We left the hotel around 9 to catch a street car to 原爆ドーム. Genbaku Do-mu. Atomic Bomb Dome. The site of the most destructive bomb ever used on a real target. Where the the largest number of people were killed at once. Well over 100,000 died from the blast and fire. Heavy stuff. I almost lost it as soon as I saw it.
Dr. Thompson has a very close connection with the bomb. His baby sitter was 8 months old when the bomb was dropped. She only survived because her mother did. Mrs. Tanimoto (her mother) is now 92 and spent most of the day with us. Dr. Thompson's babysitter is a spritely 63 -year-old. Still full of life despite all the hardships she endured. Her name is Koko Kondo (born Tanimoto). She is married to a minister and has two adopted children. She is sterile because of the radiation.
Koko gave us a tour of the Peace Park before we went to a private room downstairs and listened to her for almost 2 hours. She talked about what happened that day, relayed to her through her mother only recently because the memories were too painful to talk about. Mrs. Tanimoto's story is in Hiroshima by John Hursey, so I won't tell it here, I just encourage you to read the book. What is truly important is the stuff not in the book. Koko said after she was old enough to understand some of what happened, she wanted revenge. She said, "I am a good person, my family are good people, Hiroshima is full of good people. The person in the B-29 must be the bad person." And she swore to get revenge. There are a couple of other things that she said, but to be honest, I've forgotten. It was very emotional. She swore that she would do something to the pilot if she ever met him. She would bite him, or punch him, or kick him. She would get revenge. In 1955 her father, the Reverend Tanimoto, was on This is Your Life. She and her mother were flown out secretly to appear on the show. Also at the show was Capt. Robert Lewis of the Enola Gay. She knew that she couldn't just go up and kick or bite or punch him while she was there, so she just stood there and glared at him. Thinking how much she hated him for dropping the bomb. He went on. He started to cry and say, "We didn't know, we didn't know what it would do." Koko realized that she shouldn't hate the man who dropped the bomb. She said, "I realized I should hate the war itself." After the show, when Capt. Lewis was just standing there, little 10 year old Koko Tanimoto walked over, took his hand and held it. She said, "He was a big hand. He was a warm hand." (allow her her grammar mistakes). That was the most memorable moment from her speech for me, at least. She went on to talk about the rest of her life. She has done many things, been many places, promoting peace. She is truly remarkable. I can tell you more in person, but to convey it through this medium is far too difficult.
After listening to Koko for two hours, we got some lunch with her and Mrs. Tanimoto. I had her and her mother sign a bookmark. Then we went into the museum.
There was no resentment, just an ernest desire to move on and never have this happen again. It talked about the history of the city, this history of the bomb; just the facts in the first part. The second part was the most heart-wrenching thing I have ever seen. Little school uniforms torn, burned, bloodstained. Tiny lunch boxes with their contents turned to charcoal. Watches stopped at 8:15, bottles melted and steel girders wrenched; the list goes on and on and on. Koko and her mother were there to point out where their house and church were in relation the hypocenter of the bomb. Again, words fail me. The final part of the museum had video testimony from some of the survivors. I couldn't watch. I wasn't feeling to steady on my feet. I went outside and sat on a bench and fought back tears for about half an hour.
We all had to do our own thing for a little bit after the museum. It was tough, perhaps the most difficult thing I have ever had to see.
We went to Hiroshima castle, and had dinner at a nice restaurant.
That's Hirosima castle. Well, a reproduction at any rate. Still cool. I got to sit with Dr. Thompson and Katherine Marshall, and share the meal with them. It was quite pleasant. After eating we had free time, so I continued to hang out with Dr. Thompson and followed him to a bakery called Anderson's. 
It is actually an offical Consulate of Denmark. Crazy Danes. After Anderson's, I was tired and worn out so I went back to the hotel and went up to the bar for a couple of drinks. I sat at the end of the bar, drinking beer and looking out the window at the moon over the water. It was a good way to end the day.I hit the hay early, as Sunday promised to be a big day, too.
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