Hiroshima

We arrived in Kobe yesterday morning and by early afternoon Sandy and I were traveling on a bullet train with a group to Hiroshima.  Although we spent only 3 hours there we able to see the various memorials and museum remembering August 6, 1945 at 8:15 am when the first atomic bomb was dropped.  The building now designated as the atomic bomb memorial is situated about 300 meters from the center of the explosion.

Atomic bomb Memorial

Photo of city following the explosion

A special memorial has been erected for Sesaki Sadako, a girl who was 2 years old and about a mile away from the center of the blast.  Before her death at age 12 years old she captivated her friends, and later the world, by making origami cranes. An old Japanese story says that if you make 1000 cranes you may make a wish.  She completed only 644 before her death, but her classmates completed the remaining 356 and sought funding for a memorial to be erected in her memory.  Daily origami cranes are delivered to this memorial.

Memorial to Sesaki Sadako

Origami cranes brought to the memorial