Hiroshima Peace Festival

The Peace Festival was amazing. And powerful. It was a lot to take in for just a single day and I am still digesting it all in my head... There were so many photos. There were so many people. So much noise and action.

The festival started with speeches from the mayor of Hiroshima and the prime minister and other VIPs followed by a moment of silence at exactly 8:15. The entire city was quiet for that one minute. A city as big as Hiroshima entirely silent. Every person was thinking the same thing: those poor people, the war, the politics.

This apparent degree of organization was followed by chaos. Anyone and everyone who had　something to say could just carve themselves out a space in the park and make noise. Or hand out leaflets. Groups would hang graphic photos of a-bomb victims on the fence around the dome. Groups of monks drumming. A flag ceremony with every country in the world. Origami crane folding sessions. Children's book readings. Korean demonstrations. Iraqi demonstrations. It was very moving although it felt more like a funeral than a peace festival.

That night there was a floating lantern ceremony. Thousands of colored-paper floating lanterns with writing on them were released into the river. Children would put hordes of the lanterns into the river together. It was all very scenic. Too scenic in fact, the photographers were almost coming to blows to get the best spot with the A-bomb dome in the background.

I was a little skeptical about attending the festival as an American, I wasn't sure how I would be received. It could not have been better, in fact, I almost felt like a celebrity. Everyone wanted to ask me questions. Questions about my perspective on WWII and history. Questions about America. Questions about the current war in Iraq. Questions about my perspective on Japan.

The dome at night reminds me of R2D2.

There are many, many more photos online on my flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/b-bug/sets/72157601248349995/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/b-bug/sets/72157601244030990/