After our visit to Miyajima Island and our delicious lunch of Osaka’s famous soba noodle pancake dish, we decided to pay our respects to the Hiroshima memorial. Right outside of the museum is a giant flame that never will go out until world peace is achieved. I thought it was a beautiful symbol because it helps remind us of all of the victims who lost their lives that tragic day. The inside of the museum contained three floors that described the events that occurred and the horrible after effects. The first floor was just strictly background information on Hiroshima and details of the war with videos, quotes, and black and white photos. The second floor contained a variety of models of the town showing the before and after appearances of the bombing. It was truly astounding to see what little of the town stood after the atomic bomb, and even more astounding that parts of it still stand today. The third floor was truly the most tragic part that contained personal biographies of some of the victims.
It was painful for me to read the stories. Some of the victims never experienced any pain until years after the event and just spontaneously grew weak and died. The symptoms of radiation poison were impossible to track back then and often occurred without warning. One lady even lived to be 87 and never showed any signs of injury until she died. Even animals that were within the radius, such as work horses, would continue to live as normal until the sickness one day struck them. It was truly saddening to be reminded of this, yet I’m glad I was. This makes me value my life, friends, family, and safety even more now and inspires me to live things to the fullest.
Also worth noting was the Sadako Sasaki crane memorial outside the museum. Thousands of paper cranes all folded by children were made in her honor:
“A person free to choose will always choose peace.”
Witnessing all of these things with my own eyes today made me realize something. Even if world peace is impossible, we can still find peace among ourselves.
Adventures in Japan (日本の冒険) 