from the other side

Seeing the destruction through a photograph or TV causes a barrier that removes me from the reality of devestation. It was incredibly eerie walking into the a-bomb preserved section of the school and hearing the children laughing and screaming outside in the schoolyard. Honkawa Elementary School holds the Peace Museum, located in the middle of the still functioning school. The background noise of the kids who showed up for another normal day at school broke my heart as I imagined the same sounds coming from the 400 children who died that morning in the same spot.

Preserved part of the elementary school turned into a museum.

On our way to the museum

Melted glass from the elementary school

We could all touch artifacts from the school, elsewhere this is all behind class in museums.

Hiroshima after the bomb.  Located in the basement of the closest elementary school to epicenter of the bomb.

melted bottles

Recreation in the museum

Watch stopped exactly at 8:15 on August 6, 1945

A-bomb survivor

I initially felt very awkward being an American in Hiroshima, however, she expressed such gratitude for us coming because it means we care about what happened here. Because she lived in the mountains, she didn't feel much of the physical effects of the bomb, but she deals with the memories of everyone who fled to the first aid station by her house. She was only eight when she went around giving water to those who had burning mouths from the explosion.