Day 9-trip to Nagasaki

Today was a day off from rugby. We decided to take a train trip to the city of Nagasaki. This is a city that had a horrible thing happen on August 9, 1945, during World War 2. They had a bomb dropped on their city that did a lot of damage to people and buildings. Since this happened, the city has been rebuilt and the people have been promoting peace throughout the world.

We visited the museum where they have many pictures and artifacts from the time of the bombing. I am glad that the world continues to learn about the tragedies of war from museums like this so, hopefully, no one ever drops an atomic bomb again.

 The statue outside of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum

 The top of the statue

 A metal origami peace crane inside the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum

 A string of a thousand cranes

 A clock that stopped working when the bomb hit. The hands of the clock are stuck at the exact time of the bomb.

 These are signs that have been made out of tiny origami peace cranes.

 These are strings of peace cranes that have been donated to the museum, mostly made by children.

 The board shows what this land ahead looked like just after the bomb was dropped. There is now a memorial park where the bomb hit.

 It was a rainy day.

 Another view of the Atomic Bomb Memorial Park

 Don at the viewpoint

All of the international teams also went to Nagasaki. Here is the EMS team.

This is the rugby coach, Mr. Roberts, pretending to drive the team's bus. Sometimes he drives a bus to get the boys to their games at home. This bus was way nicer than the one they use at home.

Can you see Canada's bus?

Here are all eight of the buses for the 8 International teams. The bus ride took about 2 hours from the Global Arena to Nagasaki.

The stream that runs next to the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial. Do you know which type of bridge this is?

This is the memorial site. It is where the atomic bomb landed in 1945. Who can figure out how long ago that was? Send me your answers.

Nagasaki National Peace Memorial statue. Can you see what is sitting on the sign?

This little bird sat here for the whole time we were in the park.

Another view of the memorial. 

Can you see how the step going down make circles?

More strings of peace cranes at the Memorial site.

A little further away, we went to the Peace Park. The main purpose of the park is to promote peace throughout the world. In this very large statue his right hand is raised and pointing to the sky to symbolize the threat of nuclear weapons, his flat, outstretched left hand represents eternal peace, and his eyes are closed in prayer asking that the souls of the victims may find rest.

Even more strings of peace cranes.

On top of this structure you can see a golden origami peace crane.

Me in front of the Peace Fountain in Peace Park, Nagasaki.

Here we were looking through the Peace Fountain towards the Peace Statue. The fountain is said to represent the two wings of a dove, a symbol of peace. Can you see how the shooting water makes a shape like a dove's wings?

We took a streetcar to get from place to place in Nagasaki. Who knows of a famous place in the USA that has a lot of streetcars?

Me hanging on while riding on the streetcar.

Another streetcar...see if you can figure out how a streetcar works. Send me your answers!

A large inflatable dragon hanging from the ceiling at Nagasaki train station.

Train Station...time to head back to Hakata.

Your challenge today is to try to say hello or smile to at least 5 people that you do not usually talk to. See if you can find your own way to promote peace in our world!!!

Views from the moving train.

Goodbye Nagasaki!!! We wish you peace!