Tyler Travel: Hiroshima

18th April

At 8:15 am on the 6th August 1945, the first atomic bomb used in the history of humankind exploded approximately 600m above this spot in a side street in Hiroshima - the Hypocenter.

The bomb, named 'little boy' was carried from Tinian Island by the Enola Gay, a US Army B-29 bomber.

The force of the explosion was equivalent to 16 kilo-tonnes of TNT, a shock wave speed of 280 - 440 metres per second caused total destruction within a 0.5 km radius and temperatures reached 3000 - 4000°C.

Just around the corner - the only standing evidence of the destruction, which, after much public debate, was saved in 1966 by Hiroshima City Council who passed a resolution to preserve the building.

The building now known as the A-bomb Dome was designed by Czech architect Jan Level. Completed in April 1915, the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall soon became a beloved Hiroshima landmark with its distinctive green dome.

While its business functions included commercial research and consulting services and the display and sale of prefectural products, the hall was also used for art exhibitions, fairs, and cultural events.

Through the years, it took on new functions and was renamed.

Before and after..........

At the time of the bombing, the city was gripped by World War II and due to shortages in the work force, students as young as 13 were 'mobilised' to work in munitions factories and performed other wartime labour.

There were approximately 6300 to 7200 students killed while working outside on building demolition to create firebreaks.

From the museum:

Building demolition - refers to the tearing down of buildings to create firebreaks and prevent the spread of fire after air raids. A great number of civilians were mobilised from Hiroshima City and even from surrounding towns and villages for demolition work; the work was carried out manually with saws and ropes.

Along with adults, young- students who were equivalent to today's first and second year junior high school students (first and second year students at junior high and girls high schools, and children in the upper grades of elementary schools) were also mobilised. On August 6th a massive building demolition project was underway in central Hiroshima. Thousands of people working out in the open were directly exposed to the bomb and killed.

The heat from the explosion stripped the people, closest to the blast, of their clothes and anyone within 1.2 km had their skin burned black. People literally staggering around like zombies with their skin dripping off them like rags. Many tried to drag themselves to the river.

A man with a camera, shaking from the shock, said he could hardly press the shutter, as the scene he saw was so tragic and pitiful.

In the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum there were many graphic photos and art work, a lot of which I couldn't bring myself to take pictures of.

People were crying out in pain and begging for water, constantly thirsty and extremely hot. Some people's eyes literally popped out of their sockets. Dead bodies piling up and swollen, turning different colours. A vision of hell.

There were many eye witness accounts of the blast from different distances. One man said the flash was like lightning or burning tungsten. Another said, "it was as if the cloud had gathered all the colours of the world and set them twinkling as it slowly rose ever higher into the skies".........."This is what the atomic cloud, known as the mushroom cloud, gave way to - a cursed cloud that swallowed whole the souls of some 200,000 citizens of Hiroshima."

2,200 m from the hypocenter - the intense blast shattered window glass and spread the glass fragments everywhere, and they even penetrated the wall.

The safe above 470 m from the hypocenter Takajo-machi - Sakaru Okada (39) was running a pharmacy He died in the bombing along with his wife and two employees. Finding this safe in the burned ruins, Sakaru's older brother lchio took it home along with the remains of his brother and his wife. The rice, documents, and paper money inside were carbonised.

Warped iron shutters:

These stone steps were at the entrance to the Hiroshima Branch of the Sumitomo Bank . Exposed to the atomic explosion at close range, the person siting on the steps waiting for the bank to open is thought to have died on the spot with no possibility of escape. The intense heat of the A-bomb turned the steps whitish; the stone under the sitting person remained dark, like a shadow.

This is the remains of foundations of a Japanese House - the black area in the top left is the carbonised mat flooring.

Then came the Black Rain. Black and sticky, oily rain that fell over people fleeing fires. The injured and thirsty people drank the rain pouring onto them, which was radioactive. This school top from a 14 year old girl with stains from the rain that could never be washed out.

The intense fire swallowed the city and its people, it burned all day long. Those unable to crawl out from under collapsed buildings were burned alive.

Fused bottle tops:

A doll and fused needles:

A massive amount of ionising radiation emitted by the atomic bomb inflicted grave damage to human bodies. Even those who suffered no injuries by the bombing and those who entered the city soon after the explosion developed radiation disorders, including high fever, diarrhoea, hair loss, and purple spots under the skin. Many of them eventually progressed to death.

This 21 year old soldier experienced the bomb explosion in a wooden house within 1000 m of the hypocenter. On September 1st his gums began bleeding persistently, and blood spots proliferated all over his face and upper body. His consciousness became unclear on the 2nd and he died on the night of the 3rd shortly after this photo was taken.

Sister and brother who lost their hair

Early October 1945 Senda-machi 1-chome Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital:

Photo by Shunkichl KIkuchl Courtesy of Haruml Tago

This girl, Alko (9), and her younger brother, Toru (7), were exposed to the bomb in a wooden building 1,000 m from the hypocenter. After that, they went outdoors and got caught in the black rain, Their hair began falling out four or five days later, Aiko lost her appetite and developed a fever, bleeding from the gums and other symptoms, Both recovered from the acute stage but fell ill in later years. Toru died 4 years after the bombing at the age of 11, and Alko died 20 years after the bombing at the age of 29.

Death certificate:

Temperature charts of victim treated in hospital:

Wristwatch, name tag, and badge:

800 m from the hypocenter Sumiko Tomihara (then 21) was exposed to the atomic bombing at the military facility where she worked. Her home in Funairi-saiwai-cho was completely burned down, and her family took refuge at a shelter in Eba. On August 8, her father, Masahei, went to check on their house and found Sumiko lying there, severely burned.

She was taken to a relief station, but passed away the following day, surrounded by her family.

These are the belongings Sumiko left behind.

From the account of Yuriko Saiku, Sumiko's younger sister:

On August 8, when my father went to check on our home, he found my sister lying there, severely burned - no one knew how she had managed to return. She had a large wound on her thigh, with a deep hole in it. Her burns were so terrible that she could be recognised

only by her name tag.

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Hot water bottle 200 m from the hypocenter Nakajima-hon-machi Donated by Katsumi Tomita.

Hayakichi Tomita (then 72) and his wife, Sai (then 67), were exposed to the atomic bombing at home, Their fifth son, Tadao (then 28), searched for his parents but was unable to find them.

Everything had been reduced to ashes, and even their remains could not be recovered.

In the ruins, he found this hot water bottle, a traditional item used to keep warm, long used by his father.

Tadao kept it carefully as a memento of his father.

From the account of Makoto, Tadao's son:

The hot water bottle was wrapped in cloth and kept in a chest of drawers with kimonos. I had known of its existence since childhood, but my father never took it out or spoke about it.

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Lunch box and water bottle

100 m from the hypoceonte Nakajima-shin-rmachi

Shigeru Orimen (13), a first-year student at Second Hiroshima Prefectural Junior High School, was exposed to the A-bomb and died at his building demoltion worksite. This scorched lunch box and water bottle were found beneath his burned, skeletal remains by his mother. In the lunch box were a mixture of rice and barley, soy beans, and sautéed shredded potato. Shigeru left home looking forward to this lunch, but never got to eat it.

Away from Home:

The atomic bomb destroyed lives without regard to national or ethnic origins. Tens of thousands of Koreans, Chinese and Taiwanese as well as Japanese-Americans were living in Hiroshima at the time including those who had been conscripted or recruited from these areas.

Other non-Japanese people, such as students from Southeast Asia and China, German priests, Russian families, and American POWs also became victims.

Journal of A bomb orphan - many children lost their parents & were traumatised for years to come.

Lasting effects

A-bomb Microcephaly

The Story of a Couple and Their Child

母親の脂内で後燥した子どもの中には

いちじる頭囲が著しく小さい原爆小頭症が発生し

重度の知的障書を伴う場合もありました。

Some children exposed to the A-bomb radiation in mother's wombs were born with abnormally small heads, or microcephaly, which is often accompanied by severe mental disabilities.

Families were destroyed and affected mentally & physically by the blast for years to come, living in fear of becoming sick and with physical disabilities, preventing them from working

Living with improperly functioning bodies, many survivors lost their jobs and struggled through a hand-to-mouth existence. They suffered from the lack of understanding of A-bomb diseases.

They faced discrimination and the false assumption that A-bomb diseases were contagious.

Even when they had a job, many tired easily and had to take frequent breaks. People said they had 'Bura bura byo' (idlers' disease) and treated them with cold disdain.

How it came about

The Potsdam Declaration

In July 1945, during a conference with the U.K. and Soviet leaders in Potsdam, Germany, U.S. President Harry Truman learned that the A-bomb test had been successful. On July 25, the United States ordered the atomic bombing of Japan. The following day, the United States, the United Kingdom and China issued the Potsdam Declaration demanding Japan's unconditional surrender. The Potsdam Declaration contained no proviso guaranteeing continuance of the emperor system, which was known to be an important condition of surrender. Neither did it hint at the existence of an atomic bomb nor any intent to use such a weapon on Japan. Japan did not accept the Potsdam Declaration.

Leaders sit and make their 'declarations' and decisions for 'the good of the masses' but it's always the masses that suffer, the poor minions, the civilians, the families.....

Target evaluation:

In April 1945 cities considered as targets were Kyoto, Hiroshima, Yokahama and Kotura then later other cities like Nigara and Nagasaki were also considered.

Lots of bombing raids were carried out before hand as 'tests' and on August 2nd, Hiroshima was decided on.

The bomb was 3 m in length

The amount of uranium-235 required:

Inside the bomb, the enriched uranium was divided into two pieces, both smaller than a critical mass. To trigger the atomic explosion, a chemical explosive forced one piece into the other, instantly creating a supercritical mass that sustained a chain reaction. The energy released by the explosion of this atomic bomb was equivalent to 16 kilotons of TNT.

The fissile material for the Nagasaki bomb was plutonium-239. The plutonium core was divided into two hemispheres each less than a critical mass surrounded by explosive charges. These chemical charges compressed the plutonium into a single, extremely dense supercritical mass. The energy released by this bomb was equivalent to 21 kilotons of TNT.

Whats probably the most sickening detail is the use of the bomb was actually a form of experiment to determine the effects......