RadioRoryCuriosity led me to Hiroshima.
It’s only about an hour on the bullet train from Kyoto to the city that was essentially wiped out in the first nuclear attack more than 70 years ago. I guess I was expecting to see a vast wasteland still poisoned by the atomic blast. Instead, it’s a busy city with shops and restaurants that seem to cater to people who are just as curious. There are hospitals, schools, and even sports venues all around and, except for the memorials, few obvious scars from the attack still exist.
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial is a series of park spaces and monuments along the Ota River anchored by the ruins of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. The building is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and only minimal work has been done to keep it as it was in 1945. The bomb dropped from the Enola Gay detonated about 500-feet from the hall and its columns were apparently able to withstand the near-vertical shock wave of the blast.
All around the area there are bells, clocks, and empty spaces to remember the dead and paper cranes to promote peace.
It’s an awkward place to visit, particularly for an American. The joggers, cyclists, and picnickers quickly pull your head out of the August day in 1945 but there’s a sense that they shouldn’t. That time should have stopped here. Clearly it hasn’t.
There are plenty of memorials here for the dead. The city itself is a memorial to the survivors and their descendants who chose to rebuild.
Not far from the “Atomic Dome” is Hiroshima Castle. First built in the 16th century, it has taken many forms over the years but sustained the most significant damage in the atomic bomb blast. At the time, the castle complex was being used as an army barracks with a large moat separating the castle from the city.
After the bombing, it took more than a decade before work started to rebuild the main building and its towers. Today, the picturesque palace is a hodgepodge of old and new and is a popular museum and wedding venue.