Hiroshima

Colette learns about the disasterous effects of nuclear warfare, seeing a model of downtown Hiroshima before the bomb was dropped . . .
and after.
5:30 am Tuesday morning, at the train station. We left early and came home late, we got home about 11pm.
Keeping warm! She's chewing on her fingers as new teeth emerge on her lower jaw.

Our friends Rick and Aileena giving us the last two stamps on their rail passes, so we had free travel for one day. We set out for Osaka, home of a beautiful aquarium, many foreign restaurants, and a CostCo. Upon reaching Okayama, a major crossroads, we changed our minds and headed for Hiroshima instead. We had planned a Hiroshima trip earlier this year but it didn't pan out.
It was a lot of fun to ride the trains, since it was both Nicolle and Colette's first time on a train. The trains reminded me of trains/subways/metros in other parts of the world, except that they were immaculately clean, no gum on the floor/chairs, the seats looked as if they had been recently replaced, no matter how old the trains were, no graffiti or trash anywhere; it was amazing.
The countryside looked much like Kagawa where we live. After four trains and about 4 hours of travel we reached Hiroshima station.
We realized after exploring and looking for food that our Japanese bank accounts would not be available for even ATM withdrawal until the 4th of January. When there's a bank holiday here, even the ATMs are closed. In rural Japan everything is done with cash, and the only ATMs which take foreign cards (Visa, etc) are in the post offices, which of course were closed for the holidays. So we had about $40 to last us the day, lucky for us we didn't go to Osaka where we'd have spent that just getting around. Downtown Hiroshima was fairly small and the museums were free or inexpensive so we were able to see all we wanted on foot.
It was very sad to learn about the bombing and its effects. We saw many pictures and read testimonials of those who were there at the time of the bombing. It reminded me of the concentration camp in Europe which we visited back in '97, such a huge loss of life. All the arguments for whether or not the bombing was necessary melt away in the face of so much destruction. The people who died, many of them women and children, had no say in what their government leaders were doing, or others around the world. It seems inhuman to try and justify the bombing of Hiroshima, just like it would be to argue the need for concentration camps.
The victims' flesh flaked and peeled off their bones as they frantically tried to escape the city or find missing loved ones. One girl searched for the body of her mother and only found the bottom half, from the waist down, the top half had been carbonized in the blast. Some tried to help by scooping water into the suffering burn victims mouths, but eventually left to find their own families. One child tried to pick up her mother's bones with chopsticks to remove them from their house a week after the blast, only to have the chopsticks ignite in flames.
It's depressing how peace demonstrators are marginalized in the US and around the world. War is noble and courageous, heroic. Peace is something dirty hippies and draft-dodgers advocate. I don't and won't support any war for as long as I live.