He had a stake reorganization in Hiroshima this past weekend. He has done countless stake reorganizations from the time he was released as stake president until now. He always comes home exhausted from these as they require a full weekend of intense interviews and spiritual pleading. It is one of the few times the revelation needs to be immediate. AND…when it is in Japan, he does it all in Japanese. お疲れ様でした。 After a tiring and happy weekend, we toured the town.
As everyone knows, there is plenty of tragic history in Hiroshima from 70 years back and this is where we started to find our personal understanding of it, this statue of Sadako Sasaki. You can read her story in a book called Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. This statue depicting her is in front of her junior high school. She was 2 1/2 years old when the atomic bombed was dropped on Hiroshima. She died of leukemia at age 12. She recalled that a wish could be granted if a thousand paper cranes were folded and that is how she spent her time in the hospital before her death, folding origami cranes out of the paper from her medicine. Children from all over Japan helped her by folding.
The most compelling thing I hoped to see was the Atomic Bomb Dome or Genbaku Dome. Unfortunately, it is under scaffolding as it is being prepared for the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the bomb. For some reason, 'anniversary' sounds like too happy a word. This structure was near the epicenter of the bomb and was completely hollowed out. The skeleton of the building remains and brick ruins are all over the ground, most likely left as they fell. The bomb was made to detonate before it hit the ground so as to cause the most destruction as the force moved downward. Most buildings were completely destroyed and many people who survived the bomb wanted it torn down as it caused so many heart wrenching nightmares and so much anxiety. After several years, there was mostly a consensus to keep it preserved as a reminder that this kind of atrocity should never be allowed to happen again.
The red ball in this photo below shows were the bomb detonated. The few buildings are those that weren't completely destroyed. The Genbaku Dome is in the shadow of the ball right behind the whitish triangular building. The destruction was so complete that for a three mile radius, there was little to be found. What the bomb did not destroy, fires for the next three days, did.
Below is a lunch tin with the charred ashes of the young man's lunch still inside. It was August 6th, 1945 at 8:15 in the morning and children were mostly working for the war effort or playing outside.
Shinichi Tetsutani was almost 4 years old and was riding his tricycle outside when the bomb detonated. He died that night. His father felt he was too young to be buried in a graveyard with strangers, so he buried his son and his beloved tricycle in the backyard, thinking Shinichi could play with it in the afterlife. Forty years later, his father removed his son's remains to the family cemetery and donated the tricycle to the Peace Museum.
This is probably difficult to see, but there is a shadow left from a person sitting at the bank steps that morning, waiting for it to open. Since it was near the epicenter, the person certainly died instantly. The steps to the left are white from the flash.
Below are various items found later. Notice the glass bottles at the bottom.
We wondered to each other, "Why Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Why anywhere?" We saw a list that had Kyoto and Tokyo and Yokohama as top targets. Maybe part of the answer (there really isn't a good answer to this question, is there?) is that it was headquarters for the military at that time. Below is Hiroshima Castle. This is a reconstruction as the castle built hundreds of years ago was actually HQ offices for the military and was destroyed by the bomb.
It was a sobering morning. There were many photos of the horrors of that morning and subsequent days, and though I looked at each and every one, I could not bring myself to capture them on my camera or post them on this blog. Our walk through the park was a quiet and reflective one.
Those of you who know my husband, know one of the best things about him is his humor. He is able to diffuse any tense or angry situation with it. It is his super power (along with his work ethic). He was able to help break the mood a little without being disrespectful. He loves most everything and everyone except Arbiveida shrubs, melons and cats. True to form he mentioned as we were leaving the park, "Look at what the bomb did to those poor shrubs!" He claims his dislike comes from having to trim them as a young boy. Ask him next time about cantaloupe.
There is an old time feel to Hiroshima. Almost as if once the shock wore off, if it truly ever did, the town was rebuilt and has stayed that way since the '50s. Case in point, the streetcar below. It was our transportation to Genbaku Dome and the Peace Museum and then to our next destination, Miyajima.
We had to set our somber feelings aside and enjoy "Shinto meets nature" for a few hours. I think pictures, in this case, are worth a thousand words, so I will spare you to just enjoy.
Our return train had that old feeling as well. What a somber and yet amazing P-day for us. We are so lucky to have each other to work with and then enjoy these things together.
Today made me more grateful for my dear husband and for our children and grandchildren who are healthy and happy even if they are halfway across the world. I felt so grateful for solid beliefs and for friends and for life.
Happy Monday, everyone! Now, back to work!
