Nagasaki, Japan

The first cold weather we have had was today in Nagasaki, it was about 50 and raining.  We took a bus tour that made several stops around the city.  The first was at the sight of the historic Dutch colony that was allowed in Japan as the Dutch East India Company, and also the only Europeans who were allowed to trade with the Japanese at the time. One interesting thing about Nagasaki is that there is a lot of history, but most of it had to be recreated because of the atomic bombing.  The Dutch colony was just a replica of what it looked like back then.  It was really cool to see but also very weird to start off in Japan seeing something so European. Next, we went to the Atomic Bomb Memorial Museum, which was my favorite.  It was incredible. The museum is right outside of location of the hypocenter where the bomb was dropped.  They have a memorial set up there with concentric circles around it to represent the effects of the bomb.  It signifies that the bomb not only affected people nearby but everywhere. Outside of the museum, they have paper cranes everywhere.  Paper cranes are the symbol for peace and happiness in Japan.  There was a story told about a little girl who was 10 when the bomb hit, and she was later diagnosed with leukemia. The hospital where she stayed told her that they would grant her a wish if she made over 1000 paper cranes.  Her wish was to be able to run again and while in the hospital she made all of her paper cranes.  She died before they could grant her wish, but all of the kids in the schools continued making the paper cranes in memory of her and of peace in Japan, and they still share them with the memorial to this day.  Inside the museum were so many remains and stories of people affected by the bomb.  Like so many other things that I have experienced on this trip, I didn’t realize how real it was until I saw it all.  These people’s lives and the city were changed forever after the bombing.  Like I said before, nothing in the city is history because it was all rebuilt after the bomb, there was nothing left. Since the bombing, Japan focuses very much on peace.  Our next stop was the statue of the warrior of peace (which is in the picture), and fountain of peace. They both represent the people who died and who were affected by the bomb.  I think what was made so real to me more than anything else, was how many people were not killed immediately from the bombing but who were affected later.  Our meal today, was a traditional Japanese lunch.  I’m sure it tasted wonderful, however I chose to stick to the only recognizable food on my plate, which was rice.  One food you know that will taste the same everywhere! Don’t worry I got made fun of for not trying it, so all of you who are wishing you could tell me what a mistake I made, it’s been taken care of for you (and let me remind you that I did try crocodile a few blogs back).  Next stop South Korea, I will let you know if the rice tastes the same there too!