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"I tried to visualise the cloud pillar seen by Moses that is mentioned in the Old Testament, but I couldn't. The unsophisticated concepts and fantasies dreamed up by the ancients were useless to describe this horrible pageant of clouds and lights staged in the firmament." Letters from the End of the World - Toyofumi Ogura |
Well, I finally got some holiday after a plethora of shift swaps so, financial hardship notwithstanding, I boarded the night bus West for Hiroshima, a town which probably needs no introduction to everyone back home.
Prior to the events of 6th August 1945, Hiroshima was a busy garrison town; Japan was involved in conflict with both China and Russia prior to the Second World War. Located at the Western end of Honshu, Hiroshima was often the departure point for Japanese troops heading for Asia.
After the atomic bomb and the end of the war, Hiroshima reinvented itself as an international city of peace. It now has a thriving tourist trade and one of the official duties of the Mayor is to send a telegram of protest to the leader of every country that conducts a nuclear weapons test, thereby giving the White House interns something to mop up their spilled coffee with.
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The A-Bomb Dome: formerly the Industrial Promotion Hall, this was one of the few buildings left standing within 3km of the bomb's hypocentre and is now a World Heritage Site, no less. |
| I stood for a minute's silence in front of the Memorial Mound. Of course, since I was travelling alone I wasn't at my most expressive in any case, but 60 seconds of silence from the boy McKeown is still a rare treat. |  |
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This is me in front of the Peace Bell, which I subsequently went and beat the heck out of as part of my unstinting campaign for multilateral nuclear disarmament. |
| Cold shadows lay strewn across the bleak, bitter concrete of the Peace Memorial Park.My extremities turned cold and I thought of coffee and the end of the World.Mostly coffee, if I'm honest. |  |
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The final death toll is unknown to this day, but is believed to be in the region of 140,000. This included a high number of forced labourers from Korea and students mobilised by the Japanese authorities.A similar number of people are believed to have died in Nagasaki. |
The Park is also the home of the very emotive Peace Memorial Museum. The exhibits include a human shadow scorched into brickwork by the heat of the blast and a watch forever frozen at 8.15 am, when time ran out for the unfortunate soul who was wearing it.
I had to bite my lip.