Hiroshima Travelogue- Episode 12

August 7, 2013

We started out for the Peace Museum earlier than the other mornings. We wore specially designed shirts and hats with emblems of Tehran Peace Museum on them. It wasn’t very long to the Peace Park as it would take the slowest of us some 20 minutes to get there. We were supposed to be there before 8.

The young stewards at the Park received every guest with a flower. Others would hand us the program timetable in English and Japanese. One of them told us it is a tradition to keep the flowers and lay them at the monument of the bombardment victims as the program is over.

The seats were preset for every group of the guests. We were guided to one side of the setting where Japanese hosts awaited us. They showed us our seats and gave everyone a bottle of cool water. The sun was about to rise and the shadows were diminishing.

It was like it was always sultry there. You could see examples of all human races there as well. I took a look at the guests' register. There were nationals of 71 countries sitting on those chairs; from Uganda and Ukraine all through Kuwait and Venezuela. I saw a group of guests wearing Kurdish costume as I turned about. Now, the sun was beating down on us.

They provided us with this rolled, wet, white towel just taken out from a freezer. How refreshing it felt! Not much was left to 8. I skimmed read the several-page timetable. The memorial ceremony of Hiroshima's A-bombing victims would kick off exactly at 8 and wouldn’t take more than 45 minutes. 45 minutes?! All these preparations, and guests, and flags of 71 countries… only for 45 minutes? I suppose they were unaware of the blessings of hours-long preaches!

Guests’ Chairs at the Peace Park

Most of the guests, if not all of them, and those who were about to deliver keynote speeches were being beaten by the sun. But who were placed in the tents? They said the survivors and their relations were housed in the tents.

They began with the unveiling of the victims' roster. Then a member of the Hiroshima city council welcomed the guests. Offering flowers by the mayor, representatives of the victims and some guests took until 8:15. A minute of silence and the ringing of the Peace Bell also followed. Then, innumerable doves were freed. Later on, a kid representing his peers delivered a speech owing allegiance to peace. An address by the Japanese Premiere and statements by the governor of Hiroshima, head of the UN General Assembly and the UN Secretary General brought the program to about 8:45. The closing program of the 68th anniversary of the Hiroshima Bombings is a music band by a number of youths. The song received applause from the guests. It was some 8 minutes past the schedule.

The remembrance of the victims at the Peace Park

The little towel was still cool. I unwrapped it and placed it on my neck. Habib Ahmad Zadeh, Parviz Parastouei, Behrouz Abbasi, Ali Akbar Fazli, and Shahryar Khateri were not back yet. They were busy distributing 2000 documentaries about Iran's chemically injured victims with English and Japanese subtitles among other participants of the program.

The Peace Museum

It was about time we visited the Peace Museum located at the back of the ceremony's setting. They say over 1.3 million people visit the place every year. The peace museums in Tehran and Hiroshima are closely linked; Mr. Maeda, the then-president of Hiroshima Peace Museum, was one of the participants of the opening ceremony of Tehran Peace Museum in 2011. The two museums are sisters now.

The museum's entrance is not like the previous Hiroshima monuments we visited earlier in our trip. This time we ascend the stairs. Pictures, maps, signs, stuff, ….. and everything else that can help remember the disaster are gathered in the museum. There is this bookshop somewhere in the museum. The large number of the titles fails to impress me. I couldn’t tell what their contents were; but some memoirs were among them. Two panoramic pictures of Hiroshima which showed the city from the top resembled Hoveizeh. The pre and post-bombing Hiroshima is so much like Hoveizeh before and after the occupation.

We took the stairs down. Not much is left to lunch. There was a conference center close to the Peace Park. It had an impressive restaurant. We took our stomachs there and filled them with Salmon fillet.

Opposite to the restaurant was the conference hall. We would go there to participate in the conference of Youth and Peace. Not much had been prepared. We took our seats. Professor Inaei, who was an acquaintance of Iranian doctors, delivered a speech about the need for learning about the advantages of peace by the youth. After him, some young speakers delivered lectures about the same topic. A part of the conference was allocated to live traditional music. I tried my best to keep my eyes open.

Hedayatollah Behboudi
Translated by: Abbas Hajihashemi