We’re just back from a week touring the western end of this big island we live on. Everywhere we went, history is part of daily life, the political represented by the thousand year old castle on the highest, most visible hill in town, and the daily by ceramics crafted by twelfth generation potters. Each prefecture is proud of its own food products as well—fish and seafood or fruits and vegetables unique to the local area.
We started in Hiroshima. I really think that every American should make a pilgrimage to the Peace Park. It’s so powerful that I don’t know how to talk about it without diminishing its impact. The museum and park cover an enormous area of downtown close to ground zero, and everything about the installation is dedicated to the conviction that humanity cannot coexist with nuclear weapons. I can only give you a few snapshot impressions. I hope you can imagine more—or go yourself someday:
*Four walls covered with telegrams of protest sent by Hiroshima mayors to governments that have just tested nuclear bombs.
*Aerial views of the city before and after the bomb. Only a half-dozen buildings had even a few walls standing minutes after the bomb was dropped on this city of 350,000 people. One of these relics has been preserved; here’s a picture of the A-Bomb Dome.
*Tatters of clothing found by the parents of vaporized junior high school students who were out on the streets building fire lanes from City Hall so it could be saved if it was bombed (by conventional bombs.)
*Copies of letters and memos written by politicians and scientists in the U.S. as the decisions to first build, then when and where to use the bomb were made—long before the actual event. Chilling.
*Gazillions of paper cranes sent by children all over the world to contribute to the Children’s Peace Monument. The following from a Hiroshima website: “This connection between paper cranes and peace can be traced back to a young girl named Sadako Sasaki, who died of leukemia ten years after the atomic bombing.Sadako was two years old when she was exposed to the A-bomb. She had no apparent injuries and grew into a strong and healthy girl. However, nine years later in the fall when she was in the sixth grade of elementary school (1954), she suddenly developed signs of an illness. In February the following year she was diagnosed with leukemia and was admitted to the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital. Believing that folding paper cranes would help her recover, she kept folding them to the end, but on October 25, 1955, after an eight-month struggle with the disease, she passed away. Sadako's death triggered a campaign to build a monument to pray for world peace and the peaceful repose of the many children killed by the atomic bomb. The Children's Peace Monument that stands in Peace Park was built with funds donated from all over Japan. Later, this story spread to the world, and now, approximately 10 million cranes are offered each year before the Children's Peace Monument. ”
The rest of our tour was much cheerier than this. I’ll save it for the next installment.
We started in Hiroshima. I really think that every American should make a pilgrimage to the Peace Park. It’s so powerful that I don’t know how to talk about it without diminishing its impact. The museum and park cover an enormous area of downtown close to ground zero, and everything about the installation is dedicated to the conviction that humanity cannot coexist with nuclear weapons. I can only give you a few snapshot impressions. I hope you can imagine more—or go yourself someday:
*Four walls covered with telegrams of protest sent by Hiroshima mayors to governments that have just tested nuclear bombs.
*Aerial views of the city before and after the bomb. Only a half-dozen buildings had even a few walls standing minutes after the bomb was dropped on this city of 350,000 people. One of these relics has been preserved; here’s a picture of the A-Bomb Dome.
*Tatters of clothing found by the parents of vaporized junior high school students who were out on the streets building fire lanes from City Hall so it could be saved if it was bombed (by conventional bombs.)
*Copies of letters and memos written by politicians and scientists in the U.S. as the decisions to first build, then when and where to use the bomb were made—long before the actual event. Chilling.
*Gazillions of paper cranes sent by children all over the world to contribute to the Children’s Peace Monument. The following from a Hiroshima website: “This connection between paper cranes and peace can be traced back to a young girl named Sadako Sasaki, who died of leukemia ten years after the atomic bombing.Sadako was two years old when she was exposed to the A-bomb. She had no apparent injuries and grew into a strong and healthy girl. However, nine years later in the fall when she was in the sixth grade of elementary school (1954), she suddenly developed signs of an illness. In February the following year she was diagnosed with leukemia and was admitted to the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital. Believing that folding paper cranes would help her recover, she kept folding them to the end, but on October 25, 1955, after an eight-month struggle with the disease, she passed away. Sadako's death triggered a campaign to build a monument to pray for world peace and the peaceful repose of the many children killed by the atomic bomb. The Children's Peace Monument that stands in Peace Park was built with funds donated from all over Japan. Later, this story spread to the world, and now, approximately 10 million cranes are offered each year before the Children's Peace Monument. ”
The rest of our tour was much cheerier than this. I’ll save it for the next installment.
1 件のコメント:
This is on a very short list of places I MUST visit before I leave this planet.
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