It was wonderful to be back in Japan. Bill had been here for a few days for work in the late 90’s, but I hadn’t been back since we lived here 40 years ago! Coincidentally, our ship was built right across the harbor from where we docked. (It may be hard to read, but the white sign with the blue letters says “Welcome Back Diamond Princess”.)
Although we have been to many places in Japan, this was our first visit to Nagasaki. We chose to do a guided walking tour that began with a ride on the public tram. As we waited for our streetcar, the guide explained that grass is being planted wherever possible to help keep the city cooler in the summer months. This effort is due to the decreased amount of electricity being produced as a result of the shutdown of all the nuclear power plants after last year’s tsunami. The photo below shows the grass growing between and alongside the tram tracks.
The focus of our walk was, understandably, the atomic bomb blast of August 9, 1945. We visited the site of Ground Zero where a monument stands in memory of those killed that day. At the bottom right of the monument, people have left offerings of water because that is what was most needed immediately following the blast.
Next we walked to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, as well as Peace Memorial Park which was full of cherry blossoms and peace-themed sculptures.
On the way to the museum, we had stopped at the One-Legged Torii Gate; then inside the museum we noticed a photo of the way it looked immediately after the bomb.
A display showed what the torii gate originally looked like. The section on the right is what remains standing.
Visiting Nagasaki was a very moving experience for us, and will be remembered as one of the highlights of our trip.
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