Trip to Hiroshima

So we took a little trip across the pond up to the mainland of Japan. We were able to catch a military flight out of Kadena up to Iwakuni Air Station near Hiroshima. Here are a few pictures...

This is called the A-Bomb dome. It is one of the few buildings that weren't completely flattened by the blast on August 6, 1945. The hypocenter, or where the bomb was detonated, was almost directly above this building.

This is a model of the city. The red ball represents the blast radius one second after detonation. The A-Dome is right below it next to the river where it splits. As you can see, there wasn't much left. Everything was flattened or burned for some distance.

There was a Peace Memorial Park. One of the cool displays was the childrens monument. one story tells of a little girl who had radiation sickness. She believed if she folded 1000 paper cranes she would be healed. She ended up dying. But there are literally thousands and thousands of paper cranes in many display cases. Cranes are now a symbol of peace.

After a long day, the girsl enjoy some sushi. Well, semi-sushi. This kind only has a slice of cucumber in the middle.