BREAKING: Catastrophic scenes in Japan, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit central Japan causing 100,000+ to relocate in the fear of a massive tsunami that can potentially wipe off central coastline.
Reading this stung a cord. I was in Japan 3 months ago, a beautiful, spirited & well kept country. A part of me was sad, but If there is one thing I learnt from spending 14 days there is that Japan is resilient, and doesn’t know how to give up.
Scroll through history books, you’ll see that nature & particularly the world hasn’t been kind to Japan, but it still continues to thrive. Japan experiences about 40-50 earthquake tremors a day, but citizens are unfazed by it. Citizens have been passionate & patriotic through wars, nukes, economic crunches and more. Japan truly is something different.
Through this piece I’d like to share a small snippet of my journey to Hiroshima, Japan.
Hiroshima is the place where world’s first atomic bomb was dropped. A truly historic event that completely flipped geopolitics. Heading up to this trip - I was excited & hopeful to learn how Japan’s history has shaped their culture and inturn humans.
The city of Hiroshima in itself is different - extremely futuristic, clean but fragments of the atomic bombing still intact as a reminder of what the city has grown out of.
After a 45 minute long Shinkansen ride (bullet train) we had step foot in Hiroshima. Much to our surprise within the first 2 minutes we were already on the bus to the main memorial park. We were confused and pleasantly surprised that luck was on our side that day.
Throughout the bus journey to the main area - we were accompanied with audio, that spoke to us about Hiroshima, the city, the history, the bombing catching us up to speed. Then the bus drove past the famous Aioi ‘T-bridge’ which was the hypocenter of the bombing.
As the speaker narrated ‘This bridge we are driving through, is the exact place where atomic bomb denoted sending tremors and taking thousands of lives with it’ I had goosebumps, the magnitude of what went down, got to me.
We soon got off at the Hiroshima Memorial Park. With the history of Hiroshima ringing in my mind, the surroundings didn’t match the description. I couldn’t believe that this was the same place.
Hiroshima Memorial Park is a big park with a museum, atomic bombing zone, a dome, children’s park, monuments and more.
As we entered the area, our expectations were set for it to be a normal museum with exhibits, information and alike. But, we were caught off-guard. As we entered we could see people leave weeping with swollen eyes, blowing their noses! We were in for an experience.
The entire experience was roughly broken down into 4 sections:
Life in Hiroshima before the bombing.
Devastation on 6th August, the damage due to radiation.
Victims and survivors.
Construction of the Memorial Park.
The museum was set up with one goal in mind - Everyone that goes through it, learns how to keep going no matter what happens to them in life.
The museum has 2 floors with resting places, tissues all round. We also got one of those speaker narrators machines. It had around 26 stories, showcasing before, while, and after effects of the atomic bombing. Each story was of one particular person.
These were also voice acted, along with the real life exhibits of that particular story. The audio + visual impact these exhibits created was overwhelming.
Here are some of the stories.
Children killed in the bombing
Clothes of students who were exposed to the atomic bomb. On the morning of August 6, thousands of students were exposed to the atomic bomb while engaging in building demolition work outside. Suffering severe burns, they died in pain and agony.
Tricycle and Metal Helmet
1500 meters from the hypocenter. Shinichi Tetsutani (3 years, 11 months) was riding this tricycle when the A-bomb exploded. Suffering serious injuries and severe burns all over his body, he died that night groaning, "Water, water..." His father Nobuo put this metal helmet on Shinichi's body in the back yard so he could ride it even after his death.
Forty years later, Nobuo decided to place Shinichi's remains in the family Shinichi's skull intact inside the helmet.Postcard mailed to brothers at their evacuation site by the little sister.
Letter to brothers from sister after bombing
Translation:Dearest Ko and Sho,
How are you doing? Please forgive me for my long silence.
Yesterday, enemy planes came to Hiroshima and the city suffered more than a little damage, but I am fine.
I still don’t know where our father, mother, and Yo are. I want you to pray for their safety and to stay strong.After effects of the bombing.
1954, Sadako is in the middle of the front row. One fall day 10 years after the atomic bombing, a young girl died. Her name was Sadako Sasaki.
She experienced the bombing at the age of two, but grew up strong and healthy.
Then, in the 6th grade, she suddenly developed Leukemia. She hoped to recover, but her wish was not granted. After an eight-month battle with the disease, Sadako died at the tender age of 12.
All these stories revealed how inconsiderate the bombing was, it conveyed experiences from all sects of life. The riches, the poor, the working class, the farmers, the bombing swept everyone with it. Spine chilling to say the least.
What stood out to me was the presentation. You could find yourself in their shoes, you could feel their pain, their suffering and truly understand how much of a catastrophe this entire incident was.
But, across stories there was no sense of being victimised, no blaming anyone, no attempt to deflect hatred. It was honest & painful. The bombing might’ve been a form of revenge or a way to assert dominance, but it impacted lives beyond measure for generations, a true modern-day evil.
What I found particularly interesting was, there was no mention of the inflicter (the USA), any leaders or even the government. The goal was always for Japanese citizens to draw motivation from events like this and work harder.
By the end of all the stories, You could feel a sense of respect in the air. This respect is now embedded in the Japanese culture; to be able to withstand all sorts of evil & strive to improve no matter what. All with a smile on the face.
As we strolled through the other parts of the memorial park reflecting on what we had just experienced we found ourselves in front of the Atomic bomb dome; a place that hadn’t been renovated since the bombing.
Whoop, heavy heart. One could feel the impact, the pain and suffering caused. But, also a glimmer of hope to see everything around it modernised while keeping the core of the city still intact.
Hiroshima as a city altogether has grown tremendously since then, pain made the country unite and strive harder. The bombing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the worst examples of humans, Japan still stood strong.
Here are some more pictures, videos of Hiroshima to give you a sense of the city.
This reminds me of an ancient Japanese pottery technique called Kintsugi, which is essentially using gold to join two broken pieces of a pot.
This is also a metaphor for life, it shows us how to see the broken, painful parts of ourselves and others as an opportunity to add strength, beauty and character.
The suffering this city went through added strength and beauty to it. It holds a special place in my heart. The way it is designed is something that needs to be studied. A lot of flora, fauna, happy people, tourists, cyclists all around.
On the Journey back - I was mentally exhausted, I couldn’t comprehend the magnitude of damage that was inflicted. Humans went through so much suffering — Imagine animals, birds, trees.
Inflicting damage might be one of the easiest things to do, but absorbing damage and getting back up no matter what is something that requires mental fortitude, which has been engrained in Japanese citizens from birth.
Lots of bittersweet memories and a bag full of inspiration as I headed back to Kyoto, where I continued the rest of my journey.