest patterns being followed by the youth.
We searched for a coffee shop as we were tired , walking around since morning and had hot coffee while looking at all the posters around us.
Finally, we went out and met the others in the designated area to go to our hotel for that night's stay.
Our 330 km journey that day from Osaka to Hiroshima was effortless due to the smooth Japanese roads.
After an hour, our driver stopped at a comfort stop, and we all got down to stretch our legs. The toilets there were so neat and professional that it was a pleasant experience to use them.
As soon as we landed in Japan, the first instruction our guide gave us was to be careful with our waste disposal. In the van, we always had a small trash bin, which would be emptied scrupulously by our driver. We didn’t see a single dustbin on the streets, but still the streets were sparkling clean
Most of the comfort stops had goods on sale, ranging from food items to eat to things to drink.
I used to wonder how and where people who stay in Japan dispose of their trash, so now I have my answer in front of my eyes, seeing the different bins grouped together in a row and labelled meticulously.
Typically, there are four major trash categories: burnable, non-burnable, plastic, PET bottles and cans/bottles.
There are generally illustrations denoting plastic, paper scraps and disposable chopsticks on the cans we’re supposed to throw them in, so one shouldn’t have any issues with mixing up where to throw the trash away.
Many Japanese people carefully abide by these complicated rules.
We were wondering if this system would work in our country. Yes, strict rule enforcement and compulsory education may be the correct solution, I thought
When we reached Okinawa, we stopped again for a few minutes as our guide went to buy water bottles for us.
We were all surprised and asked how he could talk in English. He showed us his language translator. I immediately wanted to buy one, and others also agreed. We asked him the price, and he said 200, and we thought 200 yen.
We all went excitedly, taking the gentle driver with us, and asked for the electronic translator in the multi storied electronic shop just adjacent to where we had parked; there, to our utter disappointment, we came to know that the device was 200 dollars and not yen.
In the shop, we saw the famous Hazuki specs display.
When we returned to our van, our guide, who was waiting at the van anxiously for us, learnt about our misadventure and had difficulty controlling her laughter.
We were asking her about the LG Styler dry cleaning unit that we saw in the stores; it uses steam to reduce odors and wrinkles and gets rid of pollen. It was introduced in 2017, and now it is a big hit in Japan.
At last we reached Hiroshima, which was founded in 1589 as a castle town on the Ota River delta and went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), which serves as a memorial of the bombing and was opened in 1955.
Our guide showed the already reserved tickets at the counter and we entered the museum.
Near the entrance we saw a clock frozen at 8:15, the time the bomb went off.
There were a lot of exhibits of Hiroshima before and after the bombing.
The museum contained a seminar room, library, temporary exhibition area and victims' information area.
The Hall of Remembrance contained a 360-degree panorama of the destroyed Hiroshima recreated using 140,000 tiles—the number of people estimated to have died from the bomb by the end of 1945.
We found out the reason why Hiroshima was selected for the atomic bombing
The regional army was headquartered in Hiroshima, and the army marine headquarters was located at Ujina port. The city also had large depots of military supplies and was a key center for shipping
The city was also a center of military activities during the imperial era, playing significant roles in first Sino Japanese war, the Russo-Japanese War, and the two World Wars.
On Monday, August 6, 1945, at 8:15 a.m the nuclear weapon "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima from an American Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the Enola Gay, flown by Colonel Paul Tibbets, directly killing at least 70,000 people, including thousands of Korean slave laborers.
Ironically, fewer than 10% of the casualties were military. By the end of the year, injury and radiation brought the total number of deaths to 90,000–166,000. About 70% of the city's buildings were destroyed, and another 7% severely damaged.
Even after this devastation, Japan did not surrender. Three days later, another nuclear bomb, code-named “Fat Man," was dropped by the Americans on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.
Little Boy used Uranium-235 as the filling and had a blast yield of 15 kilotons of TNT, while Fat Man used Plutonium as the filling and had a blast yield of 21 kilotons of TNT.
Shortly afterwards, on 15 August 1945, Japan finally admitted defeat, and World War Two was over.
While going through the museum, I observed that the visitors were going around in a sad, dazed mood; there wasn’t a single dry eye. All of us had tears in our eyes, and our hearts became heavy. Wars, wherever they are fought, for whatever reason, take a toll on innocent lives
Since being rebuilt after the war, Hiroshima has become the largest city in Japan and Oleander was made the official flower of the city of Hiroshima because it was the first to bloom after the explosion of the atomic bomb in 1945.
Looking out through the windows of the museum, we could see the Peace Park extending over 120,000 square meters.
Its tall trees, green lawns, and walking paths appeared like an oasis in the busy downtown area.
We walked down and went to the center of the park, where there was a concrete, saddle-shaped monument that covered a cenotaph holding the names of all of the people killed by the bomb. The arch shape represents a shelter for the souls of the victims.
Every year on the anniversary of the bomb, a ceremony is held at the park. Speeches are made, wreaths are laid at the Cenotaph, and a moment of silence is observed at 8:15 am, the precise moment of detonation.
We next went to Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, the closest surviving building to the location of the bomb's detonation, which was designated the Genbaku Dome or Atomic Dome.
The dome stood like a mute witness, almost exactly as it did after the bombing on 6 August 1945. Changes to the ruins, meant to ensure the stability of the structure, have been minimal.
The Children's Peace Monument "Atomic Bomb Children Statue" was built to commemorate Sadako Sasaki and other child victims.
Sadako Sasaki died of leukaemia from radiation from the atomic bomb; the monument was built using money from a fundraising campaign by Japanese schoolchildren, including Sadako Sasaki's classmates
The statue was unveiled on 5 May 1958, Japanese Children' s Day holiday. Sadako Sasaki is immortalised at the top of the statue, where she holds a wire crane above her head. Shortly before she passed, she had a vision to create a thousand cranes and wished to have a world without nuclear weapons. Thousands of origami cranes from all over the world are offered around the monument by children who desire to have a world without nuclear war.
At the base of the monument is a black marble slab on which is inscribed in Japanese:
"This is our cry, this is our prayer, for building peace in the world."
The figures that surround the monument are angels, representing that Sadako is in heaven among the other fallen angels who died during the atomic bombing in Hiroshima.
We next went to the Hondori shopping street a very favorite shopping place for people of Hiroshima and saw the trams which still run in Hiroshima
It was a pedestrian arcade closed to the traffic and lined by restaurants.
Some served local dishes and nearly 200 shops were there, mostly selling clothing from the latest designer brands,electronics and souvenirs.
We searched for a coffee shop as we were tired , walking around since morning and had hot coffee while looking at all the posters around us.
Good read and very informative.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot
Delete