Towards the end of our time in Nagasaki, we visited the A-Bomb museum and the Peace Park. I did not learn anything new or unexpected, but the visit to the museum was certainly a sobering experience. There were lots of pictures of blackened bodies, radiation burns, and obliterated buildings. Some of the articles on display in the museum provided additional food for thought....an old army helmet with skull fragments seared into the metal, warped pieces of metal, clocks which had stopped at 11.02am, and bones from a human hand which had melted into a glass bottle. I do not recall seeing any signs prohibiting photos being taken, but it seemed inappropriate to do so. The only photo I took was when I was leaving. The picture shows various peace messages from various people and organisations. For me, the main issue is not the use of nuclear weapons, it is the targeting of civilian populations.
After the visit to the A-Bomb Museum, we went to eat champon, a famous dish of Nagasaki. Champon is basically a bowl of soup with with noodles, prawns, shrimp, and vegetables. It was ok, but I am in no great rush to eat it again. I also had a beer, not because I wanted one, but because it seemed like the right thing to do whilst on holiday. The next stop was a visit to the hypocenter and Peace Park before we had to meet up at the hotel for the bus journey to Huis ten Bosch.
The hypocenter is the location 300m directly below where the bomb exploded. It is marked by a black monolith which reminded me of the monolith in the film 2001 : A Space Odyssey. I tried to look into the sky above the monolith and imagine what it must have been like when the bomb exploded. Like the other places we visited in Nagasaki, the hypocenter was fairly devoid of people. We really visited Nagasaki at a great time. I would imagine that at many other times of year, all places would be jammed with tourists and school excursions. After the hypocenter, we had about another 30 minutes until we needed to catch the tram back to the hotel. Just enough time to visit the Peace Park.
I guess that the Peace Park is famous (in Japan) for the statue. One hand is raised upwards to point to the threat of nuclear weapons, while the other is stretched out to (somehow) symbolise eternal peace.
2 comments:
Yes I am very glad to have been there, quite amazing and shocking. I wondered what the low bits of wall in the park were, then discovered they were the walls of a prison, which had been full and was so close (in fact maybe the closest building) to the bomb explosion. Of course no trace of prisoners or wardens remained. I also found it comforting, in a strange way, that fresh flowers and cards are being left daily at the peace park over 60 years after that dreadful event.
Me too.
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