Hiroshima: 68 years of peace

For those of us who cherish peace and forge it through our work, being in Hiroshima at the official ceremony to commemorate the atomic bomb detonation is a rare honor that obliges deep reflection and sharing the lessons that this event reminds us year on year. 

War had already been bloody enough. Which war is not? There was rampant poverty, hopelessness about the somber future and combat carried on. Throughout the night before, sirens went off announcing the threat of bombing, frightening the entire city of 400,000 inhabitants. Hiroshima was one of the few Japanese cities that had not been bombed yet. The night went by without incidents and by dawn the sirens had gone mute. It must have been an ominous silence. 

At 8:15 that morning, when people tried to go back to normal on a state of war that had already prolonged for too many years in Japan, four bomber airplanes flew over the city and one of them released which would become the first atomic bomb over a territory inhabited by humans. 

The bomb detonated at 600 meters above ground level. It created a dome of fire that burned the city to the ground within a radius of one mile from the hypocenter, with temperatures exceeding 7000 degrees Fahrenheit. Everything within that radius was vaporized or charred to ashes in two seconds. A great light, a great rumble, followed by a deep darkness and a sepulchral silence, literally. 

Survivors were immersed in a vast confusion, unaware of what had happened with it all. Burned to the bones, many died begging a drink of water by nightfall. Others battled for days or months to a painful, gruesome death. By December of 1945, 140,000 inhabitants of this city had died as a direct result of the atomic explosion. 

The sequels of the bombing are still felt today. Thousands of orphaned children, tens of thousands with unknown diseases resulting from the radiation that were denominated "A-bomb diseases", and the vast majority, victims of discrimination by others who feared they were contaminated by radioactivity. 

Almost two generations have gone by and the memory of that day still reflects the absurdity of war. Men work intensely to make innocent and defenseless women and children suffer and die. That is the measure of "progress" during the campaign. All available resources are consumed, above all, the best minds and hands of the best youngsters, to continue shooting, attacking, invading, scoring Pyrrhic victories. To ask who wins a war is like asking who wins an earthquake or a hurricane. 

At the official ceremony today, there was an initial offering of water for the victims of that day that died of thirst, burned inside and out. Five black birds, as lugubrious self-invited guests, flew over the cenotaph in honor of the victims to the sound of mournful, solemn and shivery music. 

As commented by Mr Keijiro Matsushima, a survivor of the atomic bomb who was 16 at the time, the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 was equivalent to a third nuclear bomb for Japan, mainly to the thousands of local inhabitants that have been permanently displaced from their lands, their homes, their communities. "We were unprepared for the use of nuclear energy, even for peaceful purposes," he added. 

Therefore, atomic energy, employed for good or evil, confirms the absurdity of its detructive power. The fact that there are countries still trying to develop those technologies or sharing them with others, or those who trade raw materials for radioactive uses to generate this source of energy is, apart from a shame for civilization, a constant threat that looms over humanity and that threatens all life on the planet.  

This is my bias, partly for being a peace activist, partly for being a citizen of the demilitarized Republic of Costa Rica. It takes a great deal of courage to abolish a military army like my country did 65 years ago. I suggest it requires equal bravery to abolish and eradicate nuclear weapons and nuclear energy from the face of the Earth. All our leaders must possess this courage. 

I repeat the words imprinted forever at the Atomic Bomb Museum here in Hiroshima on October 6, 1990, by Dr. Oscar Arias Sanchez, Nobel Peace Laureate:

"I wish that all the men and women in the world would engrave in their minds the artifacts in this museum so that such a tragedy will never be repeated. Because there are no borders for peace, all humankind must work together to secure it."

A Monumental Change of Mind

After the first seven days in Japan, the most remarkable difference I have found from the last time I was here two years ago is a dramatic change of mind in the Japanese people -corporations, civil society, public officials- regarding consumption, most particularly of energy. Private enterprises have reduced their working schedule during the summer months; people have relaxed their outfits; government officials are incessantly searching for new energy outlets to reduce.

The summer dress for the summer is called "cool biz" and consists of short-sleeved button-down shirts, no tie, no coat. Air conditioning has been turned up to 28C and metro cars have fluorescent lights missing. All of this is the result of a sudden energy constraint that surged in Japan after the Great Eastern Earthquake of Tohoku on March 11. That day, four of the main nuclear sources of electricity in the country which were very close to the epicenter of the temblor went offline. The nation faced electricity shortages, and quickly opted for a significant reduction in consumption to make sure there was sufficient energy for everyone's basic needs.

A country that for centuries has been very concerned about their fragile environment knows about reducing consumption. Six centuries ago, Japanese understood that if they continued cutting down trees they would run out of water. So they started preserving their forests and today the country has 72% forest coverage, a figure very hard to imitate in other latitudes. Japanese cuisine is characterized by low energy consumption: who doesn't like a strip of raw fish on top of a ball of rice?

I have heard unofficially that the goal is for the nation to reduce 30% of its electricity consumption. That sounds to me like a more ambitious goal than the one set for developed economies in the Kyoto Protocol to mitigate climate change. And most likely they will achieve it sooner rather than later.

The worst earthquake in recorded history triggered perhaps the worst tsunami ever heard of. We saw it. It was a horrifying nightmare that washed out entire villages. Despite early warnings, nearly 30,000 people perished catastrophically. The wave flooded the Fukushima nuclear facility, starting the worst nuclear disaster since the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs 66 years ago.

Moreover, the Japanese nation seems to have rekindled the value of sustainable development, ethics and love. A high-ranked government official told me that one of the goods that has increased sales significantly since the earthquake is wedding rings. People are now reconsidering their individualistic lifestyle for a more meaningful standard of living by building a family.

A retired Japanese diplomat told me that the public is very angry about the nuclear disaster (it has not been controlled yet, let alone cleaned up). This nation has suddenly awakened to the reality that nuclear energy is neither clean nor renewable. It was simply inexpensive and seemingly endless. Generating abundant sources of renewable energy will be a priority in this country for the next 20 years.

Talk about a crisis transformed into an opportunity.