Trip to Kyushu: Nagasaki

The family took a 9 day trip to the island of Kyushu, one of the four main islands in Japan's archipelago. It also happened to be the area where I served my mission. I wanted to show Shelley and the family where I lived for two years.

Our first stop was the city of Nagasaki, a town in which I didn't actually serve as a missionary.

Nagasaki is an interesting city that is as beautiful and scenic as it is steeped in history. The city sits on a peninsula where water and mountain terrain intermix to dominate the city's scenery. It is definitely a city built on a hill. This solid foundation must certainly be a metaphor for the resiliency of its citizenry who, over the centuries, have persevered through many trials.

Obviously, Nagasaki is most famous for being the site of the second atomic bomb blast on August 9, 1945, which effectively forced Japan to concede defeat and put an end to World War II. If it were not for a museum, a park at the hypocentre of the blast and another peace park close by, you would hardly know of this city's place in modern history. I think this is a credit to the city and its people's ability to reconstruct and restore the city to its natural beauty and charm. More on that later.

The city has a much more important ancient history, however, as a trading port. It was through Nagasaki that many new ideas were introduced to Japan from the outside world, including Christianity. When western influence began to be perceived as being politically disruptive, Japanese rulers effectively closed the country to foreigners. Christian influence was seen as subversive and Christians were persecuted. Followers were forced to renounce their faith or suffer death - some by crucifixion. It wasn't until centuries later when Japan was forcibly reopened to the outside world that it was made known of a vibrant underground Christian population in Nagasaki who were practicing totally unbeknownst to the government. Those centuries-old influences are still prevalent today. In our day and a half of touring the city we saw more Catholic priests and nuns walking around than we've seen in our nearly two years in Tokyo.

Being an American visiting Nagasaki can be a bit uncomfortable. While there are precious few outward signs that the city was decimated by a plutonium bomb, visitors to the atomic bomb museum are given insight into the affect the bomb had on the people of Nagasaki. And I really am not sure how local people, especially the elderly who could have lived through the blast, feel about what happened to their city.

I happen to fall into the camp of people who believe that this was a tragic event that cost the lives of tens of thousands of completely innocent people, but probably saved the lives of millions of other people in Japan and perhaps throughout Asia. The Allies were preparing to invade Kyushu after a long and protracted battle in Okinawa, while the Soviet Union was advancing into Manchuria. It seems as if the stage was set for a fierce and costly battle on Japan's homeland.

Putting aside the tactical or ethical argument of the bomb, and focusing instead on the physical impact of the bomb, I was left in total unbelief of its vast destruction. Video footage from the air shows a massive mushroom cloud shooting nearly 20km in the air after detonation. The bomb produced instantaneous heat that was several thousand degrees celsius, sending a wave of immense heat and radiation that destroyed buildings and killed people in an instant with two kilometers of the hypocenter. All told, almost a third of the population died due to the blast and subsequent fires, with probably half sustaining injuries and widespread radiation exposure.

It's hard to fathom that in one instant life can be normal, but in the next instant there is a flash and life has changed forever. Seeing the amount of death, destruction and suffering makes one wish that there was no need for war. At the very least it made me question what constitutes a war of necessity.

While in Nagasaki, we took advantage of having a car and drove south on the peninsula and were treated to vast views of ocean and islands. There were plenty of places to hop out and enjoy the rocky beaches and endless tide pools. We also drove to the top of Mt. Inasayama which provided 360 degree views of Nagasaki city to the north and east, the bay and islands to the south and the ocean to the west. A great place to see the sunset. If you don't have a car, there is a ropeway that takes you up to the top.

Video will follow, but click on any of the pictures to be taken to a small gallery of photographs of our time in Nagasaki.