Hiroshima Peace Memorial

On 6 August 1945, the first atomic weapon used in combat was deployed over the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Dropped at 8:15 AM by a B-29 named the Enola Gay, the bomb destroyed much of the city. Hiroshima had been chosen due to its proximity to Imperial Japanese Army and Navy forces, as well as the lack of POW camps. The city had been largely spared during the firebombing of Japan that had taken place during the previous year.

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial, formerly the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall

There's much to be read and discussed when it comes to this event. The legality of using nuclear weapons, the deliberate targeting of a civilian population, and a second bombing just three days later are all points of discussion that take place in and out of Japan. I don't think there are any good or bad guys in the story of the atomic bombings. There are only the victims, and the helpless. I've never found a way to discuss Hiroshima or Nagasaki in my own words. In some small way, I'm okay with that; this is hardly the forum to search in a gray history for a black and white line.

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial is roughly 150 meters from the closest point of the blast. You can easily walk here from Hiroshima Station, and you don't need to buy a ticket to the peace museum in order to visit it. In a country famed for its ancient structures, this European-designed building stands just as proudly as any in Japan; a relic from a different age. It is a skeleton in the middle of a vibrant city, a gray-brown juxtaposition to the streams of colorful orizuru (origami cranes) that are found all over Hiroshima. More akin to a dead tree in the middle of a dense forest than a historical monument in a museum district, it nevertheless exudes defiance, and thereby hope.

It is estimated that between 150,000 - 240,000 people were killed between August 6th and the end of the Second World War due to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Today, let's pause and remember them.

Tony