Hiroshima Peace Park: Photographs and JSL Video Testimonies

My research trip this summer was to Hiroshima. The first place I went to was the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park and Museum. I have been there before, on August 6, 1997. My companion was a proud Hawaiian-American of Japanese descent. He expressed many mixed emotions about our visit. I remember being overwhelmed with disbelief, sadness, anger... How could this have ever happened? (Why didn't I learn much about this in my history classes?) How can we prevent this from happening again? The artifacts, photographs and artwork were moving and powerful. Everyone, no matter what their politics or thoughts about WWII, needs to see this, to experience this.

On my second trip, after I purchased my ticket I asked if I could take photographs of the exhibition. The answer was yes, as long as I didn't use flash or anything else distracting. As I entered, I asked myself, why do I want to take pictures here? What would I do with them? Pictures of pictures taken out of the context of the reserved and solemn whole of the presentation would gut the experience. So I put my cameras away. Other visitors were snapping away on their smart phones - I wondered how they decided to choose which shots they took.

As I was leaving the museum, I realized I had seen these photos before. I am not talking about my trip 28 years ago, but what I see on the TV news and social media every day: Gaza, Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Ethiopia, Haiti... the list goes on and on. The contexts and situations are different. But they are sites of massive poverty, death, devastation and stupid, unnecessary violence utilizing advanced technological weapons (and some old-fashioned tactics as well). The power of photography is waning. These scenes are just not shocking to many people these days. So I wonder what kind of impact a visit to the Hiroshima Peace Museum would have on my students today. (This is the seed of a future class lecture; any input or suggestions are welcome.)

Still, I urge my students and everyone to go.

One thing I noticed this time, and I don't remember seeing it 28 years ago, was the use of monitors that had videos explaining some of the exhibition in Japanese Sign Language. That the museum seems concerned with barrier-free and accessibility must be noted. According to their website, they offer human interpreters for two languages: English and JSL. They also have video exhibitions of hibakusha (surviving victims of the atomic bombs). Here are some examples that can be found on YouTube:

Sign Language Testimony of Hiroshima by Tomoe Kurokawa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxR540tLiT8

Sign Language Testimony of Hiroshima - Mr. Toshihisa Nakata: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK5igwUPLjg

Sign Language Testimony of Hiroshima – Mr. Katsumi Takabu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhUyLIdOA9U

And here is some visual history from today's Newe York Times:
80 Years Ago, Nuclear Annihilation Came to Japan. What the world’s only atomic bombings, carried out by Americans, did to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/world/asia/hiroshima-nagasaki-japan-nuclear-photos.html

Here are some of my photos from the Peace Park, the kind you have seen before because everybody takes the same or similar shots...

The next post of the VAoJ Hiroshima Research Trip Arc will be on traditional Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki and the Ekinishi drinking area.