Our cruise kept heading from North to South, and it brought us to Hiroshima, the site of the first of two atomic bombs dropped on Japanese cities at the end of WWII. The building shown above was Ground Zero … and is kept in the condition that it became after the Bomb was dropped. I found it interesting that they must actually do maintenance to keep it in the shape you see. But that was my only satirical or negative thought I had all day.
This area is called the Park of Peace. While there are monuments that remember the children and people who died on that terrible day in 1945, there are also many references that emphasize world peace and a hope that the calamity of Hiroshima will not repeat itself again !! In general, I got the impression that the Japanese do not like to talk about the war and especially about the atomic bomb attacks. Our guides seemed to understand that the attacks ended the war. One of our guides told us that her father was 18 years old and escaped death by being lucky enough to have been behind a stone wall in Nagasaki. She later made a trip to Pearl Harbor to gain insight on the other perspective of the war. She also mentioned that Japanese citizens knew they would lose the was because of the shortages Japan had in food, fuel, and weapons … but the Japanese military spread a propaganda about the state of the was that was powerful and false.
The Peace Park and the museum (which I did not visit) seemed to strive for an emphasis on remembrance and harmony. I don’t think any of the Americans who toured were made to feel guilty or ashamed !!!
Prior to visiting the Peace Park, we walked through a beautiful Japanese Garden. Its most interesting feature was a tree that lived through the atomic bombing and is now the centerpeace of the park.
It was their banyan tree !! But the rest of the park was gorgeous.l
In general, Hiroshima was a nice city which has been rebuilt with class.I snapped a couple photos from the bus on the way back to the ship to provide a sample of the City’s architecture:
One more interesting glimpse of Hiroshima was found on the pier where we were docked.
This is called “ The Tower of Paradise,” and was built to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Hiroshima’s dock. As you can see, it shined up the night sky !!
One final spot of Hiroshima was provided by our ship … They brought Japanese musicians and dancers to create a story of a Samurai slaying four dragons, one at a time.
Ooops, five dragons …
The Adventures of Barry Brink 