Our first stop was in a very sobering Hiroshima. At first glance the city is bustling with people and restaurants. However, underneath this fresh new exterior is a deep scar that has transformed, not only Hiroshima but, Japan as a whole. For those of you who recognize the city's name but can't quite remember where you've heard it from, it was where the first atomic bomb was dropped in aggression by The United States of America during WWII. Out of all the buildings in a 2km radius, only one survived in a highly damaged and crippled state. The city has taken tremendous effort for it to be preserved for eternity and, every year on August 6th, the day the bomb was dropped, the current mayor of Hiroshima writes a personal letter to every nuclear weaponized nation pleading with them to dispose of their nuclear arms and to call to mind the horrible effects that not only nuclear bombs can have on people but war itself. This fact was gleaned from the local museum detailing everything you wanted and didn't want to know about nuclear bombs and their catastrophic capabilities. The museum was very open, honest, and completely unbiased which surprised Erica and I. It's candor stated things such as how the Japanese political policies at the time were foolish and had displays that even begged the question "When will war ever end?" Over 280,000 people have died from that one horrific decision and are actually still dying today due to cancer relates issues. But how do you humanize that many people without it just becoming a statistic? They did so with moving personal stories and gruesome pictures that etched into your mind how disgusting and demonic man can be to one another. One such story talked about atomic rays shining through a woman's kimono transferring the same kimono pattern to her skin with third degree burns. Another was how a man, for the rest of his sickly radiated life, had dark black finger nails that mutated with his skin to produce living fingernails: the color of the nails was caused by actual blood capillaries that flowed through the nail along with nerves making every nail clipping torturous as if cutting off an appendage. It was so miserable that he stopped cutting them all together choosing to let them grow nearly a foot long. With swollen, puffy eyes we made our way like this to each and every exhibit thinking that the next couldn't be as bad as the last; we couldn't have been more wrong. As strong as the content was, this museum will forever be on my highly recommended list to show people how truly horrible this world can be.
The next day Erica and I retreated to more relaxing activities which included strolls through the local parks and shopping. The shopping was a stress reliever for Erica and I wasn't about to argue after a heartbreaking day previously. We also got the best sushi I've ever had from the strangest of places: the mall. Apparently this is not rare in Japan. We estimated the equivalent meal in the U.S. would have set us back $120. It tallied up to a whopping $11. We were so astonished at our bill and the superior quality over anything like it we've had previously.
Two days under our belts in Japan and we were already feeling right at home. Next stop: Kyoto.
Metro train in Hiroshima
The A-Bomb Dome: the only building left after the blast
The hypocenter of the blast was around 600 meters directly above this building
I love Japanese kids! They are so adorable! It was sickening to me to think after going to the A-Bomb museum that innocent children like these were killed by the thousands
This time piece stopped exactly at 8:15am when the bomb detonated
This is a picture of a photograph taken 3 months after the bomb showing the complete destruction
These are skin and fingernails that dropped off victims as if they had leprosy
If this photograph was enlarged, you would see that the mural in the background is made up of 280,000 mosaic tiles representing all of those who have lost their lives from this horrible incident
Another view of the A-Bomb Dome
Erica trying to blend in like a local
Our first sushi experience and it was fantastic!
This was the softest fish I've ever had bursting with flavor
Everywhere in Japan (practically every 200 meters) there is a vending machine with hot and cold drinks, even alcohol!
Beautiful scenery along the river that flows through Hiroshima
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