Nagasaki

I woke up at the youth hostel in Kumamoto and took the train to Nagasaki by way of Tosu. Nagasaki, like Hiroshima has a big Peace Park. However, I headed straight for the museum.

The museum was very effective at conveying the message that nuclear weapons don't have a place in a modern, humane society. I didn't take any photos, so everything you see here is from the pamphlet.

It starts out with a room about what Nagasaki was like before the bomb. A thriving city, Japan's biggest connection to the West, Holland and Portugul had an active presence. It was the most Christian part of Japan at the time. Everyone was centered on winning the war (e.g. Japan winning the war).

Then, you go into a room about the explosion itself. They have a topographical model of Nagasaki (at right) with a light show that shines on it, showing you the magnitude and speed of the fires that resulted. There are some other exhibits about the explosion itself.

Next, you go into a room full of burned and destroyed objects. There are also some photos of people, dead and alive, who were victims of the blast. All of this is to give you a feel for what it might have been like to be in the middle of it.

Next, you see quite a few exhibits about the political side. They have quotes of prominent Americans, including senior military sources, saying that the use of the bomb was unnecessary. There are many statistics about the current nuclear arsenals of the world. The United States and Russia both have around 1000 nuclear bombs each. There is an excellent video about current nuclear tests.

At right, you see a picture of the blast taken from a US bomber.

The uniform of a worker who was exposed to the blast about 3/4 of a mile from the center of the blast. It is torn from all of the broken glass and other material that was moving around him. The worker was working at the Mitsubishi Nagasaki Steel Works.

At night, I stayed at the Ebisu Nagasaki Youth Hostel.