Hiroshima

In Hiroshima we decided to stay in a business hotel and arrived in the late afternoon. Since we had a bit of time we decided to go to the peace memorial park. It was 6 years ago that I came to this park on my own. We first went to the museum where you can see the many displays of glass that flew into concrete, burnt clothing, melted toys, etc. and the pictures and stories of what happened to the people of Hiroshima. There were hordes of school kids so it was difficult to get around, but I think Aya found it very interesting. More or less I had the same feeling that I did 6 years ago when I came here and the intervening years have only made me more sure that I was correct. We as a species have learned very little about the value of human life. People still slaughter each other for utterly stupid reasons.

From there we walked to the children’s memorial and finally to the atomic bomb dome, one of the only buildings to be left standing afterwards, partial or whole. I wish I could say I was moved or that I had some profound thought upon viewing the peace park, but that wouldn’t be true. Hiroshima is now a modern city and its hard to dwell on past events that have almost no impact on the present. Having ticked that box we went back to the hotel to rest for the next day and going to Miyajima.