Nagasaki

Nagasaki is a beautiful port city.

This September, I made a trip there for the first time.

Between early 17th to mid 19th century, Japan secluded itself from the rest of the world.

Only the Netherlands and China were allowed to trade with Japan.

But the Dutch and Chinese merchants were restricted to remain in the specified area in Nagasaki.

In Japan, Nagasaki was the only door to the outside world.

There are many exotic historic sites in the city and I enjoyed strolling around them.

Nagasaki is also known as one of the two cities where the atomic bombs were dropped.

I went to Peace Park.

I felt very emotional as I was walking in the park.

500 meters above where I was standing, the atomic bomb exploded on 9th August 1945.

I had to look up in the sky there.

It was the beautiful cloudless blue sky.

In Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims, the Origami crane folded by President Obama was on display.

In 2016, he visited Hiroshima to pray for the victims, the first US president to do so.

The ceremony was televised live and I was moved by it.

I admire his courage to visit the place as the president of the country that dropped the bomb there 75 years ago.

Since the Nagasaki bombing, no atomic bomb has been dropped and I sincerely hope there will not be another one.

(December 2020)