Visiting the ghost of the atomic bomb – Hiroshima, Japan
okyo’s the primary draw for most visitors to Japan, along with Kyoto, Osaka, and Okinawa. But why do we go to Hiroshima, or Nagasaki? They’re not on-the-way from Tokyo to Kyoto – they’re hours out of the way, even on the bullet train.
You won’t be able to photograph historic buildings like in Kyoto – because they don’t exist. The city of was destroyed in a matter of seconds after the bomb was dropped. Nor will you find the hidden warrens of nightlife, over-the-top vibrancy of Tokyo, or the shopping frenzy of Osaka.
We’re drawn to Hiroshima because of the bomb. The sheer fascination, dread, terrible destruction of it. Something horrible happened here just 70 years ago – we want to come to bear witness. The initial explosion demolished 90% of the city, killing 80,000 people instantly. The death toll would reach 140,000 by the end of 1945 as tens of thousands more would slowly die of radiation in the days, weeks, and months to come.
Why Hiroshima?
Humans are curious, it’s one of our defining characteristics. You can’t stand at the bottom of a hill and not wonder what’s on the other side. There’s also a slightly grotesquely side to this curiosity; we slow down to witness car crashes, as schoolkids we circle around to watch a fight, we pay to watch movies about serial killers, murderers, and monsters – read end-of-the-world fiction and impatiently wait for the zombie apocalypse. In our lifetime we consume a tremendous amount of extreme violence, gore and brutality through TV, games, and movies – while watching people making love is scandalous…
I arrived in the city wondering how the people of Hiroshima feel about the flood of tourists disembarking from trains daily to take photographs and selfies of the hypocenter and the skeletal remains of the Atomic Dome. Visiting the ‘Peace’ museum to witness the distressing photos of the aftermath. Strangely, from what I read and witnessed – they mostly welcome it. They appear to want the world to come and see what happened to them, then never forget.
After a day at the Hiroshima Peace Museum
Restaurant, street view
Hiding in the shrubbery
Deep inside the Peace Museum there’s a long curved wall covered by floor to ceiling photographic panorama of Hiroshima after the bomb. The black and white cityscape is both shocking and enthralling. Or looking at the shadows of people burnt into the steps they were sitting on moments before they were incinerated.
It’s horrific, mesmerizing, ultimately sad.
As I was leaving the museum I overheard two older western men say ‘well, they started it‘… and I guess that’s true. Although the city was the site of a large military headquarters the bomb didn’t primarily kill soldiers and generals, it killed – everyone in a ‘blinding flash followed by a deafening boom‘ at 8:15, am – little girls and boys headed for school, sisters, mothers, brothers, fathers walking or biking to the factories to help the war effort, the elderly, and the history of an entire city. It killed in the most horrific manner. People jumped into the river to cool their burning bodies, the river soon became a sea of the dead. People begging for water to quench the unquenchable thirst, skin hanging off in flaps, the burns, blindness and blisters. Then all the sickness that followed. A black rain began to fall on Hiroshima within 45 minutes of the explosion, a mixture of smoke, ash and nuclear fallout. The people drank it, got drenched in it, and it rained well into the evening.
The war in the pacific was particularly brutal, on all sides.The argument that dropping the bombs could save millions of soldiers lives that would be lost in a ground invasion, or a prolonged war. I don’t know. You look back and wonder if they couldn’t have just displayed the bomb, or detonated it someplace remote as a demonstration and possible deterrent. Initiating horrors to prevent other horrors? But as a human, you can’t help but feel the humanity of what happened here, and at every war site in Japan -for both the Japanese and Americans.
It wasn’t just Hiroshima or Nagasaki either, the nightly firebomb raids took place over 67 Japanese cities dropping 157,000 tons of explosives and killing over 300,000 more humans. Yet somehow Hiroshima crystallizes this period of devastation and ruination.
Mirror image
Walking through Hiroshima, street photography
Peace cranes
Hiroshima oranges
Inside the Orizuru Tower
Hypocenter
What to see
Yes, the city offers plenty to see for travelers. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, the Memorial Cenotaph, Flame of Peace, the ‘Atom Bomb Dome,’ a children’s sculpture garden or ‘Peace Monument’, and of course the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. There’s also Hiroshima castle and even a zoo. A good place to start is the overpriced entrance to the Hiroshima Orizuru Tower which overlooks the dome and most of the city from a top floor vista. Inclusive with your ticket is a workshop where you can make your own origami paper crane you can add to the wall.
Atom Bomb Dome
At first, I felt guilty coming here, (if not for the atomic bomb – how many of us would make the trip?) When asked what cities I was visiting – I’d neatly skip over Hiroshima. But once you arrive and experience it, spend time in the museum – you learn. I think what you learn in person, witnessing it with your own eyes is more than you could ever get from a documentary, book, or film. What you learn is worth the trip and there’s no reason to shy away from it. You’re coming to one of the only two cities to be destroyed with an atomic bomb – you come with that same magnetized fascination that encourages you to slow your car to see the wreck, but you leave subtly different. This is a city that lost it’s entire history a large portion of its lineage and is now invested in folding bits of colored paper into cranes to promote peace, to help the rest of the world perhaps have more empathy.
Looking over the city (as with most cities in Japan that were mercilessly firebombed) you can’t help imagining what they might look like today if there was no war, and at all of what Japan lost for the future. At the power we give our governments, the damage they can inflict with agendas that most people care little about – until the propaganda machine rolls into motion.
Walking around the city it sometimes feels like the atom bomb still hangs over Hiroshima, you can almost sense it – suspended. If the air rippled just a little bit you could find yourself back in 1945 witnessing the horror firsthand.
Photographic mural wall
Child that died, his parents buried him on his favorite trike
Japan visa
At the time of this writing (Oct 2019) Filipinos still need a visa to visit Japan. However, the process is straight forward if you gather up all your documentation. The visa arrived in a matter of days and I had no difficulties securing mine. You can get further tips in my article detailing my experience getting my first Japanese visa.
A few quirks you should be aware of:
- You don’t have to show health insurance (like you do for Schengen visa)
- You’ll probably need to secure an updated original Birth Certificate (post 2018), Japan no longer accepts anything other than the newer BC which is tied into an electronic database. However, you can secure it (or multiple copies) in a single day usually.
- I used a travel agent and it made the whole process seamless.
Currently, the Philippines still has an awfully low passport strength (our rating is only 74). Beneath some war-torn African countries… Taiwan has recently abolished the requirement for Filipinos to get a visa, and it’s been great! So I hope borders continue to open and let Filipinos experience different cultures and get in on the fun.
Portrait
My hotel recommendation
Hiroshima is pretty compact, it’s always good if you can stay close enough to walk (or a short taxi ride) from the main train station and still walk to the Peace Park and Museum. I booked a central stay at Nest Hotel Hiroshima Hatchobori – which turned out to be a cute little hotel with a beautiful but understated entrance, small but very comfortable rooms with a good selection of bespoke shampoos and conditioners and a BATHTUB (I love bubblebaths)! After the expense of Japan I was saving some money with this hotel at only USD 65 a night 3,300 PHP.. However, if you want a little more luxury in Japan this is a great place to indulge as prices for even 4 or 5 star hotels are affordable…
If I’m not using Airbnb I use Booking.com because you can reserve the room in advance, cancel easily if plans change (and mine always seem to) and then delay the pain of paying until you’re at the hotel.
Tips
If you’ve made it to Japan, find time to at least visit Kyoto and Hiroshima – it’s worth it.
Street scene, Hiroshima
