Nagasaki
christina
Leaving Nagasaki my heart is heavy. The past few days here have been emotionally intense and witnessing the tragedy of what happened on this land, I am again taken by humanity's errors - our old ways and systems of methodical power and destruction. Since we had visited Hiroshima on our last trip, I was expecting a similar city that had recovered with a new sense of identity, a mission of peace. Modern Hiroshima has a young, happening vibe to it – it’s a center of commerce, has a famous baseball team and serves as the point of departure for Miyajima Island; Nagasaki is different. With a rich history of cross-cultural exchange and trade, it was odd to me that it just didn’t have that same feeling of regeneration; in this lack, the truth of this place and it's history became ever more poignant. Perhaps it’s because we are in Kyushu, in the deep south of Japan, or perhaps the rebuilding of this city was not as comprehensive as Hiroshima, or that the story was not told as well in the press of that time, but whatever the cause - the sensation of deep loss, grief and sadness is still present in a different way than Hiroshima. This is not the new Japan that you typically see but one that feels trapped in time. It feels somber, older, maybe even wiser – a bit like a ghost town situated in a beautiful landscape of gorgeous hills and a stunning bay front.
When we arrived, aside from the historical magnitude I was processing, I immediately noticed the amount of senior citizens walking around – it seemed as though everybody on the streets was 70+. Turns out, this is mostly true – with urban decline in a spiral here, there has been brain drain to the larger cities since the 1960s and what's happening in Nagasaki is indicative of Japan's shrinking population issue. Some community members, as detailed in this article, are working in their neighborhoods to reclaim abandoned houses and re-purpose them for younger inhabitants but the situation looks dim from afar. We went to work at a coffee shop located in an older mall complex and there were many senior citizens hanging out on the benches there (perhaps trying to cool down from the record heatwave that is going on); there weren’t just a handful of people – at least 40 people were congregating there – not even ordering coffee – just hanging out. It struck me that the lens of these older people was fascinating as maybe some of them had been around as children during the time of the war, or had been born just after. When we were in Hiroshima, the war just seemed farther away in time...
The city itself is quite charming – sitting along a beautiful bay and tucked into a valley of mountain tops. There is a network of trams reminiscent of Portugal running through the city transporting people everywhere. Seeing the land itself which has rejuvenated from scorched Earth back into a brilliant sea of green forests and hills is a wild thing indeed to behold. Witnessing this regeneration and bowing in awe to the power of Nature to re-birth herself is mind-blowing but it reminds me that we humans continue this mass destruction in other, newer ways - environmentally with plastics and dirty energy among other things. I'm sure years from now, others will come to witness that destruction and subsequent regeneration and yet I still hope that our individual and collective choices can create change quicker. I am once again seeing that this is Life - this cycle of polarity; and a testament to how powerful the Earth actually is - not just us, humans but the Earth herself.
Being in a place like this, especially as a first-generation American, forces questions of inherited responsibility and identity. Though 1945 was more than 70 years ago, I wasn't born yet, and most of my Greek family hadn't even been to America yet to become American themselves, I as an individual American have benefited from this cultural and political identity. It's what allows us to freely travel the planet in this nomadic lifestyle, and yet, time and again, Julio and I keep coming up against this shared global history, this lack of conflict resolution across all peoples, this need for witnessing historical sadness and this deep intense yearning for peace and understanding that we feel as individuals. Though the US has made progress, (Obama was the first US President since the war to even visit these historic sites and mention the atrocities, but not apologize, in 2016), we still have so far to go. Especially in this time of shifting power structures and lack of leadership, how are we as individuals creating peace, bridging history both domestically and internationally and standing up for Love? If you feel moved, I deeply encourage you to learn and listen to the stories of the Hibakusha (the survivors of the nuclear attacks). Lately, I've been feeling like this mission we are on, this traveling lifestyle, is actually an extension of the early global activism I was involved with. Travel as a means of bridging the planet, sharing stories of suffering and inspiring myself and others into a shared future of peace. How will we learn to transform what we are as individuals, cultures, societies, and countries into one planet?
JULIO
From Hamsaki station we took a scenic train ride through Saga Prefecture to the coastal city of Nagasaki. Nagasaki is famous for being a Dutch and Portuguese colonial trade port in the 16th through 19th centuries and also being the site of the second nuclear bomb dropped on Japan in 1945. Nothing quite prepares you for the feelings that arise being an American coming to the sites of such destruction and residual pain from these fateful choices by the American government and U.S. war machine. It becomes especially more devastating when you learn that these decisions were made even though Japan's surrender was imminent and done mostly as global posturing to intimidate Stalin's Russia and set the stage for the incoming post WWII US global domination.
Although the numbers vary depending on the source 40,000 lives were lost instantly that day and almost double that injured. It is recorded that only 150 of those killed were soldiers and the since the bombing 70,000 more innocent lives have perished due to radiation sickness, cancer and heart disease due to the atomic bomb. The bomb was not even intended for Nagasaki but for nearby Kokura as the primary target and Nagasaki the second. Cloud cover and low fuel sealed the fate for the choice of the city as the target and the bomb was dropped above the industrial valley of Urakami and exploded at an approximate altitude of 1,800 feet.
Although the city has much to offer and alot of charm for tourists I felt it held residual sadness from its past and rightfully so. In contrast to Hiroshima which to me, feels new and thriving, Nagasaki does not possess the same modern glitz and sheen that many of the other Japanese cities we have visited exude. This gives it a unique character which is reflected especially in its architectural,culinary and historical fusion of Chinese, Dutch and Potugeuse influences from the Nanban era of foreign trade .
We enjoyed walking Nagasaki's hilly topography while exploring the Suwa shrine and the charming Kaminishiyamamachi neigborhood just adjacent which retains its old world charm.