Arriving at Nagasaki one night, our first destination next morning was of course the Peace Park. After the atomic bomb exploded, it was said that grass and trees would not grow on this spot for decades. However, this park is currently full of trees, flowers and art works donated by countries all over the world in support of the city’s prayer for peace. Not far from the peace park was the atomic bomb hypocenter. The original ground level is preserved and displayed there as an important evidence of the disaster.
After the peace park and hypocenter we entered the Atomic Bomb Museum. The museum covers the history in the form of a story. It begins with the disastrous scene of the attack and includes the events leading up to the dropping of the atomic bomb, the reconstruction of Nagasaki up to the present day, the history of nuclear weapons development, and the hope for a peaceful world free of nuclear weapons. There was a special section dedicated to Dr. Takashi Nagai, whose heart wrenching rendering of his experiences in the Nagasaki Medical College at the time of the bombing, read and reread, at first by my parents and later all by myself, one childhood memory I was carrying to Nagasaki. And the one gift I bought for myself at Nagasaki was Dr. Nagai's farewell book, "Leaving My Beloved Children Behind".
However it was not Dr. Nagai who refused to leave us as we were carrying ourselves out of Nagasaki. It was one boy captured by the American war photographer Joe O'Donnell. We passed by him again and again and read the passage by the photographer. It went something like this:
"When I arrived at Nagasaki from Sasebo, I looked down at the city from the top of a low hill. I saw some men wearing a white mask. They were working near a ditch full of burning coal.
"When I arrived at Nagasaki from Sasebo, I looked down at the city from the top of a low hill. I saw some men wearing a white mask. They were working near a ditch full of burning coal.
I noticed a boy about ten years old walking by. He was carrying a baby slung on his back. In those days, in Japan, it was common to see children playing in vacant lots with their little brothers or sisters on their backs, but this boy was clearly different. He was barefoot. The infant's head was tipped back as if the baby were fast asleep.
The boy stood there with a fixed expression for about ten minutes. The men in white masks walked over to him and gently began undoing the cords that were holding the baby. Then I realized that the baby was already dead. The men held the baby by the hands and feet and placed it gently on the hot coals.
The infant's body made a hissing sound as it was placed on the fire. Then it lit up in brilliant flames like a deep red of the setting sun. The boy stood there erect and motionless with his innocent cheeks shining scarlet. I noticed that the lips of the boy were also streaked with red as he watched the flames. He was biting his lower lip so hard that it shone with blood. The flames burned low like the sun going down, and the boy turned around and walked silently away from the burning pit."
We looked again and again at the photograph for some trace of tears beneath his eyes, we found none, probably blinded by our own moist eyes!
"May peace prevail forever"
from the atomic bomb hypocenter, Nagasaki, Japan
