Hiroshima

It was strange to get off the train in Hiroshima, I wasn't sure how I'd feel really. It's a place you read about all your life and it is hard to get your head around what actually happened there. I also didn't want to focus solely on the tragedy- it is a living city 70 years on, quite beautiful and, as we were to find out, full of optimism.

We (Dan) managed to find the University where we were staying, even though it was a bus ride out of town. Dan has been amazing on this whole trip at finding out where we need to go, talking to people and getting us on the right transport, I am so glad he is here or I would still be in Tokyo, lost. I think this post will ultimately be about love so I think it's OK to say here that I am in awe of his patience and pragmatism, this trip really is the greatest thing anyone has ever done for me.

We walked up the hill to the Peace Camp led by Japanese Kevin Spacey who went well out his way to help us (as do all Japanese people) and looked back over the city, with the sun just going down- it was incredible... so beautiful and all the buzzing and everything made it really magical- we were entering the first Ghibli phase of our trip. Look at how lovely it was

Kevin led us through the University through a million corridors and lifts and I thought perhaps he was going to kill us , especially as the dark halls were really spooky and deserted. Luckily he didn't, because the Peace Camp was just about the best thing- set at the top of a hill by murky tennis courts which were surrounded with lush greenery and humming cicadas and populated with really friendly people, including a funny lady who was singing strange songs like a little bird. Dan and I also found an amazing set of concrete stairs which went up the hill for ages like something out of a cartoon. Here he is looking at a bug. He is in bug heaven for most of this section by the way, every 5 seconds we have to look at another one, so get ready.

At the top of the hill was a massive open sports field with crazy trees in it. It was time to go and get Flo, who had been nesting in the tent. 

By the way it is still boiling hot, especially so in Hiroshima, Flo is doing well considering we have been charging all over Japan with jet lag, we are only just getting back to normal really. We have really been going for it! I think it's good, but very tiring. The first part of the trip was always going to be a bit crazy, so it was really nice to be somewhere semi-rural after the craziness of Tokyo and the long train journey. 

Here is one of the trees I was telling you about, all around this area we saw loads of strange insects including a giant earwig. 

When we came back down pretty much straight away we saw that loads of children in the camp had been given HUGE sparklers, which in the UK would have been a Health and Safety nightmare- kids as young as about 4 were walking about in sandals and getting covered in smoke and sparks, but it was really fun and also quite lovely, everyone was talking to each other and handing out more sparklers, all different coloured flames coming off them. 

Considering the anniversary we were there for, it seemed pretty life affirming and special really. So we didn't get to bed too early. We did manage to get up the next morning at 5.30 for the Peace Ceremony in Hiroshima though. It was pretty amazing- walking into the Memorial Peace Park and seeing an anarchist group with their red flags, Buddhist monks praying and the Atomic Bomb Dome all within the space of about 5 minutes. We were handed flowers and icy flannels (it was already super hot) and settled down under a huge open tent. 

I would like to write about the ceremony but I feel as if it would be a bit gratuitous, I hope that makes sense. It was very moving- at 8.15am (the time the bomb fell) there was a two minute silence which affected me greatly. One thing I will say is that the idea of peace seemed to become less abstract to me somehow, the desire for it there feels urgent and tangible, a feeling that I also got afterwards when we went to listen to three survivors tell their stories. 

One man told us about the death of his mother which made me very upset, a thing that might seem selfish as I was thinking about my own narrow situation. One thing that came out of the day though was that this is the correct response really, to experience other people's stories as your own, that we have to love each other as hard as possible, and keep on trying to understand. It felt like an absolute necessity, not just talk or politics, but the truth of things. And in that way the day was enormously positive and there was also a lot of happiness in the air

Lovely Hiroshima 

Statue of Mother and Children in the Storm 

Terrifying model of the A-bomb being dropped 

Flo rings the Peace Bell

                               There was also an art exhibition. I think these are really wonderful 

In the evening we went to see the lanterns that people put on the river. We sat under the bridge where the bomb had fallen and watched these little lights bobbing on the water. Hiroshima is a really beautiful city, and everyone we met there treated us with real kindness. It really did feel as if we were all there together, trying to make things a tiny little bit better. You can read the Hiroshima Peace Declaration here.