Hiroshima, Japan
The fate of Hiroshima changed for ever on the 6th of August 1945, when the first atomic bomb ever used during warfare was dropped over the city. Thousands of people were instantly killed and the city was completely destroyed; the exact total of victims will never be known, but it is estimated to be more than 70.000, one third of the population… It was very emotional for me to visit Hiroshima during my trip to Japan in 2018, with the same feeling as when I went to the 9/11 Memorial in New York or to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews in Berlin: realising that human barbarism has no boundaries.
(Click on the pictures to enlarge them – they can be purchased in high resolution for printing, please contact me if you’re interested)
The Genbaku Dome of Hiroshima
The Genbaku Dome of Hiroshima
The Genbaku Dome of Hiroshima
A picture of Hiroshima taken a couple of months after the atomic bomb. The Genbaku Dome is one of the very few buildings that hasn’t been completely destroyed
The Genbaku Dome in Hiroshima, one of the very few buildings that survived the atomic bomb of 1945
This old man feeding birds in the Hiroshima Peace Park survived to the atomic bomb. As the city was entirely, for weeks his only way to survive was catching birds and eating them. Nowadays, he comes feeding them everyday to show its gratitude to be alive, and to apologise to the birds he had to eat.
The Genbaku Dome of Hiroshima by night
The Genbaku Dome of Hiroshima and the Ota river by night
The Peace Memorial of Hiroshima
Origami cranes in the Children Memorial of the Peace Park of Hiroshima. Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who survived to the atomic bomb but developed leukemia, believed that if she would be able to fold 1000 origami cranes, she would be granted a wish. There are 2 versions of the story, one where she eventually managed to fold them all, one where she only reached 644, but both versions end the same: she died in 1955 at the age of 12. Origami cranes then became the symbol of all the children of Hiroshima victims of the bomb
A tricycle found in Hiroshima after the bomb, Peace Museum
A watch stopped forever at 8.16am, the exact moment where the atomic bomb exploded in Hiroshima on the 6th of August 1945 (Peace Museum)
The ancient tramway of Hiroshima
The castle of Hiroshima, entirely rebuilt after the war
The castle of Hiroshima
The castle of Hiroshima
The castle of Hiroshima
The castle of Hiroshima
Cherry blossoms in the castle of Hiroshima
The castle of Hiroshima
The castle of Hiroshima
View from the castle of Hiroshima
View from the castle of Hiroshima
View from the castle of Hiroshima
The castle of Hiroshima
The shrine of Gokoku-jinja, inside the castle of Hiroshima
The torii of the shrine of Gokoku-jinja in the castle of Hiroshima
Sunset over the Ota river in Hiroshima
Sunset in Hiroshima
Paper lantern in Hiroshima
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