Dejima 出島 “exit island” was a small artificial island built in the bay of Nagasaki in 1634 by local merchants. This island was the single place of direct trade and exchange between Japan and the outside world during the Edo period. Dejima was built to keep foreign traders away from the main island of Japan as part of sakoku, the self-imposed isolationist policy. Originally built to house Portuguese traders, it was used by the Dutch as a trading post from 1641 until 1853.
“When you are a young person, you are like a young creek, and you meet many rocks, many obstacles and difficulties on your way. You hurry to get past these obstacles and get to the ocean. But as the creek moves down through the fields, it becomes larges and calmer and it can enjoy the reflection of the sky. It’s wonderful. You will arrive at the sea anyway so enjoy the journey. Enjoy the sunshine, the sunset, the moon, the birds, the trees, and the many beauties along the way. Taste every moment of your daily life.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Located about 800 meters from the hypocenter, Sanno Shinto Shrine barely had time to gasp. The instantaneous flash of heat, which reached as high as 4000 degrees on the ground, vaporized the leaves and branches on the camphor trees. Then the blast, ten times greater than the fiercest hurricane, pulverized the shrine buildings and slapped down all the stone balustrades, lanterns, sculptures and gates nearby. But when the wind finally abated and the dust settled, the stunned deities of the shrine found that one of the legs of the torii arch at the top of the steps had remained miraculously upright.
Now half a century has passed since that fateful day. The hillside is lush with greenery again, Sanno Shrine has been reconstructed, and the neighborhood is a similar — albeit modernized — version of its pre-war self. Nothing in this typical urban tangle even hints at the catastrophe that occurred here in 1945.
But the ominously significant one-legged arch continues to do its delicate balancing act and to look down upon the changing city. Robbed of a leg by the world’s first experiment with nuclear war, it points silently to the uneasiness of humankind and to the precarious state of a fragile planet forced to live with the threat of nuclear destruction. (Brian Burke-Gaffney) – http://www.uwosh.edu/home_pages/faculty_staff/earns/torii.html
A Nagasaki citizen’s clock that stopped at exactly the time that the American bomber “Bockscar” detonated an atomic bomb nicknamed “Fat Man” 500 meters above the city of Nagasaki at 11:02am on August 9, 1945.
An aerial view of Nagasaki taken by a US military plane on August 7, 1945. If the people below only knew…
Above are remnants from Urakami Cathedral. Everyone celebrating mass died in there that day. Angels, Saints, rosaries, melted rosaries, and a replica of the face of the church.
May 1945.
July 1945.
1945.
1945.
Replica of the atomic bomb that fell on Nagasaki at 11:02am on August 9, 1945. The creators called it by its code name “Fat Man” because of its design.
Melted coins, melted, decimated glass bottles showing the impact of the nuclear energy.
A Buddhist monk’s robe burnt right through, a man’s shirt disintegrated on his back, a helmet still containing skull fragments, a girl standing over a corpse, and another clock stopping at exactly 11:02am on August 9, 1945.
Takashi Nagai (永井 隆 Nagai Takashi February 3, 1908, Matsue – May 1, 1951, Nagasaki) was a physician specializing in radiology, a convert to Roman Catholicism, and a survivor of the Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki. His subsequent life of prayer and service earned him the affectionate title “Saint of Urakami.” He had suffered from leukemia before the war, but the effects of the atomic bomb exacerbated his poor health. Even though he was also dying, he tended to the people of Nagasaki as long as he could. On his death bed, he continued to write out and issue prayers for the people. He died 6 years after the atomic bomb.
Kind of a slap in the faces of the victims to use that as a sign, Mr. Churchill.
An aerial view of Nagasaki taken by a US military plane on August 7, 1945. If the people below only knew…
Above are remnants from Urakami Cathedral. Everyone celebrating mass died in there that day. Angels, Saints, rosaries, melted rosaries, and a replica of the face of the church.
May 1945.
July 1945.
1945.
1945.
Replica of the atomic bomb that fell on Nagasaki at 11:02am on August 9, 1945. The creators called it by its code name “Fat Man” because of its design.
Melted coins, melted, decimated glass bottles showing the impact of the nuclear energy.
A Buddhist monk’s robe burnt right through, a man’s shirt disintegrated on his back, a helmet still containing skull fragments, a girl standing over a corpse, and another clock stopping at exactly 11:02am on August 9, 1945.
Takashi Nagai (永井 隆 Nagai Takashi February 3, 1908, Matsue – May 1, 1951, Nagasaki) was a physician specializing in radiology, a convert to Roman Catholicism, and a survivor of the Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki. His subsequent life of prayer and service earned him the affectionate title “Saint of Urakami.” He had suffered from leukemia before the war, but the effects of the atomic bomb exacerbated his poor health. Even though he was also dying, he tended to the people of Nagasaki as long as he could. On his death bed, he continued to write out and issue prayers for the people. He died 6 years after the atomic bomb.
Kind of a slap in the faces of the victims to use that as a sign, Mr. Churchill.
