So today we had a very short time to see around Hiroshima, therefore together with 4 other members of the base team here (Horacio, Juanita, Renata and Gerard) we went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum which is a Museum dedicated to the Atomic Bomb that was dropped on the city.
This is going to sound strange but I was a bit disappointed with it. Or rather, I think I was expecting to come away from the museum totally devastated by what I saw and, yes, there are a few pictures of half-dead people whose bodies have been burnt beyond recognition, but somehow the impact of those images was sterilised in that environment and the full horror of what I was seeing didn’t hit me. I guess it’s a problem in any kind of museum. Earlier this year I visited Auschwitz in Poland and was horrified by what I saw there in the former concentration camps, yet I was more affected by the DVD that we watched in the bus on the way which showed video images of the survivors and doctors performing post mortem examinations of the corpses.
I can’t help feeling the museum needs a good film to go with it that really pulls you emotionally; the way Schindler’s List brought home some of the horror of the Nazi camps.
Anyway, apart from that Makiko told me two important pieces of information today that hardly anyone knows or talks about which I pass on here:
- After the US bombed the city of Hiroshima they sent their troops in 2 days later and sealed off the city to the outside world. This meant that no doctors or medical supplies were allowed in for ONE MONTH while the scientists worked on gathering the results of their testing. Therefore literally thousands of people died needlessly after the bombing due to the inability of the Japanese to treat the people injured and sick from the radiation.
- It is reported that over 300,000 people died during the bombing, yet it is a little known fact that around half of those people were not, in fact, Japanese yet Korean and Chinese slave labourers shipped in to work in Japanese factories to feed the military machine with weapons and everything else required to support the military. Japan has given some compensation to South Korea after years of denial but nothing to North Korea.
Anyway, that was what I learnt today and I’m very glad I went to the Museum, if for no other reason than to see some of the paper cranes that Sadako Sasaki (see below) made while she was in hospital suffering with leukaemia which lead to such a strong symbol for the anti-nuclear movement to be created.
So, we left Hiroshima in a somewhat chaotic manner as we had taken too long in the Museum and when we got back to the hotel the rest of the team were slightly panicking that we’d miss the train, but there was no problem. This time we got there with 8 minutes to spare; a 300% improvement on yesterday. J
After a train trip to Kyoto during which I almost lost my luggage – we changed trains and I forget to take my bag off when we left the train – and also during which Renata lost her beloved “pace” flag, we made it still all together to Kyoto. It’s a very nice city where the famous Kyoto Climate Change agreement was signed many years ago. There’s a tower over 100m tall in the centre with fantastic views of the city.
Today, we were taking part in a demonstration against war, poverty and discrimination during which we participated and were treated like heroes on our arrival as the crowd started to spontaneously applaud.
We met a great guy called Frank Chase, a former US soldier and Vietnam veteran and now peace-campaigner who lives in Kobe with his Japanese wife. He’s a friend of Makiko and was the first endorser of the WM in Japan. He’d travelled especially to be with us for the day. It was great to have him with us as he informed us about all the issues in Japan; US military bases and the attempts by the former government to remove article 9 of the constitution which enshrines the renunciation of war as a means to resolve conflicts, something about which the new government is very ambivalent. It was so helpful to get the local context and see how to position ourselves when we will be called upon to speak at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs tomorrow in Tokyo.
Rafa was invited to speak to the crowd and the whole base team went up and introduced themselves also. The welcome we received once more was very touching and they were genuinely enthusiastic and proud that we were with them.
We were invited to go to the head of the March, just behind the leading banner, and with our own banners in hand we started to march through the gorgeous Japanese park which houses a very old Shinto Temple among other attractions.
As we have come to expect in Japan, everything was very well organised and although the chanting was a bit strange to our ear (if the slogans rhymed we didn’t hear it) the March was perfectly peaceful, and it felt that there must have been about 1000 people in it by the end. The images were also very good during a clear evening in downtown Kyoto. I’d be surprised if we’re not in the papers again in the morning.
Later on we were taken to eat by Atsushi Fujioka, a professor of Economics and Peace Studies in Kyoto who is coincidentally a friend of Jan Tamas and the Czech Humanists that many of us on the base team know extremely well. They had met in a conference in Prague last year against the US Missile Defence system. The Professor brought along 3 young women who know him through peace activities and we ended up speaking to them about the idea of launching World without Wars in Japan, something that would be brilliant if we can do it as one of the important points of the March is that we finish on the 2nd of January having opened up lots of new possibilities to involve more activists around the world in what we do.
Anyway, I haven’t got anything more emotional for you all today, but after yesterday it will take something big to surpass it.
Thank you all so much for the kind messages that you have sent about my blog entries. It really drives me on to keep writing (even though again I’m not getting to bed before 2 am!)
So, I hope you like the images below. With a big hug to all,
Tony x
P.S. You’ll all be delighted to know that Renata was able to buy a replacement “PACE” flag this afternoon. She was quite distressed to have lost it earlier. No one ever loved a flag more than she did…
-
- Artist’s impression of Hiroshima before the bomb
-
- Artist’s impression of Hiroshima after the bomb
-
- Paper cranes folded by Sadako Sasaki before she died
-
- Japanese pagoda photographed from the train
-
- The train to Kyoto
-
- The Base Team in the crowd of Kyoto activists
-
- WM base team in the crowd in Kyoto
-
- WM Base Team presented to the friends in Kyoto
-
- Alvaro is nearly never in the pictures – until today that is…
-
- The Base Team responds to the reception from the crowd.
-
- Our two new potential world without wars activists!
-
- Rafa with the new WM fan club in Kyoto!
-
- Rafa with more WM fans.
-
- Japanese banners in the demonstration
-
- Demonstration against war, poverty and discrimination in Kyoto
-
- Probably Renata’s new flag….
-
- This image proves the March was definitely in Japan
-
- With Makiko who is very camera-shy!
Loading ...
Dear Friends,
“You are the chosen ones”, as Gandhi’s grand-daughter said at Delhi.
All this that you are doing for all of us, for the whole world, is wonderful, is great…….I don’t have the right/apt word to describe this. One has reverence for you.
What you are doing is atleast among the best selfless action that one can do for the whole world.
We are all with you, in our humble ways, wishing you maximum comfort in the most un-comfortable routine that you are having, traveling traveling and traveling every day to different countries, different cultures, different time-zones, different seasons, different languages, different landscape.
You all are really lucky ones who could do all this and from that point of view I envy you.
We are very happy to be part of this journey with you, we know we are with you at all times, at all places (though not physically).
While at Delhi and Amritsar, we could spend those 3 days with you and it remains as a life-time experience of the moments that were part of this great journey, the WORLD MARCH FOR PEACE AND NON-VIOLENCE.
We wish you the best and through your journey, the best will come to the whole world in the form of Peace and Non-violence.
With strong hugs,
Sudhir.
[Translate]
Hi I am Zoltan son of Krisztina.I like the world march very much especially the non-violence sign. How does it feel like to help Raphael with the world march? Lovely cranes that Sadako made.Lots of regards from Zoltan.
Hello Tony and Everyone!
It is really so good to read about your collective adventures with the world march.We take time every evening with Zoltan, who is 8 years old,who wrote the message above to read to fresh blog every day. We find very touching and it helps us to be part of your exiting and very useful journey. Pupils from Irish Schools are also following your blog and making non-violence and peace signs. Meanwhile we are beginning to form our World without Wars and Violence grass-root group in Ireland. We wish you a safe journey and big hug to all from Krisztina and Family and Friends of the World March
[Translate]
Re: “Japanese pagoda photographed from the train”, try Japanese castle, looks like Himeji Castle…
You are all in our daily thoughts, it’s difficult to sleep, this is a knockout project with a knock on effect, which also knocks out…
Tony and Mila in Hong KOng
[Translate]
Great pix, Great people, Great marchers, Great March, Greatest Advocacy, to you Great men and women, PEACE, FORCE & JOY! We thank you.
Boy and Philippine Team
[Translate]
This is all so beautiful and so joyful! Best wishes from Ellen in Toronto
[Translate]
Saludos desde Venezuela, muchas gracias por sus palabras, a diario ingreso a la página esperando ver como les ha ido, a donde han estado y las distintas actividades con los que los reciben en casa país. Es maravilloso, conocer esos detalles, que van desde su cansancio, el apuro, las comidas, y hasta la pérdida de una preciada bandera (por favor diganle a Renata que me alegro consiguiera otra nueva, me imagino cuan importante es para ella) además me divierto mucho, los hace ver más reales, y no un monton de gente intentando caminar por el mundo sólo para salir en los medios de comunicacion.
De verdad, es para mí un gran orgullo saber que existen personas como ustedes que estan dedicando dias de su vida para llevar este mensaje alrededor del planeta.
Saludos a todos éxitos, y por favor continuen hasta el final!!!
[Translate]
English/Spanish
Makiko wrote to me today to add the following information to this story about the Hiroshima museum which I think is important.
“I read your article on Oct.18 writing, and some thoughts came up.
As for your disappointment, I had mine as well this August. But imagine, In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, thousands of bodies, clothes, shoes, and so on, were vapourised instantly, and tens of thousands of other such items were later burned or buried in order for survivors or arriving US troops to avoid direct radioactive contamination by them, some must have also been brought back to the US in some safe containers for study by US scientists.
So, I’ve just remembered the fact that when Hiroshima and Nagasaki opened their museums there were very few things to exhibit which reminded people of the influence of the bombs. Some horrible photos of burned survivors were withdrawn by the bereaved families, after 50 years’ exhibition with the comment that they wanted to set their victimized family members free from that kind of responsibility to display their tragic photos for eternity after death. Difficult problems. Some nationalists tend to take advantage of bereaved families.”
****
Hoy me escribió Makiko agregando la siguiente información a esta historia sobre el museo de Hiroshima, que considero importante.
“Leí tu artículo del 18 de octubre y se pensé en algunas cosas.
En cuanto a tu desilusión, yo también la sufrí en agosto pasado. Pero imagínate. En Hiroshima y Nagasaki, miles de cuerpos, ropas, zapatos y demás, se vaporizaron instantáneamente, y decenas de miles de esos artículos fueron quemados o enterrados para evitar la contaminación radiactiva de los sobrevivientes o de las tropas norteamericanas que llegaban; probablemente algunos fueron llevados de vuelta a los Estados Unidos en recipientes seguros para que los científicos estadounidenses los estudiaran.
Entonces, recién recordé que cuando Hiroshima y Nagasaki abrieron sus muesos, había pocas cosas para exhibir que recordaran a la gente el efecto de las bombas. Algunas fotos terribles de sobrevivientes quemados fueron retiradas por sus familias, después de que se estuvieron expuestas durante 50 años, diciendo que querían liberar a los familiares de las víctimas de cualquier tipo de responsabilidad por que se siguieran mostrando sus trágicas fotos eternamente después de su muerte. Problemas difíciles. Algunos nacionalistas tienden a aprovecharse de las familias dolientes”.
[Translate]