The Eye of Patrick / Hiroshima bombing: A Survivor Speaks

Hiroshima bombing: A Survivor Speaks

So on March 5th 2005 I woke up at 5 in the morning to make it to Osaka so i could catch the shinkansen to Hiroshima. This would be my second trip to this infamous city, as I had gone before when my father was here. But I decided to go again on this trip as I was told that there would be a speech given by a survivor of the hiroshima atomic bomb blast, plus the fact that the school would drastically subsidize my train ticket made it even more better. Just waking up so early was a tough thing hehe

So after getting on the train at hirakata and making it down to Kyobashi, i started to worry as I realized to get to the station i needed to get to, shin-Osaka, i had to make another change on the Jr Loop line. But when i planned out how to get there I did not realize that. So after a short moment of fear of thinking about not making it onto the train i arrived at shin-Osaka, to find a place empty of Gaidai Students, so i begun to search the area to see if i could track down anyone in the area. After a couple walks up and down the station i was able to locate a red head girl in my class, the reason i mention her hair colour is that it is so easy to see her. She then directed me to the meeting place.

We were waiting for:

And while we were waiting one of my crazy roommates named Laura decided to make some funny pictures of her self, so i snapped some too.

With the arrival of the Shinkasen, we started the train ride to hiroshima, while on the train one of the people i was sitting with taught me how to make paper cranes.

That was the first paper crane that I had made in over 10 years, well since atleast 2nd or 3rd grade hehe…. but it turned out pretty well, and it got me hooked on making more and more. This was good as it helped to keep me busy until we arrived in Hiroshima, which did not seem like to long of a time as i was so busy having fun.

Once we got to hiroshima we split up into smaller groups as we did not need to go to the main meeting place as the speech was not until 1. So me and a group of friends decided to go for a walk around Hiroshima and see the local As a result of Hiroshima being destroyed with an atomic bomb is that everything in the city seems brand new. The streets are wide like Canadian streets, then those narrow streets you find in Hirakata.

While we were walking we stumbled on a mopad that had been thrown into the water, it proved for some interesting photo shots.

We decided to take a long walk around Hiroshima to get a greater understanding of the area and what it had to offer. As we were walking towards the Peace Museum (the place of our meeting) we saw a castle. We were unsure of whether this was hiroshima castle as the person with the map said it wasn’t. But then we never did see any other castles along the way, so I assume it was the castle. The time we got there was just perfect as it was the perfect light to catch a reflection in the water of the castle.

Then me and my friend decided to break away from the group and head on towards the Atom Bomb Dome as the time of the meeting was slowly approaching. As I walked towards the Atomic Bomb Dome I was filled with a feeling of bewilderment as I tried to take in all the stuff that happen. It was kind of surreal to stand there and look around and see a city, a normal city with cars going to and from and buildings with busy workers doing there job and then think that on this day 50 years ago roughly the city had an atomic bomb that was dropped on it and everything was more or less destroyed. I do not know that was an amazing feeling I thought.

The place that the Americans had decided to drop the atomic bomb was a T shaped bridge as they believe this would be the easiest target to see from the air. The interesting thing is that after the bomb was dropped the bridge more or less remained intact and was able to be used for many years after the war as a functional bridge until it was replaced as a result of use.

Then we decided to go and get some food as we were starving as none of us had a proper meal since we got to Hiroshima. We went for a walk down one of those narrow traditional japanese steets and end up on a Ramen Shop and decided to stop there and get some food. I was not in the mood for some Ramen so I decided to get two orders of Gyoza as i love that stuff. But I think the Ramen shop staff felt sorry for me because they gave me a free rice and soup. I felt very lucky haha…. so i had a good bowl of rice and soup and my lovely Gyoza.

After filling our tummies with good food we decided to return to the Atomic bomb Dome, and look at one of the few remaining builds left from when the bomb was dropped.

This lead us to the Atomic bomb bell, or a bell that was designed to be rung so that the sounds of peace could heard around the world.

I really like this one:

Then we went to the peace memorial museum:

This was were we would hear the speech from an atomic bomb survivor. As we were sitting down i remembered to turn off my flash as we were told that it could bother her, as she sometimes gets flash backs to world War II and the bombing. The speech got under way and she then went through an explanation on what happen that day the bomb was dropped. She said she was on her way to work. The military government had decided that certain buildings would be destroyed to prevent the spread of fire. This was becuse the Allies were fire bombing Japan. So many youth were used to help remove the buildings. But as she was walking to school, she heard a plane fly overhead. But most people in Hiroshima were used to that, as they thought may be they were on their way to bomb Osaka or Tokyo. Hiroshima had not been bombed before because the USA wanted virgin bombing targets to measure the bomb blast damange, so Hiroshima was left untouched.

But then the Bomb hit and she was forced to the ground, her next memory was her waking up and her mother removing her from the rubble. She then walked around hiroshima and saw the destruction that had been created. She saw buildings everywhere that were now rubble. The thing that hit me the most was the image of the rivers. She saw bodies all over the rivers, just floating there. One of her friends was thirsty and she went to the river and drank some of the water. But all the water was radoactive and then she died right in front of our speaker. She said she almost drank the water too, that was just amazing imaginry. I could not imagine what she saw, and i do not think you could, unless you were there. She then talked about how she was given a chance to come to America as one of the young japanese ladies spent to america to get medical attention. She then thought may be the reason she was selected was because she could be cured. This made her upset as she realized she was a poltical tool.

After her speech was done, we were able to get a picture with her.

Then we decided to go to the musuem and see the exhbits.

When I was a grade schooler, we read a book about a Japanese girl who had lived in hiroshima. But as she grew up after the blast, she came down with lukumia and was put into a hospital. To pass her time and a sense of hope she decided to make a 1000 paper cranes as she believed if she made 1000 then her wish of getting better would be granted. She made some everyday, some big and some small. As time passed she got sicker and sicker, then she got to sick to make them and she died. But other people would wake more for her and send them. This was only a story, until i went to the museum and saw the paper cranes. I was so touched by this.