(Reposted from: NHK World-Japan. August 4, 2019)
See accompanying video on the original NHK post
Children have learned about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima aboard a streetcar that was damaged in the blast of August, 1945.
Hiroshima Institute for Peace Education arranged for about 90 people to travel around the city on the streetcar on Sunday.
An 86-year-old survivor, Park Namju, got on one of two streetcars that survived the blast and are still in service. She experienced the bombing while she was aboard a streetcar 1.9 kilometers from ground zero.
Park told the participants that the streetcar was engulfed in fire at the exact moment she heard the B-29 bomber’s buzzing.
She added that when she got off the train she saw the town had vanished and people with skin hanging from their bodies crying for help.
She called on the children to protect the peace and prosperity of today’s Japan, which she said were built on the lives and sorrow of many people.
An elementary school girl said she was able to understand the tragedy of the atomic bombing by listening to the survivor’s experience.
She said she hopes that peace will endure.
