Japan: Aftermath Of A Cataclysm

For Saturday, November 5, 2011

Kyoto

The sky was gray and dreary. Chris (from Australia) and I took the Shinkansen train to Hiroshima.

Hiroshima

It was raining when we arrived two hours later. We walked a few blocks to our hostel, K’s House. After checking in, we rode the street tram to the A-Bomb Dome. We strolled around the perimeter, taking photos here and there, and reading the plaques of a few art installations commemorating the event of the bombing and the people and children affected by it. Nearby was the Hiroshima Peace Museum, and incredibly informative and moving presentation of dates, timelines, correspondence, military intelligence, the fallout, and the aftereffects of the bombing that occurred there. I only spent an hour and a half there, and then it closed. I could easily have spent another hour seeing the rest of what I missed. I learned several things that surprised me. One thing was that one reason the U.S. decided to deploy the bomb against the Japanese instead of the Germans was because it was thought the Japanese would be able to learn less about atomic technology from the attack. Another thing was that basically the only thing keeping the Japanese from surrendering was that they wanted to preserve the emperor system of government, but the Allies wouldn’t budge on that point. Another thing was that, to develop the atomic bomb, it cost the U.S. government $2 billion ($24.57 billion adjusted for inflation) using 120,000 people and dozens of factories, labs, and other installations across the world. Justifying the cost of the project to U.S. citizens was absolutely one reason why it was deployed at all. Every time a country tests a nuclear weapon, the mayor of Hiroshima mails a public letter of protestation to the country’s leader exhorting them to cease the use of nuclear technology. Every letter is reproduced in an individual metal card in the museum. The latest three were addressed to President Obama. It was really moving. Afterward, we rode the tram back to the hostel and hung out in the common room for a while, chatting with a couple other guests, Jason (from Australia) and Sam (from England). Later, we all walked to a nearby Taiwanese restaurant and got dinner to go, then took it back to the hostel. I went to a nearby 7-11 after dinner and bought an ice cream cone and some beers for Chris and myself. I was encountering some weird syncing problem with my iPhone, so I spent a couple hours just trying to get that fixed. By the time I finished that and went to bed, it was 4 AM. Chris went to bed at 5.