--HIROSHIMA,
Japan
Well, this one
isn't easy to write. I just had one of those unforgettable,
life-changing experiences. So, you get to listen to yet another
tirade! Indeed, the feelings I had at the "serious"
parts of Hiroshima reminded me of how I felt in the West Bank, and even
how I felt the day we started bombing Afghanistan. But, I'm
getting ahead of myself. Here's my story:
I was invited to
travel to Hiroshima by a new friend of mine, Kari Jo, who lives just a block away
from me in Ritto. We left Ritto early on Saturday and took the
bullet train, which got us to Hiroshima just after 10:00 in the
morning. A full two days in the city were on the
agenda...
I got into
Hiroshima after reading some of a book from an eyewitness to the event
that defines this city, the atomic bombing on August 6, 1945. So
I'd just been introduced to the city, in a way. Somehow, although
I knew that Hiroshima is a thriving, modern city, I still expected it to
be damaged in some way. I guess I really anticipated a feeling of
unease or sadness or maybe even some unwelcoming at my American-ness.
Nothing could have
been further from the reality of Hiroshima. The city is vibrant,
just as crowded, and just as welcoming as any other major Japanese
city. Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was there,
that this was the place that a nuclear bomb went off... I got over
it after about 5 minutes, and we found ourselves lost on the way to our
hostel. Yeah. Another story.
We soon found
ourselves at a family run, off-the-beaten-path restaurant for lunch, and
then we managed to find and check in at our hostel. Nice place,
run by a woman who could talk for hours about -- well, about
nothing really. But she was nice enough.
The first day we
spent on the beautiful island of Miyajima, famous for its monkeys and
secondarily for a picturesque Buddhist gate which is just off the island
in the water. Watch the Japan
Photo Album for updates... The island was great, surprisingly
beautiful, and very relaxing.
We finished the
evening with a visit to Hiroshima's "A-Bomb Dome." This
memorial is the preserved ruins of what used to be an architectural
marvel in 1945, but it was turned into a shell by the bombing.
Somehow, despite being a mere hundred meters or so from the hypocenter
of the explosion, the frame of this building remained standing. It
still stands today as a reminder, and it was the first
"serious" part of Hiroshima I saw.
The next morning we
set off for the really serious stuff: the Hiroshima Peace Museum.
It was here that my feelings of guilt and immense sadness really started
to overwhelm even my towering ego. ;)
This museum shows,
in remarkable detail, the damage done to the city and more strikingly to
its people. The image I had in my head of the bomb somehow
instantly (and therefore kind of mercifully) killing everyone in the
city was replaced with the fact that the bomb has been causing
tremendous suffering for days, months, and years. The
explosion caused burns on people that are beyond description. Many
people survived, in agony, from the time of the bombing, 8:15am, until
that evening. Radiation sickness along with indescribable injuries
claimed tens of thousands more in
the days and months after the explosion. The museum was filled
with facts about the horror of the bomb (200,000 dead), poignant
artifacts (a mangled wristwatch stopped at 8:15am), and it also showed
Hiroshima's remarkable reconstruction. The streetcars were running
only 2 days after "that day," for example.
One young girl,
Sukiko, who was 2 years old at the time of the explosion, survived with
no apparent injuries. She excelled in school, and was a track
star. Then, suddenly, at age 12 she was diagnosed with leukemia,
caused by the radiation from the bomb. In the hospital, she took
to folding origami cranes, setting a goal of folding 1,000. She
was confident that if she made it to 1,000, she would definitely have
lived long enough for a cure to be found. She died after folding
about 700... but people from all over the world have followed her
example and folded so many cranes... Some of them were on exhibit
at her memorial and at the museum. They are a symbol of the
struggle for peace, the struggle to make tragic stories like Sukiko's
old news. I folded one (badly) and left it at the memorial...
The museum made me
reflect on a lot of things, of course, but mostly on what we're doing
right now in Afghanistan. How many more stories like Sukiko's are
we creating right now? Why haven't we learned our lesson yet?
Hiroshima was
always a historical fact in my head. Now it's real for me, and I'm
a little bit sadder. A little bit less hopeful. A little bit
more determined to change how the American government deals with
things. And I'm a lot more grateful for my 22 years, and a lot
more grateful for my friends and family, who (among other things) listen
to my rants and raves. Thank you.
For more on this
story, watch both the Japan
Photo Album and also my Academia
page, where I'll put more of my thoughts sometime soon, along with links
to more information.
And, as always,
stay tuned to ENN for far less serious Erik news in the future.
