Hiroshima

Hiroshima was a bit of a last minute thing, but I could not go without seeing for myself such a horrific historical place and more importantly, feeling it...

Before After The building was just below the blast point of the bomb and is why it had withstood the blast, it is now preserved.
They even have a tram stop for it, kinda sucks to be reminded all the time
I had a guilty feeling when arriving that settled over me right away looking like a foreigner whose country did this to their city. I know that this is not true as they are great people, but it was how I felt nonetheless. I was glad that I could say Australia when asked where I was from, I would expect that coming here from the united states would be difficult. I mean it is still in people's lives, a guy here at the hostel, his mother was a victim...
I expected to be really moved, and I was, but not to the extent I thought. I guess I just could not even imagine what it was like. It was like my brain just couldn't process imagining destruction on that level around me. Here are some more pictures of the A-Dome, the scaffolding is a once every three years thing to make sure the structure is sound (I swear everything is being fixed when I come to see it, I hide a lot of it).

I proceeded to the flame of peace which is to remain lit until the eradication of all nuclear weapons in the world. It seemed that there was something special happening, so I went all paparazzi and took photos with the pros ha! It seems that it was the mayor of Hiroshima and other politicians that were for peace, that had come to pay their respects to the cenotaph for all the victims of the bomb. They all carried a white flower to lay at the cenotaph...anyhow here are my pap pics! After paying my respects also (was sad ) I proceeded to the children's monument. It is said that a little girl who got sick from the radiation believed that if she made one thousand paper cranes she would live, but she never made it. Children all over the country send paper cranes in all different fashions but here are some paper crane peace posters...
I could not come without ringing the peace bell and was surprised to see Australia imprinted on it as I approached. Then I noticed the sky... fitting really...
So in the end, I'm glad I went. The Japanese have really transformed such a tragedy into a place advocating for peace in the world. I tip my hat.