There is probably nothing I can say about Hiroshima that has not already been said. I can only respond with my personal feelings. Everyone should go there. And when I say everyone, I mean if everyone in the whole world made a point of visiting Hiroshima, maybe the desire for nuclear weapons would be dampened. You cannot stand by the remains of the Dome, cross the river and walk up through the vast Hiroshima Peace Memorial park and visit the Memorial Museum without imagining how it must have been, seconds before the bomb landed, and all the time since. For me the suffering was palpable.

On August 6, 2012, the 68th anniversary of the dropping of the bomb, MATSUI Kazumi, the mayor of the city made a Peace Declaration. http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/declaration/English/2013/index.html

Even the Japanese people begin to change. The hibakusha,  now an average age of 78, victims who survived the bombing only to suffer a lifetime of stigmatization are at last being encouraged and finding the courage  to share their experiences.  I wish their films could have been translated into English. Here are a few images I took while visiting. Nonetheless and sobering as a visit to Hiroshima was for me, I came away with the Hiroshima sense of hope and a quiet space for the suffering that was and still is Hiroshima.