Powerful.
Scary.
Overwhelming.
I could not go to Japan without visiting Hiroshima.
I’ve been to Auschwitz, Berlin, Yad Vashem. These are all places where I felt, as a Jew, I was the victim.
In Hiroshima, I felt the pain of being an American, of being responsible for inflicting horror upon others.
Simplification? Yes.
Regardless, that’s how I felt while listening to the stories on my audio tour of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The suffering as a result of the atomic bomb dropped by the United States onto the people of Hiroshima overpowered my emotions.
To maintain focus and out of respect, I took no photos in the museum itself. While walking around outside of the museum, I kept picturing how the city looked after being devastated…the people, their homes, the buildings…
Powerful.
Scary.
Overwhelming.
Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims
Atomic Bomb Dome
Flame of Peace, to be extinguished when nuclear weapons no longer exist
Peace Bell, expressing my call for peace
Memorial in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
Hiroshima Castle (reconstructed): View through a teppōzama (gun loophole)
Shukkeien Garden Koi carp
A family dressed in traditional clothes, perhaps for the three-year old’s photo, entering Hiroshima Gokoku Shrine
Shukkeien Garden
