Yesterdays trip to Hiroshima from Kyoto was all quite simple on the bullet train. When I arrived at the hostel at 4pm I decided to chill and explore the city in the morning.
Today I got up and caught the street car, a tram like vehicle, to the Genbaku Dome-Mae stop. From here it is easy to explore the whole central city area. My focus this morning was the A-bomb dome and the peace memorial park.
The whole place was very moving. The dome really made me think about what happened on the 6th of August 1945 at 8:15am. There had been alot of debate in Japan on whether the building should be pulled down or kept. I personally think they made the correct choice. It highlights the dangers of war and pushes us toward focusing on Peace.
Just behind the Dome is a peace prayer statue to enable visitors to focus and move their attention to now, where we have the power to be peaceful.
The children memorial statue and the cenotaph really helped cement the understanding of what was lost by the people of Hiroshima on that fateful day in August.
At the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum I was struck by how balanced it was. It was not slating the americans like the museum in Vietnam did. This peace museums agenda was to inform us of the outcome of using the bomb, its affects on people and to campaign to ban the bomb.
After absorbing all the information it was hard not to feel that not having nuclear bombs is the right way forward.
This of course bought my mind to the debate in the UK at the moment regarding to two main political party leaders as to whether or not they would press ‘The’ button.
Looking at the devastation a bomb like that can cause it is difficult not to leap in the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyns camp of not pressing the button. However it is not that easy because the fact is we have the button and it protects us from other bigger countries who may think about bullying us. A little like a small boy having a big brother who stops the bully. It keeps its own people safer.
But this does forget that we are all humans and it shouldn’t matter if it is a person in the same country or on the other side of the world. We all have the same emotions and sensation of pain.
To me, heading towards peace is a trusting way forward that ultimately says we are all good people. Having the a-bomb is fearful way that states – what if they do this or that.
As I left the gift shop trying to decide if I should purchase a ‘no to the nuke badge’ I eventually concluded that yes we should trust in others good will and not be based in fear. We can start this at individual levels and hope it will extend to the world as a whole.
For the world to have no A-bombs, to me, is the only solution because as long as one country chooses to keep this most horrific weapon fear will remain. The odd thing is every country knows what these weapons do and yet collectively there is not a movement from World leaders to head towards destroying all these type of weapons. I guess I will never understand that, especially today when the images and results of such weapons are so clear in my mind.
