Hiroshima is a sobering visit

the Dome--bombed out exhibition hall near ground zero

We've visited Hiroshima several times before and, each time, come away sobered by the horrific effects of war in general and the atomic bomb in particular.  I wish every member of Congress had to visit Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park and Peace Memorial Museum to see what happened to this city (obliterated) and the people who survived the blast (indescribably hideous).  Maybe it would temper the rhetoric about taking on and taking out a country that disagrees with us.  Just maybe it would encourage better diplomacy and less hostility.  Maybe, too, if the Iranians had to visit the Peace Park Museum, they would be less enthusiastic about building their own nuclear bomb. 

exhibition hall just before bomb blast

The Peace Park is not focused on blame; instead, it is dedicated to eliminating nuclear weapons from the world's all too huge arsenal of destruction.  The Japanese blame themselves even more than the U.S. for what they call the Pacific War and for bringing on the destruction that befell Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945.

exhibition hall right after bomb blast

But, nothing speaks like the terrible photos of burned and bloody survivors, many with their skin hanging off them in sheets, clothes fused to their bodies from the heat of the blast.  Mostly they died in utter agony within hours or, at most, days.  The response was rapid, with even the Allied Forces providing some medical supplies, but nothing could deal with the enormity of the disaster.  The fact that Japan didn't surrender immediately, which resulted in the attack on Nagasaki 3 days later, is appalling to anyone who visits here, particularly to the Japanese people.

We can only hope this never happens again.

Japanese school children in Park

One of the few hulks of buildings left standing is the Dome, the remains of the Exposition Hall.  While most of the few remaining buildings were demolished, Hiroshima's citizens wanted to keep the Dome as a reminder of the bomb blast and the horrors of war. 

Children's memorial

peace flame

Across the river is the main part of the Peace Park, with its memorial to the children who died that day and after, an "eternal" flame that will not be extinguished until every nuclear weapon in the world has been eliminated, and a monument that contains the names of every victim of the blast, including those who have recently died from the effects of radiation poisoning from that day.

monument with names of those killed by atomic bomb and aftermath