Hiroshima Part 2 – 6th of August

Today marks the 73rd anniversary for the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

It’s essentially the Anzac Day for Hiroshima.

In the morning, they have a ceremony to remember the people lost, which is in time with the bomb drop at 8:15am in 1945 – corresponds with the Anzac Day Dawn Service.

I went to this but it was so hot and there were only a few viewing points I watched on a TV screen they set up around the outer rim.

People were a bit loud so it took a bit away from the what-should-be sombre mood. But at least I saw the Prime Minister at the time in the flesh (Shinzo Abe – seems not too well liked).

After the ceremony, I went straight into the only open part of the museum as the main part was closed for renovation.

These are the points I wanted to research / write about.

1. 8:15am on 6 August 1945 – Pumpkin bombs for practice. “Pumpkin Bomb” was a type of conventional aerial bomb that was designed to test the ballistic and handling characteristics of the “Fat Man.” Pumpkin bombs were loaded on B-29 Superfortress bombers and dropped on targets to simulate nuclear bombings.
2. 26 July 1945 – Potsdam Declaration: Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender was a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II. Although I think they were actually hoping this wasn’t signed so they could test these monsters
   1. Justify cost to Americans
3. Fireball 7700 degrees Celsius – which is actually hotter than the surface temperature of the sun – according to Planetsforkids.
4. Deuterium in nuclear fusion

It puts you in a pretty bad mood, the museum. But I don’t feel guilty, I’ll leave that to the Americans. I just hope we can learn from all this useless loss… Like imagine if a bomb was dropped right now where you are. It’s not like a video game where it goes slow-mo or you respawn after the timer runs out.

“I thought of joining the army, I mean, it’s basically like fps, but with better graphics! But what happens if I get lag out there? I’m dead! And I haven’t heard of any respawn points in RL” – FPS Doug

 

 

I bummed around Hiroshima city for the next 12 hours until the Lantern Ceremony / Festival was good (when it’s dark).

You buy a candle boat and write wishes of peace and safety kind of things on it, then light the candle and float it down the river.

 

It’s really really cool and a once a year thing.

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