Hiroshima: Day 1

I don't have long to post, the internet costs money here. It's not bad, 100 yen for 30 minutes, so I thought it'd be worth it to let everyone know I'm okay.

So, I'm really good.

The train ride was fine, I got to help teach another girl who didn't have tickets yet also how to navigate the Shinkansen. We got off at Hiroshima and I began to hang out with a group of girls, two of them good friends, the other two aqqantences. I was a bit annoyed, they were being slow, so I used the excuse that I had to find an ATM to escape. I walked my own path (ended up beating them too) to the Atomic Bomb Dome. It's a really powerful place, how could it not be?

But I'm going to skip right to the main event due to time.

The talk was, really, just, amazing. I'm going to try to retell this woman's story as best I can in 20 minutes:

She was 12 when the bomb dropped. Japan had begun taking children out of schools and "mobalizing" them to perform labor for the war. They were taught that the Americans may invade, and practiced with sticks to fight off the possible invasion of soldiers.

On August 6th she was out working 1.5KM from the hypocenter of the bomb. She said everyone within a 1KM radius died almost instantly. Her father was also saved because he was out selling sweet potatos in a market far from the Hypocenter, she said he later died of Cancer and radiation poisoning. She saw the planes fly in and asked her friend why they were there, they always bombed at night. Then she saw something falling from the sky shining, she said there were no clouds on that day, and she remembered every detail perfectly.

She dropped to the ground instinctually right before the bomb exploded. It was noise and chaos all at once. When she stood up she said everything was just gone, she didn't know what was happening. The skin on her arms and face had been badly burned and peeled immediately, clinging and dangling off her body. She called and called out to her friend but she couldn't find her, there wasn't any answer.

She began walking through the remains, the whole city was glowing red with fire and everyone was walking around in a daze. Eventually in pain she threw herself into a river looking for relief and found her friend. She said they started sobbing, she told her friend to stop, because she was trying very hard to find her family.

Her and her friend walked together, but eventually her friend collapsed and couldn't go any further. She said that if she walked faster, maybe when she did find help they could've gone and saved her friend, she still thinks of that.

She eventually found her mother, but her mother had died in a crushed and burning building, leaving just her and her father.

She said rebuilding after that was nearly impossible. Many Japanese shunned the survivors from normal society, fearing radiation poisioning. She said she couldn't find employment or a husband because of her scars and fear of infertility due to radiation, when all she wanted was children and a family like a normal person.

She said that the survivors bonded by their suffering, and formed their own mini-society, even still to this day in many ways.

She said that many survivors hate Americans, and America. But she said that she does not, and that the more she gives talk the more she sees the sincerity and compassion in Americans and tells others not to hate Americans. She said she does not blame our generation for decisions of the past.

There was a lot more to the talk, but it was really, once in a lifetime. I knew all these things, but to hear it first-hand, hear this woman's pain her trials, it's hard to explain... but I know I'm glad I came.

Tomorrow we're going to Miyajima to see the floating Torii and others, it's going to be an early morning but that's good, fit in the most I can. Today I did a lot too, I'll write about it later.

I love you all, my Hostel is nice, I'm safe, and all is well, I need to go now but I love you all and I'll write and post pictures tomorrow when I get home.