Atomic Bomb Museum - Nagasaki

WARNING:

There are gory and death graphic photos in this blog post.

 

1. We have long wanted to visit this Atomic Bomb Museum in Nagasaki to learn from the horrendous past history that shocked the world. We wanted to see how the shadows of the disaster was etched permanently onto the walls of a house as reported. Finally, we arrived at Nagasaki which is a pretty neat looking & tranquil city, rebuilt after Enola Gay wiped the entire place.

2. The whole vast areas of the Atomic Bomb's Museum covered several parks lined with several memorial plagues, rich lush landscapes and blooming flowers. It was like a pretty heavens on earth as I had never seen so much flowers on trees in my life. Nagasaki is beautiful.

3. This memorial piece writes "People At Peace". They have suffered enough and the painful memories lived on for many generations. We need peace to move on.

4. The citizens of this world should unite and foster the spirit to live in harmony and with caring hearts. 

My heart was sad and heavy that morning as I remembered my best Japanese friend Kasumi Esaki who was a sophomore year student at Point Park College in Pennsylvania. I met him at the college and became instant buddies for just 3 months. He was very helpful indeed &  was the first person to explain to me about this nuclear bomb in details that continued to affect the future generations. His mother survived the war but died later of advanced cancer as all the nuclear radiations were inside her body's cells. She sadly told her 2 sons that they would also die of cancer someday!

 

5. This is the spot where the Enola Gay plane dropped the Atomic Bomb which actually expoded fiercely before hitting the ground. All the lives came to a Zero.

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Kasumi shared this unbelievable story with me and 3 months later, he called me from Pittsburgh Mercy Hospital. He was dying from the deadly effects of the nuclear radiations which attacked his spine, lungs and everywhere! I saw him at his hospital bed and he was all swollen from head to toes like a painful balloon. All the students at Point Park College folded Japanese paper cranes and raised enough funds to help Kasumi to be air-flown back to Japan with a doctor, 2 nurses and 2 technicians in tow. He was granted his last wishes to die in his homeland.

6. When you reach the bridge, just cross it. That's what the proverb says.

7. Nagasaki's Atomic Bomb Museum

8. They hang up many lines of colourful threads to symbolize PEACE. Look closer and they are actually folded paper cranes being strung together beautifully.

9. At 11:02 a.m. on August 9, 1945, 

the explosion of an atomic bomb devastated Nagasaki. Many household clocks died and stopped ticking as a result of the huge mega explosions!

10. The museum is very big and well spaced out neatly with English/Japanese explanations for visitors to understand.

 

11. A replica of the deadly A-Bomb that created history.

12. A close-up of what the A-Bomb contained inside that could wipe out the population and kill the future generations!

13. I took many photographs of the exhibits but I will only share a few so that you will make a visit to this museum someday. Here all the tall green bamboo trees were burnt and melted during the explosion.

14. The huge explosions fired and grilled many people alive.

15. This is the most talked about photo that showed a man who stood by his ladder when the Atomic explosions radiated across leaving the shadows of his body and the ladder being etched to the walls. This was really scary and gave me endless goose bumps!

 

16. The soldier who survived with deadly scars and his uniform that was razed by the radiations.

17. The sad and painful scenes after the devastating Atomic bomb blast.

18. Thousands of survivors were disfigured badly and painfully.

19. This section was special with Japanese language headlines and captions only, for the natives to read. That made me curious to look further at the sensitive photos which triggered some unfavourable comments in the foreign reviews about the museum.To me, this museum was built to share the history and create awareness. It is not a shrine or a place for public apology. Please visit this place with open mind and heart.

20. Pretty folded paper cranes were pieced together to make this colourful Art. 

We should all live in PEACE and Say NO to NUCLEAR!