JAPAN Part 2

DAY 41 — February 14, 2017 — Sailing the Philippine Sea

Happy Valentine’s Day!

How Ron and Jane celebrated Valentines Day.

When someone on this ship gets a cold, EVERYONE gets a cold.

DAY 42 — February 15,  2017 — Kagoshima, JAPAN

Our stop in Kagoshima gave us the opportunity to visit Mount Sakurajima, the volcano that is always smoking and always threatening to erupt.  Its last big eruption was in 1914 when it spewed 3 billion tons of lava over the area, turning two islands into one.  It still throws out enough ash from time to time that residents have an actual procedure for collecting it.

We took a 15 minute ferry ride to Sakurajima Island with our big bus rolling onto the ferry with all the trucks and cars.   It was a beautifully clear day and a lovely respite before our next stop in Nagasaki.

Our tour guide recognized the block M on Ron’s hat and called out, “GO BLUE!”  She had spent a year in Ann Arbor with her husband a few years ago.  The world gets smaller and smaller all the time.  Or, maybe it is just that people from all over the world now have the opportunities to do more and go farther.

DAY 43 — February 16,  2017 — Nagasaki, JAPAN

Nagasaki was the portal to western culture and trade during Japan’s self-imposed two centuries of isolation (1500-1700).  Along with Christianity and its culture introduced by the Spanish missionaries in the mid 1500’s, foreign learning including methods of shipbuilding, mining, printing, and medicine were brought into Japan.  It remained a main trading port for the Dutch over the centuries and eventually became a key part of the Japanese military-industrial complex in the 20^th Century.

Despite that, Nagasaki, with its Mitsubishi Steelworks, was not the primary target when the US decided to drop a second bomb on Japan on August 9, 1945 three days after Hiroshima.  But the original target was obscured by clouds and the pilot had to make a last-minute decision on where to drop the “fat boy.”  It exploded over Nagasaki at 1903 feet killing 70,000 people instantly with another 70,000 to die later from the effects of the radiation

Our visit to Nagasaki, of course, focused on the Nagasaki Peace Park, created in memory of this and dedicated to world peace and the end of nuclear armament. 

The fountains in the park spray in the shape of a pair of wings evoking the dove of peace.  The 30-foot-tall statue in the background depicts a man with one arm raised to the threat of nuclear weapons and the other stretched out horizontally in a gesture of peace.  One leg is bent in a meditative pose while the other is poised to take action.

Countries from around the world donated sculptures to the Peace Park.  The people of St Paul, Minnesota, Nagasaki’s sister city, sent this piece called Constellation Earth.  The 7 figures represent the seven continents and their intertwining limbs symbolize the necessity of global peace and solidarity.

The adjacent Atomic Bomb Museum vividly depicts the effects of the bomb through before and after photos, artifacts, and graphic displays.  It is a strikingly beautiful museum with a compelling plea for peace that is not easy to forget.  But what also is not easy to forget is that throughout history man turns to war over and over again.  Someone starts it. someone finishes it.  Innocent people die and suffer. 

All war is Hell.

Here is to not having to build any more war museums!