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From the Peace Memorial Museum, Hiroshima, Japan

I visited the museum on a day that had started slightly overcast, but by the afternoon, had become as clear as the morning of August 6th. On our way there, we wandered past the children's monument, inspired by leukemia victim Sadako. When she learned she had the disease at 10 years of age, she began folding paper cranes, for according to Japanese tradition, folding 1000 cranes is something one does as a wish. She died before completing her task, but afterwards, children from around Japan and then around the world took up her cause.Pastic cases flanking the statue contained thousands of paper cranes, and all are stored in a nearby repository.

The museum was a devastating reminder of the horrors of the atom bomb, and a constant plea for the removal of nuclear weapons from earth. In a cenotaph in the center of the park, a fire lit from a flame that has been burning for 1200 years from atop Mt. Misen burns. It will be extinguished when the last nuclear weapon is destroyed.

As a museum, the Peace Memorial Museum stands along with the Tuol Seng museum in Phnom Penh as two of the most difficult museums to visit. Afterwards, I walked through the park with my cousin. Teresa had told me how soothing it was to be in the park after the museum and she was right. She told me her kids didn't want to see it again after the first time, and I don't blame them. I told her that I wouldn't want to either. I was surprised she had toured it again with me. I told her that if I brought guests to the museum, I would remain outside waiting for them, walking the park grounds, remembering the displays but not confronted with them.

This photograph was taken from inside the Peace Memorial Museum. A suspended corridor connects two sides of the museum, overlooking the park on one side, and this courtyard on the other.

More photographs of Japan can be found here.