My August, 2012 visit to Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Twenty plus years after being on a sabbatical program with a Japanese Sister who told us "I grew up in the ashes of Hiroshima", I finally got to visit Sr. Teruko Onojima in her hometown  August 3 to10th. I was fortunate to receive housing in the residence of the Archbishop of Hiroshima at the Cathedral parish. I was able to take in the ceremonies that mark the anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The activities began with a Catholic Mass in the Peace Cathedral of Hiroshima on the evening of August 5, where I was introduced as a Catholic priest representing Pax Christi USA. The morning of August 6 began with an ecumenical prayer service at 6 AM in the Peace Park,  followed by a public outdoor ceremony  at 8 AM attended by 50 to 70 thousand. That evening  there was  a symphony's performance of a Requiem in the Cathedral followed by a moving ritual of lighting lanterns and floating them down the river adjacent to the Peace Park. Similar ceremonies took place in Nagasaki on August 9, including a service at the Peace Park followed by a candle light procession to the Nagasaki Cathedral culminating in a Mass.

During my visit, I spent time in the very modern Peace Museum in Hiroshima at the Peace Park. I  learned more about what happened on August 6^th, 1945 and especially  how the people of Japan have focused on promoting peace and the end of both nuclear weapons and nuclear energy. I was impressed by the way children of Hiroshima are so involved in these activities, being educated and promoting peace.  I signed a petition they were holding asking for the end of nuclear weapons; they planned to send the signed petition to the United Nations.  Many children were present at the public service and formed a choir that added to the service.

I was also able to be on a bus trip from Hiroshima to Nagasaki with Sr. Teruko and twenty-five members of her parish. The bus trip helped me see the beauty of Japan with its many waterways, hills and rice fields. I also listened to the stories of the men and women on the bus, translated by Sr. Teruko, about their reasons for taking part in these services. One story I remember was that of the man who lived in Hiroshima at the time of the bombing. As he related, "I missed the tram that morning. I am alive today while my schoolmates are dead."

Hiroshima and Nagasaki have both been rebuilt and stand as very modern and clean cities, Hiroshima with over one million people and Nagasaki with approximately 500,000. I am grateful for this experience and the conviction I am left with is this. Japan learned from the horrors they inflicted on others and that were inflicted on them. Their new Constitution, in article 9, forbids Japan to go to war. They are not a threat to other nations. Sadly, some in Japan and some in the USA want Japan to modify article 9 so that the noncombatant military of Japan can join forces with American troops in any future wars we may wage.  So far the government and people of Japan have stood firm. Would that other nations and peoples would learn the same lesson of the horror of war and nuclear weapons! Would that more people would take it upon themselves to work for alternatives to war in dealing with conflicts in our world!

 Peace, Louie Arceneaux, c.m.