Jasmin Wooten: Reliving The Haunting Hiroshima Peace Memorial

In “A Perspective on the War Crimes,” Shigetoshi Iwamatsu argues that the tragedies at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were unparalleled war crimes and unnecessary acts of cruelty. He advocates the elimination of nuclear arms and opposes nuclear energy sources. The argument for defining the use of the atomic bombs as “without parallel in world history” is largely Iwamatsu’s belief that they were an unneeded extreme, likely motivated by racism.

‘Hiroshima is not merely a documentary, Hersey manages to inject into the narrative both compassion and awareness of the ultimate triumph of humanity.’ Discuss Hiroshima from this perspective.

"Today Hiroshima has been revived," the prime minister said, "and has become a city of culture and prosperity. Seventy years on I want to re-emphasize the necessity of world peace."

In Hiroshima Dr. Fujii learned that that by helping others and not just himself he could better the community of hiroshima

Hiroshima shares the personal stories of six people who survive the massive blast delivered by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. Before the bomb is dropped, each individual has a life that is very different from the other survivors’ lifestyles. But after the bomb, they all have something in common: they have survived one of the most devastating bombings in history and their lives will never be the same. Although they do not realize it at first because of the immense amount of shock and pain they endure, the bomb makes each of them a stronger and more humble person, and many of them dedicate the rest of their lives to serving others.

‘The Atomic Bomb; a bomb which derives its destructive power from the rapid release of nuclear energy by fission of heavy atomic nuclei, causing damage through heat, blast, and radioactivity’. On August 6 1945, at 8:15 am local time, the city of Hiroshima in Japan, home to 350 000 people, became the first victim of the destructive war weapon. As of this vicious and devastating day, world history was changed forever. The long and short-term significance of this event shaped the way in which people then and today, live. Without this bomb, Japan would not have faced the inhumane murder of thousands upon thousands of its children, women and men, and the possible start of the Cold War between powers in the “Western Bloc” (the United States, and its allies) and powers in the “Eastern Bloc” (the Soviet Union and its allies in the Warsaw Pact). However, the bomb also initiated the advancement of medical science, and the end of World War II, with Japan surrendering. Regardless of whether the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in Japan had more negatives or positives, all historians can agree that it changed the path of the world’s history forever, and life on Earth would never be the same again.

Growing up, we fall down and get hurt, but after all that is done, we brush off our pants and go again until we succeed. We grow from our mistakes so that we can’t make them a second time so that we can grow together in unity.

I spent a few of my engagement hours spending time with the students from the Digital Hollywood University. I learned quite a lot while engaging with them, discussing all sorts of things from generic cultural and religious rituals done in Japan and education to the Yakuza and evolutionary history. What I most enjoyed from this experience was the level of understanding; the understanding of intercultural differences between me and the students. We didn’t go over a lot of expressions, but I learned several things that are commonly done in Japan. For instance, I learned that people are always busy and they like to keep to themselves and I learned how to make authentic teriyaki salmon with udon noodles which I practiced cooking over thanksgiving break.

Hiroshima was the city in Japan that the United States dropped the atomic bomb on. The decision to drop the bomb was made by Harry S. Truman, who said that dropping the bomb was strictly military strategy. The bomb was created by Cynthia C. Kelly, who is considered the “Father of the Atomic Bomb”. He was ordered to create this bomb before Germany could so the United States would have “one leg” ahead of other countries. Truman tried to get Japan to surrender, but whenever they wouldn’t he decided to drop the bomb without warning Hiroshima that it was coming. A move that would change history for the worst.

Summers in Hiroshima were suffocating and on the morning of August 6th 1945 the air was sticky and close. The city had gone through months of air raids that were slowly beginning to flatten it. However, after 08:00 on that truly ordinary day the thought of life as people knew it was obliterated.

Learning from one’s past to develop communities with the constant goal of a bright future, like the people of Hiroshima, pushes us to grow our community and recover overall. The people of Hiroshima followed

Memorial statues and the Atomic bomb Dome are in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. The Dome shall remind you of the tragedy of war and the importance of peace. A traveler says every visitor to Hiroshima should spend some time in this park. The whole place is beautiful, but the atmosphere is unavoidably sombre and it will have an incredible impact.

An average sized person by my own society’s standards, I have developed over the last few days, a sudden complex: I feel gargantuan in size as I stand a head above the throngs of people I am swarmed by, while attempting to make my way through the crosswalk. Rarely one prone to anxiety, it is difficult not to become overwhelmed; never have I seen so many people in one place. Tokyo after all, boasts nearly half the population that Canada does in its entirety. Feeling the familiar wave of nausea that had accompanied me since landing, I signal to my friend Yasuyo, my need to stop. It feels as though the world itself is tilting and that gravity has ceased to exist, and as the earth continues to shift under my feet, I start to believe that in a moment I will topple off its surface. I thought jet lag simply equated tiredness. I lean against a building in an attempt to steady myself. My fear of humiliating myself and my company is slowly starting to subside as the wave passes. What takes its place is a feeling so profound it too, becomes physical. I look up to the sky and although it is mid day I can see the half moon. I wonder if any of my friends back home happened to be gazing at the same moon in that very moment. It is then that the sweeping realization came over me; I had succeeded in making a small but victorious step towards fulfilling my dream of traversing the globe.

Though Hiroshima's bombing was a terrible disaster that should never be repeated, it undoubtedly brought the Japanese community together. The terror was undeniable, yet through the destruction people threw themselves into the fires, for others sake. Through pain and fear, humans still worry for others. It is only in faith, after calamity we yearn for fulfillment and tranquility, so we make it so. The acknowledgement of others pain and suffering and developing empathy and sympathy for them, having the strength to give up your desires for a moment, having pride for yourself and others are qualities of humans that compel them to help others even if there is nothing to gain.

Why do we come to this place, to Hiroshima? We come to ponder a terrible force unleashed in a not-so-distant past. We come to mourn the dead, including over 100,000 Japanese men, women and children, thousands of Koreans, a dozen Americans held prisoner.