Our 272nd entry in this blog is our trip to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan. This is Ate Rei and Sai’s first time to visit Hiroshima. As for me and Papa Dave, we were here last, I think it was 2008 spring.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is also known as Hiroshima Heiwa Kinen KΕen. It is dedicated to the legacy of Hiroshima as the first city in the world to suffer a nuclear attack at the end of World War II, and to the memories of the bomb’s direct and indirect victims.
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is visited by more than one million people each year.
The park is there in memory of the victims of the nuclear attack on August 6, 1945, in which the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
In the lower right of the photo above is the Children’s Peace Monument, a statue dedicated to the memory of the children who died as a result of the bombing. The statue is of a girl with outstretched arms with a folded paper crane rising above her.
The A-Bomb Dome is the skeletal ruins of the former Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. It is the building closest to the hypocenter of the nuclear bomb that remained at least partially standing.
It was left as it was after the bombing in memory of the casualties. It is an officially designated site of memory for the nation’s and humanity’s collectively shared heritage of catastrophe. The A-Bomb Dome was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List on December 7, 1996.
The yellow building on the left side (above photo) is the Rest House of Hiroshima Peace Park. It is another atomic bombed building in the park. On August 6, 1945, when the bomb exploded, the roof was crushed, the interior destroyed, and everything consumable burned except in the basement.
“The monument in the center depicts ‘8:15’, the time the A-bomb was dropped toward the hypocenter. Around it lie A-bombed roof tiles and other objects unearthed from the Hall”
The Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims was built by the national government to keep a record of the victims of the bombing and pray for lasting world peace, as well as to deepen international understanding of the horrors of the atomic bombing and pass down the memoirs of the survivors to future generations.
Inscription says: Mourning the lives lost in the atomic bombing, we pledge to convey the truth of this tragedy throughout Japan and the world, pass it on to the future, learn the lessons of history, and build a peaceful world free from nuclear weapons.
We went back to our hotel to check-in and look for dinner. Then we visited again the park to see it at night time, which is by the way, very creepy.
The location of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park was once the city’s busiest downtown commercial and residential district. The park was built on an open field that was created by the explosion.
Today there are a number of memorials and monuments, museums, and lecture halls, which draw over a million visitors annually. The annual 6 August Peace Memorial Ceremony, which is sponsored by the city of Hiroshima, is also held in the park.
The purpose of the Peace Memorial Park is not only to memorialize the victims of the bombing, but also to perpetuate the memory of nuclear horrors and advocate world peace.
Sai is pointing on the word Kapayapaan. It means peace in Tagalog. π And that is our quick visit to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. By the way, Ate Rei requested this tour as she learned this subject in her Civics class. Hope you remember it well Ate Rei. π
Where Did We Go 