Hiroshima

We visited Hiroshima for a debate event at the Red Cross School of Nursing. It is a beautiful city. Here are views from the university.

In the sea you can see oyster beds.

We went to the Peace Museum. This is one of the most moving museums I've visited. On the day we went, we arrived just as busloads of school children were leaving. I didn't take too many pictures, but these few should give you an idea of the impact of the atomic bomb.

This clock measures the days since the A-bomb hit Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 at 8:15 am and the number of days since a nuclear test.

In the next few pictures of the scale model of Hiroshima, you can see the town before and after the impact of the devastation.

The bomb's heat melted roof tiles, fusing them together.

A melted glass bottle.

More roof tiles.

The building with the open top in the distance is one of 3 buildings that withstood the blast. In the foreground is the peace monument.

The peace monument.

Many readers will be familiar with the story of Sadako and the thousand paper cranes. She was a victim of the bomb at age 6, and seemed to be fine until she developed leukemia and died 10 years later. This is a monument to her. In the background are small vestibules housing the paper cranes sent in from around the world. They only have enough space to store cranes from each year, so they burn them each year and start anew - these just represent 6 months worth.

The surviving building.

Some street scenes in Hiroshima.

A monument to students.