Hiroshima

A very moving visit today to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park -- the site that marks ground zero from the Atomic Bomb which fell there on August 6, 1945.

This building somehow managed to survive relatively intact (compared to everything else around it), and it now stands as a somber reminder of the terrible destruction and horrific suffering caused by the bomb that day.  The photograph on the left was taken shortly after the explosion.

The extra shows the Children's Peace Monument erected in the park, to commemorate Sadako Sasaki and the thousands of child victims of the atomic bombing.  Shortly before she succumbed to leukaemia caused by radiation from the bomb, she had a vision to create one thousand origami cranes.  Japanese tradition says that if you create a thousand cranes, you will be granted one wish. Sadako's wish was to have a world without nuclear weapons.  Thousands of origami cranes from all over the world are offered around the monument. They serve as a sign that the children who make them and those who visit the statue desire a world without nuclear war.

Also, a view of the Memorial Cenotaph, holding the names of all of the people killed by the bomb. The monument is aligned to frame the Peace Flame and the A-Bomb Dome.

After walking through the park, we visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum -- a very moving and upsetting experience, but one that I wish everyone on earth could see, as it certainly reinforces the desire to never have such a devastating event happen anywhere ever again.