13-14.04 Hiroshima: how origami cranes cannot undo the aftermath of brutal nuclear force

After a quick goodbye to Mateo I boarded my second Shinkanzen, the train used for Japan’s luxurious high-speed network. Shinkanzen stirs up mixed emotions amongst the Japanese because its operator, the Japan Railway Group, discontinued all other (cheap) express lines thus monopolising Skinkanzen. True, it costs an arm and a leg but it is really fabulous; ALWAYS on time, clean, fast, etc. Our Dutch national railway company (NS) should go on a field trip to Japan; they already panic when Autumn hits and tree leaves cover our tracks…

My next stop would be Hiroshima. I didn’t really know what to expect, I mean, this city was bombed ‘back to the stone age’ at the closing of WW-II. There is so much controversy on the legitimacy of the nuclear bomb; many believe the war was already ‘over’ and the US government ‘only’ dropped it to assess its destructive power. I don’t have the full picture and irrespective whether true or false, I firmly believe that nuclear weapons should never be used [again]. Hiroshima petition attempts to convince the world of the same.

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial ‘blew me off my socks’ unexpectedly. This ‘Atomic Bomb Dome’ is the ruin of the Exhibition Hall, located only 150 meters from the bomb’s hypocentre. It is flabbergasting that this building stood upright whilst its vicinity burned to the ground.

Behind the dome I met some ‘bomb survivors’. They excel at telling moving stories, for example the story of Sasado Sakaki. This 2 year old girl was 1.5 km from the detonation and whilst seemingly without a single scratch she died of leukemia at age 12. She believed she would recover if only she could fold 1000 origami cranes. Some say she was 300 short but her father says she exceeded it. Her class mates folded another 1000 to cover her in her coffin. The bomb survisors taught me on the spot how to fold a crane myself. It was one that could actually fly…

Sasado’s story is immensely sad but actually ended gruesomely.  Covering her with the cranes was necessary because her body had been subjected to scientific research, leaving only her head for the ceremony. Broke my heart!

Sasado has become a leading symbol and a heroine in Japan. Her memorial is flooded at any given time with an abundance of the most beautiful cranes. I saw many visitors reduced to tears (yes, me too… my emotions were all over the place at that point). Walking through the actual museum and through the displays of torn, burned clothes, twisted steel, pictures of burned bodies and videos of survivors was tough. I could still feel the sheer horror and pain. Oofff!!

I really needed a cheer-up after such intense, emotial day. So I had some fu trying to explain to non-english speakers how to take a repeat shot on my camera  result below; jump) and went to Hisroshima’s highest view point to sample their best Sake and witness the sunset from above.

14-15.04: Miyajima: my oh my….

From the viewpoint I could already see my next stop in the distance, the island of Miyajima. Miyajima is voted a top 3 scenic spot by the Japanese and it is flocked in Summer. I can now understand why. It is perfect;  the weather, the scenery, the hikes, the temples and shrines. I could have stayed much longer if only Kyoto wasn’t waiting for me…