Nagasaki: Part 1- The Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Museum

Of all the places that we visited during our trip to the island of Kyushu, my favorite city by far was Nagasaki. Nagasaki has everything you could ever want; mountains, the sea, beautiful parks, streets, and churches, temples and shrines that line the streets, and a mixing of cultures that seems uncommon in Matsumoto. Nagasaki for a long time was the only open port to Dutch and Portuguese merchants in Japan, and there are many fascinating locations and museums that tell the story of how Japan came into contact with Western culture. Most of you know Nagasaki for a different reason though, one that some of us (myself included) are kind of embarrassed about; Nagasaki is one of only two city's to have had a nuclear weapon used to kill fellow human beings.


Before I ever came to Japan, I knew that at some point I wanted to visit Hiroshima or Nagasaki, and bring myself a sort of inner peace. I know that the bombs are nothing that I or my family had a part in doing, but knowing that my country used a bomb that killed over a hundred and fifty-thousand innocent people, has always made me feel a little awkward. I will not go into the "millions would have died if we had invaded Japan scenario", if you want to know the numbers and statistics, ask my twin brother Seth, and I am sure he will be able to tell you. With that being said, I will now start the blog entry for the day.

We arrived in Nagasaki where we met Soojeong's friend Yukiko and her soon to be husband Yoshito. They are both former Shinshu University students, and they were incredibly kind and helpful during our stay in Nagasaki. I can't count the times that Soojeong and I were treated to delicious dinners or given coupons to places we wanted to see. I am very grateful for all that they did, and I hope that someday I will be able to repay the favor somehow. They took us to our hostel the first night and out to dinner. It was a wonderful experience. The hostel that we stayed in was INCREDIBLE for a hostel. It has been rated the number one hostel in all of Japan, and number 3 in Asia. For only 25$ USD/night, it was a place that couldn't be beat.

Our second day in Nagasaki, Soojeong and I decided to visit the Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Museum. The park was very beautiful, and the weather that day was perfect spring weather. Inside the park is a giant statue of a man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagasaki_Peace_Park), paper cranes, and beautiful fountains. It was a very interesting but sad place.

From there we headed to the museum. The museum was full of everything from melted glass bottles, to bent steal and concrete structures, a replica of the "Fat Man" nuclear bomb that was dropped on the city, to videos, paintings, pictures, and other similar sorts of items. I was blown away at the power and devestation of the bomb. Inside the museum there is a segment of a tree-trunk that is probably 8 inches across, and in the center is a piece of ceramic bowl that become lodged there when the bomb went off. To imagine a piece of plate or bowl being forced through 8 inches of wood, is something that I can't really imagine. The museum taught me a lot about the bombing and the events afterwards, but it also showed the world and how many bombs every country is supposedly holding. I think the United States and Russia really need to cut back on their arsenal of nuclear bombs. There is no need to have thousands of nuclear bombs in stock, especially when other countries are limited and told not to possess bombs or face economic sanctions.

After the museum, we went to the park near the epicenter of where the bomb went off. It was a surreal experience having a picnic lunch in a park where a nuclear bomb leveled a city. I still wonder if I ate some lingering radiation with my rice...In the center of the park are the mangled remains of what was once the biggest Catholic church in all of Asia (according to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urakami_Cathedral). That is all for my post today. I will continue with part 2 on another day.