From the balcony of our apartment located on the side of a
small mountain in the northeast part of Hiroshima we can look out
over a remarkable scene, the downtown area of this vibrant city
built among seven rivers which flow toward the Inland Sea.
We can see the celebrated bullet train, called the Shinkansen, snaking
its way through the Hiroshima Eki (Station) heading either east to
Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, past Mt. Fuji to Tokyo, or west and southwest
to Kyushu island, its commercial capitol of Fukuoka and on to
Nagasaki on the coast, the gateway to Okinawa, Taiwan, China,
the Philippines and southeast Asia.
This city is a remarkable achievement when one realizes
that only 50 years ago it was reduced to ashes, a desolate
blackened area more than three kilometers in diameter with only a
few buildings left partially standing. The charred and gutted
remains of a streetcar were among the debris. Tens of thousands
died instantly, others survived some days, weeks, months before
finally succumbing to their injuries. The greatest tragedy of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the second death of radiation
sickness which occurred months and years afterwards, and still
lingers in the dwindling numbers of hibakusha, survivors of the two
atomic bombs which fell on the two cities.
Another part of this second death was and is the ugly
scarification and keloids, excessive fibrous growths, which are
hideous appendages to arms, the back and head. They are the
stigmata of the hibakusha. Moreover, the hibakusha often
became pariahs of this society. People feared marrying them
convinced any offspring would be affected with a mutation of some
horrible kind or be prone to cancer. They were figuratively exiled
by many Japanese, bitter reminders of what had happened to
them, humanity's first victims of atomic weapons.
A Flower Festival
We attended this annual Flower Festival which was held on
the same weekend as Salisbury's own festival. Hiroshima's
Festival was set up in the beautiful memorial Peace Park. Colorful
booths displaying and selling a wide variety of food, crafts of all
kinds, live goldfish, souvenirs had something for everyone. And
brilliant flower displays of all shapes and sizes gave witness to this
city of peace and flowers. The Peace Memorial Park was created
on the land between two forks of the Motoyasu River and contains
lovely cherry trees, dogwoods, azaleas, rose gardens and many
other flowering bushes and plants which have been lovingly
planted in the soil that contained only the rubble of destroyed
buildings, streets, sidewalks and vaporized humans and animals
50 years ago. The park is at the hypocenter of the bomb's
explosion. One feels then, that this is hallowed ground. There is a
special quality to the experience of being there.
Springtime in Hiroshima seems especially significant as
new life bursts forth, affirming once again that winter's woes do not
have the last word. The cycle of renewal is upon us.
Festivals and children go together. Though the latest
census report shows that Japan is second only to Italy in having
the lowest birth rate in the world, we are always amazed and
gladdened by the numbers of babies and children which we
encounter. Our apartment complex is alive with children! There
were many events going on for children at the festival including
performances on a large stage, street entertainers swallowing fire,
swords, while performing on unicycles. Their magic tricks baffled
most of us. A large parade also took place on Sunday afternoon
which was a hit with the kids.
Seeing these children having such fun, eating cotton
candy, many carrying goldfish in small plastic bags -- goldfish are
of the carp species, and the carp is a kind of totem fish for Japan.
Moreover, the Hiroshima baseball team is called the Hiroshima
Carp!
They were laughing, wriggling, cavorting, thoroughly
enjoying this warm spring day at the festival.
And as they should. We think back to the bomb victims'
images. So many were children. The blast came at 8:15 a.m.
when all the children were in school or working as laborers in war
related projects. These weapons of massive destruction were
intended primarily for civilians making ordinary citizens from that
time on legitimate targets for modern warfare. This was a most
dramatic use of terrorism. The floodgates were opened for
subsequent terrorist attacks from bombing the United Nations'
refugee camp, the sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway, the
strafing of a school room full of children in Scotland, to the
bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building. In most of these
instances children continue to be victims.
How long will we continue to rely on weapons to resolve
conflict? The availability of arms and armaments grows daily. And
so many of these weapons are in the hands of children -- note
recent photos of children fighting in the streets of Monrovia, the
capitol of Liberia, west Africa, with sub-machine guns in their
hands.
How ironic that we have just received the news that the
Center for Conflict Resolution at Salisbury State University, very
much a precious community resource, is on the verge of being
closed. We would hope that all efforts will be made to keep this
Center performing the invaluable services of teaching about the
causes of violence, and providing training in conflict resolution
skills and peace making strategies to children, youth, and adults in
a variety of settings in the Salisbury community and beyond. For
more information as to what you can do, call:
Michael McCormick
Director, the Center for Conflict Resolution,
Salisbury State University
Salisbury, MD 21801.
Tel. 410-219-2874
mamccormick@sae.ssu.umd.edu
Phil and Carol Bosserman
4-10-20-305 Ushita-Waseda
Higashi-ku Hiroshima 732
Japan
Tel. 81-82-211-0547
Fax: 81-82-227-4502
