Nagasaki by tram, mostly, with a good deal of walking in between. Brilliant autumn sunshine and a cool breeze — the best weather we had in Japan.
The Peace Park sits above the Urakami valley, north of the old centre. The bomb went off at 11:02 on the morning of 9 August 1945, about five hundred metres above the ground somewhere below where we were standing. The Peace Statue at the top of the park has one hand pointing up at the sky and the other held out flat — the first is the threat, the second is peace. People come and go and almost nobody talks.
A few streets down is the hypocenter itself, marked by a plain black pillar in a small park. A surviving section of the wall of Urakami Cathedral has been moved in and set up beside it.
The Atomic Bomb Museum is next to it. We are not going to try to describe it here. Go, and give it more time than you think you will need.
The last thing we saw was the one-legged torii at Sanno Shrine. The blast took one pillar out and left the other standing with the crossbeam still on it. It has been left exactly that way ever since.
The tram back to the port was standing room only, everyone hanging off the straps and packed in tight. It was at this moment of reflection that we were thankful for the Covid booster we picked up at Costco a few weeks earlier.
A light lunch back on board, then an afternoon of reading and napping, which after that morning was about all we were good for. We sailed in the evening. Next stop Taiwan.
Two Passports 
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