August 6, 1945 8:15 AM a United States Army B-29 bomber the Enola Gay flew over Hiroshima Japan dropping the first atomic bomb ever to be used as an instrument of war on a city. The proprieties in reference to the use of that weapon will discuss in a possible subsequent video to be posted at a later date.
This video is about my impressions of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park we visited on a Friday, May 13, 2011. We left Osaka, Japan by bullet train for Hiroshima. From the train station in Hiroshima we boarded a trolley to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Upon disembarking the trolley I noticed the name of the trolley stop written in both Japanese and English reading, “Atomic Bomb Dome.” The English due to English being a universal second language and this being a tourist attraction.
While taking a video / photograph of the sign a group of Japanese school children behaved as children do the world over, having a good time enjoying life and the beauty of the day. When entering the Memorial Park the first structure is the hollowed out dome building, the wreckage left in the path of the bomb, thus the name of the trolley stop “Atomic Bomb Dome.”
This Memorial Park is the site known as the epicenter of the bomb’s explosion. The grounds must cover a few acres and well-manicured (as the rest of Japan appeared to me both in the country side and in the cities). The Park was growing in the number of children arriving by train, trolley, and buses. The school children of varying ages walked the grounds with quiet reverence. Much like a child would behave while walking through a cathedral. This Park to me gave the impression of being an open-air cathedral to these respectful school children.
The museum as part of the park illustrated the events of August 6, 1945, in writing, photographs, dioramas, and artifacts. The theme permeating throughout was not hate, anger, or revenge, but one of peace and understanding the horror of that never to be forgotten day.
The center of the Park, a gathering place is a saddle shaped concrete cenotaph looming over a concrete box housing the names of over 220,000 who died from that bomb. All day long the students and adults passed in front, many laying flowers, and wreaths accompanied by the ceremonial and respectful bow.
As an American whose sixteen uncles and father all served in the United States military during World War Two, with my father in the United States Marine Corps, the Pacific Theater of the war, and the impact of walking the grounds on this Peace Memorial Park along with my observations have engrained in me an everlasting impression of profound significance.
The horror of August 6, 1945 cannot be matched with any date in previous history and yet sixty-six years later look at the relationship between the United States and Japan can only be closer if both were one nation. Japan a state? The United States a prefecture? Now contrast this relationship with other nations who till this date express hate towards Japan for events in the first half of the last century. It is a pity they cannot extinguish that hate and enjoy the mutually trustful relationship as enjoyed between Japan and the USA.
Two videos of military bands taken in Japan by YouTuber xizhi303 used with his permission. First video of an Honor Guard, 302nd MP Company and Eastern Army Band. Second video of joint military band of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force and the United States Seventh Fleet .
Link to “xizhi303” channel with many enjoyable and entertaining videos:
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