(no subject)
Travel guides all warn that the Hiroshima Peace Park is an intense experience; the subject matter is graphic, depressing, and deadly serious. I thought an lj-cut was in order. Click on the link to continue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki
I'm going to try and give you everything of substance I can remember, so be warned, this does get very graphic.
Not the exact epicenter, but pretty damn close, they assigned an area as a memorial park and museum. At the south end there are a complex of hospitals dedicated to the survivors and their immediate descendants, "Hibakusha" which have numerous remaining health problems. Even though I did it later in the day, I'll start with the park:
A hugely prominent theme is disarmament. This is an eternal fire, with the symmetrical A-bomb museum directly behind it. The most famous image by far though is the A-bomb dome:
This was city hall, nearly the ONLY building that "survived". Its the best example that remained. Its a symbol of the city and the event. Its been left untouched since. The glass windows and copper dome were instantaneously liquefied. No one inside survived.
One building that I didn't hit before closing was a hall of names that was, as far as I can tell, tantamount to our Vietnam memorial:
When you enter the museum there is a clock dating back to the event:
It also contains the number of days - 522 since the last atmospheric detonation (I believe by Pakistan).
Here is the inside of the museum:
The range of the thing is absolutely unreal. That little red sphere was the actual point of detonation in relation to the model below (pictures follow) It was detonated 600meters, a half mile, above. Still - in about 6 seconds it turned this:
Into this:
A watch they found - stopped at exactly 8:15am on August 6th, 1945:
You imagine it being some Akira-like white energy wave, but really, from my understanding, it is just pure heat - its a burst as hot as a star, with light intense enough to bleach whatever it touches. A particular stark example is the the white bleached concrete of the surviving bank and the remaining silhouettes of the vaporized patrons waiting outside:
Any skin within line of sight was looking at an instant 5th or 6th degree burn. The heat melted glass, stone roof tiles (they have examples of ones that cooled in a bubbling state), and even steel. Liquid glass would be blow into the wind, then cool over distance into spikes that would lodge themselves 4 inches into brick. They don't start talking about survivors until SOME distance from the center.
Some had skin completely black burnt. Some had a surviving strip of lesser burns under the leather the strap that held their bag. Much of the exhibit focused on children and its effects on them. I didn't take any picture.
In the moments that followed, everything flammable in the city ignited into a huge fireball. People were literally melting and falling all over each other to cross the river. High energy waves passed through anything save thick concrete and lead. For example, X-ray film in the hospital vault was exposed. Anyone this touched - being everyone - had the lining of their esophagus instantly burnt off causing an intense and unquenchable thirst. So much dust and debris was unsettled that the following day it rained black over a large chunk of the region. In the following days most died of their injuries. Around 140,000 were killed. There were numerous heart-wrenching testimonials.
Those waves permanently effected cells in the bone marrow, digestive system, and reproductive system of everyone exposed - causing a high incidence of leukemia and birth defects in the Hibakusha to this day. However, the region wasn't permanently contaminated. By the following year plants were growing normally.
This is extremely depressing, so you may want to skip this paragraph. One well known story here was a girl born shortly later who appeared totally healthy. She ultimately came down with leukemia. There was a folk tale that if you folded a 1000 cranes you would be granted a wish. She died. She folded 1300. So now folded paper cranes are a feature all over the park - including a pavilion where people leave them in the thousands.
Now all of that aside, its worth noting the political dimensions. It is PRETTY historically balanced, but not entirely. They give the history of the city, and make no secret of the fact that it was a military center. It was a major college town - but during the war, they stationed a division there, conscripted most of the students, and Mitsubishi built a very large military shipyard. Personal homes were torn down for expanding military facilities and arms manufacturing. It was a fully militarized city. For the sake of the bomb, it wasn't strategically raided prior.
They make a very big deal out of our potential list of targets, people recoil at the notion that in addition to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Kyoto and Yokohama were alternative targets.
Its when the reasons come in that things get a little more controversial. The museum gives a very strong impression that the war was won, but that we just really really wanted to use it. In particular, the only two reasons stated were 1: to justify the huge expenditure and development, and 2: to unveil it and intimidate the USSR to strengthen our position in Europe after the Potsdam conference. Also according to a Japanese speaking friend, the Japanese version of the text in the museum has much more animus than the English translation.
Now, far from exhonorating the act, what it fails to mention is Japan's position and the Battle of Okinawa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Okinawa). Just as many civilians were killed in Okinawa as Hiroshima (and I believe almost as many again in the firebombing of Tokyo). It was understood that with the bitter-ender policy taken by Japan, to obtain submission there would need to be an invasion of the mainland. As Okinawa demonstrated, this would cause cataclysmic casualties on both sides. Whereas the bomb in theory would end the war instantly. Those reasons given are absolutely significant and well taken, but I think this warranted mention.
Anyway, thats enough for the peace museum. I'll resume later with posts in the normal tone.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki
I'm going to try and give you everything of substance I can remember, so be warned, this does get very graphic.
Not the exact epicenter, but pretty damn close, they assigned an area as a memorial park and museum. At the south end there are a complex of hospitals dedicated to the survivors and their immediate descendants, "Hibakusha" which have numerous remaining health problems. Even though I did it later in the day, I'll start with the park:
A hugely prominent theme is disarmament. This is an eternal fire, with the symmetrical A-bomb museum directly behind it. The most famous image by far though is the A-bomb dome:
This was city hall, nearly the ONLY building that "survived". Its the best example that remained. Its a symbol of the city and the event. Its been left untouched since. The glass windows and copper dome were instantaneously liquefied. No one inside survived.
One building that I didn't hit before closing was a hall of names that was, as far as I can tell, tantamount to our Vietnam memorial:
When you enter the museum there is a clock dating back to the event:
It also contains the number of days - 522 since the last atmospheric detonation (I believe by Pakistan).
Here is the inside of the museum:
The range of the thing is absolutely unreal. That little red sphere was the actual point of detonation in relation to the model below (pictures follow) It was detonated 600meters, a half mile, above. Still - in about 6 seconds it turned this:
Into this:
A watch they found - stopped at exactly 8:15am on August 6th, 1945:
You imagine it being some Akira-like white energy wave, but really, from my understanding, it is just pure heat - its a burst as hot as a star, with light intense enough to bleach whatever it touches. A particular stark example is the the white bleached concrete of the surviving bank and the remaining silhouettes of the vaporized patrons waiting outside:
Any skin within line of sight was looking at an instant 5th or 6th degree burn. The heat melted glass, stone roof tiles (they have examples of ones that cooled in a bubbling state), and even steel. Liquid glass would be blow into the wind, then cool over distance into spikes that would lodge themselves 4 inches into brick. They don't start talking about survivors until SOME distance from the center.
Some had skin completely black burnt. Some had a surviving strip of lesser burns under the leather the strap that held their bag. Much of the exhibit focused on children and its effects on them. I didn't take any picture.
In the moments that followed, everything flammable in the city ignited into a huge fireball. People were literally melting and falling all over each other to cross the river. High energy waves passed through anything save thick concrete and lead. For example, X-ray film in the hospital vault was exposed. Anyone this touched - being everyone - had the lining of their esophagus instantly burnt off causing an intense and unquenchable thirst. So much dust and debris was unsettled that the following day it rained black over a large chunk of the region. In the following days most died of their injuries. Around 140,000 were killed. There were numerous heart-wrenching testimonials.
Those waves permanently effected cells in the bone marrow, digestive system, and reproductive system of everyone exposed - causing a high incidence of leukemia and birth defects in the Hibakusha to this day. However, the region wasn't permanently contaminated. By the following year plants were growing normally.
This is extremely depressing, so you may want to skip this paragraph. One well known story here was a girl born shortly later who appeared totally healthy. She ultimately came down with leukemia. There was a folk tale that if you folded a 1000 cranes you would be granted a wish. She died. She folded 1300. So now folded paper cranes are a feature all over the park - including a pavilion where people leave them in the thousands.
Now all of that aside, its worth noting the political dimensions. It is PRETTY historically balanced, but not entirely. They give the history of the city, and make no secret of the fact that it was a military center. It was a major college town - but during the war, they stationed a division there, conscripted most of the students, and Mitsubishi built a very large military shipyard. Personal homes were torn down for expanding military facilities and arms manufacturing. It was a fully militarized city. For the sake of the bomb, it wasn't strategically raided prior.
They make a very big deal out of our potential list of targets, people recoil at the notion that in addition to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Kyoto and Yokohama were alternative targets.
Its when the reasons come in that things get a little more controversial. The museum gives a very strong impression that the war was won, but that we just really really wanted to use it. In particular, the only two reasons stated were 1: to justify the huge expenditure and development, and 2: to unveil it and intimidate the USSR to strengthen our position in Europe after the Potsdam conference. Also according to a Japanese speaking friend, the Japanese version of the text in the museum has much more animus than the English translation.
Now, far from exhonorating the act, what it fails to mention is Japan's position and the Battle of Okinawa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Okinawa). Just as many civilians were killed in Okinawa as Hiroshima (and I believe almost as many again in the firebombing of Tokyo). It was understood that with the bitter-ender policy taken by Japan, to obtain submission there would need to be an invasion of the mainland. As Okinawa demonstrated, this would cause cataclysmic casualties on both sides. Whereas the bomb in theory would end the war instantly. Those reasons given are absolutely significant and well taken, but I think this warranted mention.
Anyway, thats enough for the peace museum. I'll resume later with posts in the normal tone.