Hiroshima Report

Genbaku Dome (Atomic Bomb Dome) - Ground zero of the Hiroshima bombing

So here's my report about Hiroshima, I decided to post it here. I submitted this last night to the people at Ferris, coz they're gonna make a document with all the reports of the people who went on that trip.

There are things in the world we take heed of, yet sometimes there are certain instances where matters of great importance are just neglected.

Before I came to Japan, I only had very basic knowledge about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Yes, I learned that a lot of people died, properties were damaged, and horrible aftereffects of harmful radiation were manifested immediately and even decades after the attack. However, for a catastrophy which did not even happen in my lifetime, and which took place in a country relatively far from my own, it is hard to imagine the real extent of the damage, and even much harder to feel the anguish victims might have felt on such a tragic event.

The moment we arrived in Hiroshima during the Japan Study Tour, we immediately went to Peace Memorial Park. The first thing we saw was the Atomic Bomb Dome, formerly the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall, standing ruined but proud more than half a century after the attack. That was my first glimpse on reality about the Hiroshima bombing, and I realized that the horrendous attack was not something to be taken lightly. It must have taken a very powerful blast for a strong structure such as the Exhibition Hall to be damaged so much, and I could not stop thinking that if buildings like that were damaged, then the damage to human life must have been unthinkable. It was there that I learned, upon reading an inscription near the building, that around 300,000 people were killed because of the attack. That number is indeed unimaginable.

We went around the park, exploring monuments which served as memorials for the unfortunate victims. There were monuments for children, teachers, soldiers, and students, among others. These people led different lives, and had different hopes and ambitions, but they all shared the same fate as they fell victim to the bomb on that fatal day of August 6, 1945.

When we entered the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, it was there that I fully understood the extent of the damage. The museum was amazing. The displayed pictures of Hiroshima before the attack made me think that it was so sad for such a bustling, developing city to have been reduced to dust. The miniature before-and-after models of the city were so in contrast that they totally shocked me. Such a big part of the city was damaged, and so many lives were lost. For me, the most heart-wrenching articles in the museum were the things left behind by the victims which were discovered by their loved ones later, and the sad stories and poems I listened to on the recorded audio guide I was using. Looking at the remnants of the attack, hearing the poems and stories, and seeing the pictures of the victims were extremely heart-breaking. There were even some instances when I almost cried.

In the course of the history of mankind, different nations and individuals have done numerous horrible deeds. The making and using of nuclear bombs is certainly one of these. Because of war, acts like these are oftentimes justified. But no matter how much a nation wants to defeat the enemy, and no matter how reasonable they might claim the intention to be, great efforts should be done for the loss of innocent human lives to be minimized. It goes without saying that weapons of mass destruction should be wiped out from the face of the earth.

In so many places around the world, people are ignorant to the existence of these killer weapons and the harm they could do to the human race. The city of Hiroshima is like a shining light in the battle for peace and nuclear abolition. I can say that I am truly lucky to have been given the chance to visit the city, for because of that, I have become aware, and now I can make my own little efforts in the pursuit of world peace.