25th and 26th March
I had heard about Nagasaki in the books but always wanted to go there to at least attempt to understand, or at least know, about the tragedy that happened during the second World War. After having a great time in Fukuoka, it was time for me to go to Nagasaki. I arrived at about 11:00am in the afternoon that day and shortly after I arrived I made my way to the Atomic Bomb Hypocenter.
At Nagasaki, in my opinion, there were less tourists and visitors as opposed to Hiroshima. Nevertheless, the impact that the place had on me was equally substantial. At the Hypocenter lied a long piller like brick structure that had been there since the time the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. There were people at the park enjoying the Sakura blossoms – I did the same trenched in deep sorrow. On the side of the pillar was a river and on the banks of the river was a glass panel where you could see the actual debris from the bombing, preserved in time so as to remind of the past. It looked like apocalypse.
Then I went into the Peace Museum where I saw a part of the horror that happened on that day, I saw testimonials of victims, pictures of people burnt from radiation, and bare bones fused in glass from the heat of the bomb. I found it strange why schools do not teach these things about atom bombs. I would rather appreciate the “human”, the “real” aspects of the bomb rather than a political justification. The Nagasaki Museum Peace Memorial Hall was nearby and I went there to mourn the dead and leave a message in the message bank to anyone who will visit there. Or at least, my understanding was to have my forth coming generations go there and read what I had left behind.
The Peace Park was close and there were many statues donated by artists, governments and institutions alike in the memory of the horrible incident. One of my favorite statues was the Peace Statue, of a man sitting with one foot folded and one hand pointing up in the air.
Since I loved the place so much, I stayed at in Internet café that day and the next day I went around the historical area where I saw the Shinchi Chinatown, the Hollander Slope, Confucian Shrine Koshi-Byo, Oura Catholic Church, Glover Garden (previous private garden of a Dutch magnate), Former Hongkong & Shangai Bank, hiked up a random mountain where there was random shrine, rested at the Seaside Park and tried some Chammpon at the Dejima Wharf and th Ohato Feree terminal.