Hiroshima Peace Park Memorial

On Saturday, September 10, 2011, we got up and decided to head off base for the day. We got in the car, and headed north on R188 to Hiroshima. We figured we would visit the Peace Park, and see what else Hiroshima had to offer, other than an airport and baseball. It took a little over an hour to get there, since we took R188, it would have been faster to jump on the Sanyo (highway), but with the tolls, and the exchange rate at 75, we decided it was better to save our $100, and take the back roads. Not a horrible drive, just a lot of stop-lights!

Once we got to Hiro, finding the Peace Park was easy, finding parking was not-we kind of made our own spot, and prayed that we would not be towed, ticketed or booted...luckily, none of that happened!



Entrance to the Peace Park Memorial Museum. The clock on the right shows how many days it has been since the A-bomb was dropped, and how many days since the last nuclear reading was



Bell from Nagasaki



It says, "Mourning the lives lost in the atomic bombing, we pledge to convey the truth of this tragedy throughout Japan and the world, pass it on to the future, learn the lessons of history, and build a peaceful world free fro nuclear weapons"



The fountain monument. If you look closely, the lines on the top, show the time of 8:15 which is the time of the bombing. This fountain provides light for the monument below it. The rubble around the fountain is actual roof tiles that were found during excavation of the monument.

Us in front of the fountain

The bottom of the monument. This smaller fountain is being lit by the larger fountain above.
The pictures on the wall, show what the town looked like after the bombing.
The walls are mosaics of 140,000 tiles...one tile for each person killed in the bombing.

A-bomb dome across the Motoyasu River

Bell of Peace



Close up of the A-bomb dome



View from the back of the dome. The dome still has original rubble on the ground around it.
There are large pieces of concrete and bricks with broken re-bar sticking out.

On our way to the Hiroshima Castle...yep this is a moat that goes around the castle!

Jon and Buddha

Taken from the 10th floor Sky Lounge in Hiroshima
You can see the entire Hiroshima skyline