October 24, 2023
She arrived alone and alone she left. She stopped for a moment to pray, alone in the crowd of tourists, then she raised her clasped hands and bowed her head in thanks.
This is the deepest memory I brought home from Japan. Oh, I have many memories, and I think that in the next few days I will have a lot to write and share, but I want to start with the one that made me think most: the visit to Hiroshima, and the Atomic Bomb Dome (here my little review).
The Atomic Bomb Dome is a place I have always wanted to visit, and more so after my visit to the Auschwitz extermination camp in Septembre 2018 during the European Meet-up.
A place to visit in silence, like that young girl to whom I wanted to dedicate the incipit of the post, and who out of respect I didn’t want to photograph.
Our day started early, with a train traveling the 350 km from Kyoto to Hiroshima in 1 hour and 40 minutes, at an average speed of over 230 km/h.
In Hiroshima we took one of the buses that do tours for tourists. There are three lines, with buses running every 15 minutes.
Our first stop was Hiroshima Castle, and above all the park where there are the trees that survived the explosion of the Atomic Bomb (A-bombed survivor tree - Kurogane Holly).
The visit was a promise to a friend, who before leaving for Japan had asked me for a photo of those very trees.
My day of meditation began right there, in front of life that survives war and destruction. “Seeing these trees that survived the atomic bomb, which exploded just 950 meters away, is something that gives hope, and which in my opinion should make us think about the fact that life continues, and survives wars and destruction. The park is beautiful and quiet, and helps you meditate.“ is what I wanted to write in my review.
After crossing the park we reached Hiroshima Castle, built in 1958, to travel through a piece of the history of Japan and the Samurai. From the top of the castle we admired the landscape, and then went down and went to the most important point of our visit: the Atomic Bomb Dome.
The visit to the Atomic Bomb Dome represents for me the closure of a trilogy of places of memory, which previously took me to the places of the First World War and then to the Auschwitz extermination camp. Places that I wanted to talk about in the past, and which I want to talk about even more today, because in these last two years the world seems to have completely forgotten George Santayana’s phrase displayed at the entrance to the Nazi extermination camp of Auschwitz: “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.
During my visit I was very struck by an image: In the midst of the multitude of tourists a young woman arrived. She seemed to be inside a bubble of silence, isolated from the crowd of tourists. She stopped in front of the dome, she clasped her hands in prayer and remained still for a very long minute. She then raised her clasped hands, bowed her head and left.
A very long minute during which I lowered my camera and prayed with her.
A very long minute during which I understood why I was there, to witness once again the futility and brutality of all wars.
A very long minute that alone is worth my entire trip to Japan. A trip for which I want to thank Google for having strongly wanted to meet us, and @KarenVChin for organizing the visit to Hiroshima.
Behind the dome there is a small structure: it is the ruins of a fountain. “The fountain stands out clearly in front of the dome building. Gray, surrounded by concrete pillars, silently recounts the destruction caused by the bomb. It seems almost unreal.
There are fewer tourists on this side of the building, and many don’t even notice it. It is difficult to understand that that carved column was once a beautiful fountain” is what I wanted to write in my review.
From there we walked towards the Peace Memorial Park. The first thing that caught my attention was a monument to our right: the Children’s Peace Monument. I leave you with the words of my review as a comment: “A powerful message, which should make you think about the most innocent victims of every war: children. Located on the other side of the river from the Atomic Bomb Dome, the monument carves out a space of peace on the path that takes us to the memorial”
“The park is enormous, and I believe it should be visited completely, to fully understand the meaning of what we are observing: a prayer for peace and an invitation to remember. I couldn’t, and that’s one of the reasons why I think I’ll have to go back to Japan again.
A visit to this place is not only recommended, but a must” (text of my review of the park)
Slowly we arrived at the arch of the Hiroshima Victims Memorial Cenotaph. Many people, and especially many students were visiting it, divided into groups and accompanied by their teachers. “A place of meditation and memory.
An ideal line unites the arch, the flame of peace and the Dome.
The numerous visiting school groups give me hope that the powerful message of peace will be remembered for a long time. Certainly crossing the planet to get here was very important for me, and I hope it will also be for each of you who read this thought of mine” is what I wanted to say in my review
“Located in an ideal spot between the Memorial and the Dome, the perennial flame above the water is a powerful and evocative message of peace, and marked an important step in my visit to Hiroshima. Not to forget”. The message of the flame on the water (The Flame of Peace) is very powerful, as I wanted to mention in my review. The architectural choice that united the three elements, the Dome, the Flame and the Memorial, also serves to define the fundamental elements of what, on a visit to Hiroshima, we should never lose: the desire for peace.
At a moment in our history in which we seem to have forgotten, in a moment in our history in which wars are no longer a historical event but an everyday fact, this is the memory I want to share with you.
For those who are interested in reading more, I want to share with you three posts that are equally important to me, and which I hope are equally important to you:
- In a war, nobody wins - we are all losers
- International Holocaust Remembrance Day - January 27
- Friendship Without Borders - A Local Guides Connect Topic
Most of the text in this post was taken directly from my reviews in Google Maps. For those who want to know more about the places mentioned I will be happy to add details and images in my answers.
Hiroshima, 24 October 2023
Caption: Photo of a house in Bordano, Italy. May 1st, 2019. “Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say i’m a dreamer but i’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us and the world will live as one.” John Lennon
Thank you for reading
I too, was deeply moved and affected by my visit to Hiroshima last month.
