Hiroshima

In Many ways Hiroshima is just another large Japanese city. However it's forever infamous with the events of August 6th 1945, where it become the world's first target of a nuclear strike.

The weapon "Little Boy" was a Uranium fission device, that detonated 600m above the city (to maximise damage) with an equivalent yield of around 15 kilotons of TNT (a mere fire cracker next to the 50 megaton H-bomb the Soviets tested in 1961) . The force of the blast and the subsequent fires destroyed almost every building for a mile around the hypocentre, and killed 70,000 people - up to twice this many eventually died from burns and radiation related illnesses.

Remarkably some reinforced building very close to the hypocentre partially survived, due the fact the blast pressure was acting almost vertically downwards. One of there buildings, the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition, has been preserved in its immediate post bombing state; the A-Bomb Dome (Hiroshima Peace Memorial) now stands as a UNESCO world heritage site.

Across the river from the A-Bomb Dome, is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, containing several monuments and the Peace Memorial Museum. The park and museum have a dual role as memorial and disarmament focus. The museum itself covers the bombing and its aftermath, the military/political decisions that put Hiroshima on the top of the target list, and details about current world stockpiles. Whilst not overtly condemning the bombing, it highlights America's geopolitical posturing regarding postwar relations with Russia, rather than the position of a necessary evil to bring an end to a hideous war.

Unsurprisingly, bus loads of Japanese school children are dragged round here everyday. The younger ones bound over to read question like "What is your name?" from their English language exercise books, while their teacher takes photo. The older ones just seem thoroughly bored with the whole experience.