Japan - Day 3 (Part 3)

Japan – Day 3 (Part 3)

Friday, 24 May 2024

The Peace Memorial Museum told a story of great woe, pain, suffering, misery and grief. Those within the radius of the atomic bomb blast who did not immediately perish, suffered horrific injuries of severe burns, loss of limbs and thereafter, side effects from radiation exposure such as internal bleeding, cancer, etc. It was enough to bring tears to my eyes because whatever wrongs Japan did during WW2, no human being deserves to undergo such horrific pain and suffering on a large scale. Because the bomb area was so large, many women and children were also affected which is something unacceptable for me.

The surviving victims of the bomb, known as hibakusha, said “No one else should ever suffer as we have.” As a response to the hibakusha’s appeal, the epitaph on the Cenotaph for the A-bomb victims reads: “Let all the souls here rest in peace; for we shall not repeat the evil.”

After leaving the museum with a heavy heart, I walked around the grounds of the museum to see the various other monuments dotting the landscape. These monuments include the Monument of Prayer (to offer prayers for peace to comfort the spirits of the dead, those who died for their country in various crises including WW2), the Pond of Peace (encircling the Cenotaph for the A-Bomb victims) and the Flame of Peace (symbolising the universal desire for a world free from nuclear weapons), the Children’s Peace Monument (in memory of all children who died as a result of the atomic bombing) and the Zero Milestone of Hiroshima City.

The Zero Milestone was the intersection of the main overland traffic routes and also used as a main stop in water transport on the Ota river and formed the centre of the Hiroshima Castle town. At the time, it was also the site of an official bulletin board, and a stable was located nearby along with official lodgings and private inns. As a result, the distance from Hiroshima was always measured from this point. When the prefectural system was established in 1871 following the Meiji Restoration, a wooden pillar was set here as the zero milestone of Hiroshima Prefecture. After the municipality system was established in 1889, the spot was marked with a stone pillar as the zero milestone of Hiroshima City.

The last thing I visited at the museum grounds was the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome), which is a World Heritage Site. This building now known as the A-bomb dome was designed by Czech architect Jan Letzel. Completed in April 1915, the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall soon became a beloved Hiroshima landmark with its distinctive green dome. While its business functions included commercial research and consulting services and the display and sale of prefectural products, the hall was also used for art exhibitions, fairs and cultural events.

Through the years, it took on new functions and was re-named the Hiroshima Prefectural Products Exhibition Hall, then the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. As the war intensified, however, the hall was taken over by the Chukogu-Shikoku Public Works Office of the Interior Ministry, the Hiroshima District Lumber Control Corporation, and other government agencies. Then the world’s first atomic bombing took place at 8.15 am, 6 August 1945. The bomb exploded approximately 600 m above and 160 m southeast of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, ripping through and igniting the building, instantly killing everyone in it. Because the blast struck from almost directly above, some of the centre walls remained standing, leaving enough of the building and iron frame to be recognizable as a dome. After the war, these dramatic remains came to be known as the A-bomb Dome.

For many years, public opinions about the dome remained divided. Some felt it should be preserved as a memorial to the bombing, while others thought it should be destroyed as a dangerously dilapidated structure evoking painful memories. As the city was rebuilt and other A-bombed buildings vanished, the voices calling for preservation gathered strength. In 1966, the Hiroshima City Council decided to preserve the building and in 1996, the A-bomb Dome was registered on the World Heritage List as a historical witness conveying the horror of the first use of a nuclear weapon, and as a world peace monument appealing continually for lasting peace and the abolition of such weapons.

And then I was done and made my way back to the Hiroshima station, where I took the Shinkansen from Hiroshima to Shin-Osaka on the Sakura line, and then transfer at the Shin-Osaka station to Tokyo on the Hikari line. I reached Tokyo at approximately 9.30 pm and finally reached the hotel at about 10.00 pm. What a tiring, emotional day!