A-Bomb Dome

This "ABomb Dome" is one of few remaining buildings testifying to results of the August 6, 1945 bombing of Hiroshima.  Many other buildings that "survived" were torn down.  This one was saved and eventually became an UNESCO World Heritage site which means it will be "eternally" saved. (as long as "eternal" can be) 

There is a tram system that survived (in part) too. One of those tram lines passes by the A-Dome at least every 5 minutes. Inside Hiroshima-ites are on their way to work, going shopping or going home.  My last morning in Hiroshima before heading back to Korea I was on my way to Hiroshima Station and it dawned on me, "Most of these folks in the tram pass by this A-Dome every single day and probably at least two times a day." I wondered if they even see it anymore. Does anyone think about where the tram is stopping? The conductor recording calls out the name of the stop in Japanese and English.  In English it said something like, "A-Bomb Station, next stop A-Bomb Station.  If you are going to the Peace Memorial Museum, get off here." I imagine like many things we see and hear everyday that this A-Bomb Dome and its tram stop are just places to glaze over on one's way to work.  Could that be?  For someone like me, who blows in and out of town, it seems hardly possible.  But I suspect for the resident it is just another tourist attraction regarding a significant time in the cities past.  

On the surface of Hiroshima, the only part I really saw, there is very little which speaks to the events of 63 years ago.  As I walked through the city there were random placards or mini-memorials to Atomic Bomb victims.  Hiroshima is a stately city, a center of commerce and it's sophisticated in its transportation and architecture. It is one thing to read about world events like the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and develop mental pictures of what happened and what must be now.  Yet it is totally different to visit and know from seeing and hearing what life really IS.  Hiroshima has a horrific past, and it is a past to remember, but it has definitely moved on into the present and seems to be flourishing.

So why is it that a city and country like Hiroshima and Japan can flourish?  Yet other places around the world with tragic histories continue to struggle.  Of course the answer is layered and complex.