Day 4: part 1 - To Hiroshima

One of the things I was most disappointed about regarding my last visit to Japan was that I did not have the opportunity to visit Hiroshima. Even before I was interested in the research that I am currently pursuing, seeing Hiroshima was a life goal for me. In fact, even before I had any interest in Japan whatsoever, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 already had made an impact on me.

One of the authors I really enjoyed during my youth was Kurt Vonnegut. Being an American soldier in Europe during World War II made a significant impact on his writing, as is most famously portrayed in his novel Slaughterhouse 5. However, it is one of his later novels, Hocus Pocus, where he addresses the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

One of the characters of the novel is a Japanese survivor of the bombing, and he retells his experience. The character as a child kneels down under a wall to pick up a ball that his friend had kicked just as the bomb was detonated; when he stood up again, his friend and the whole city had disappeared. I must have been in my late teens or very early twenties when I read this. It was the first time that I could remember crying at words written on the page. At that time, I certainly had no idea that years later I would focus so much of my life on Japan.