When Keith and I did our tour of Japan in 2020 we had the privilege of visiting Hiroshima and I do mean that word, privilege.

There is no doubt in my mind that, had the first A bomb not dropped on Hiroshima none of us would really have heard about this amazing city.

Our visit in 2020 coincided with that Princess cruise ship stuck in Yokohama as we started to hear more about covid. Everywhere we went was quieter than usual with a lot of places closed.

Our little group of 15 walked around the Peace Park with ease and could not imagine what a ‘normal’ day might look like.

Today was completely different.

Those that know me well will know that I have my own ‘rules’ (I can’t think of a better word), as to where I think is appropriate to take pictures and to me, that symbol of Hiroshima, the A Dome is not an appropriate place to take pictures.

At 08:15 on 6 August 1945 that A bomb hitting everyone in that building died. I do not wish to take pictures of what is effectively a murder site, nor do I want to show said pictures as ‘holiday snaps’. To me, that is wholly inappropriate.

I don’t want to say much about the history, the A bomb and the aftermath of people falling ill for years afterwards.

I want to tell you a little about Sadako Sasaki who was only two years old at the time of the bombing and who’s statue now stands on the top of the Children’s memorial in the Peace Park.

When Sadako was 12 years old, she developed leukemia which, at the time, was known as ‘Atomic Bomb Disease’.

There is a legend in Japan that the crane  is considered a mystical creature and, in folklore it is said to live for 1000 years. An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds 1000 cranes will be granted a wish. Do you know what Sadako did while lying unwell in the hospital? She made those cranes. Sadly she lost her life to leukemia, but that little girl, and the story of her life lives on around the world and those paper cranes? Some are displayed in the Peace Museum and over 19 million cranes are made around the world and sent to Hiroshima every single year.

I have origami paper, if you’d like to nake a crane let me know and I’ll send you paper and instructions on my return. Or maybe we can do a blog reader meet up and all do them together!

As an interesting side note, I actually bought The story of Sadako at Pearl Harbor at the start of my trip. It is very much written in a way for children to understand, but it is by no means an easy read. The book is written by Sue DiCicco and Sadako’s brother Masahiro. If you’d like to borrow it please let me know.

It has been a difficult day emotionally, but I think it is important to visit somewhere like Hiroshima if possible. How can we possibly improve the future if we do not learn the past. In one of the cabinets full of paper cranes was the poster below.

The second paragraph is a quote attributed to Jimi Hendrix, but it gies much further back to UK Prime Minister Gladstone:

“We look forward to the time when the power of love will replace the love of power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.”