Hiroshima is flourishing. It has a population surpassing 1.19 million, a burgeoning gourmet scene, towering luxury shopping centres, and a trendy night life. It is a city of vibrant green boulevards and open spaces, entangled by the braided tributaries of the ōta River. However it is also a city of memorialisation. Over 75 monuments, large and small, sprout like delicate mushrooms in parks and on sidewalks, scattered across the city as if by the wind. Whilst the city grows and evolves, the memory remains of Hiroshima as first place on Earth where nuclear weapons were used in warfare, on 6 August 1945.
记忆仍然是地球上的第一个在战争中被投掷了核武器的地方,那是1945年8月6日。
如今的广岛是繁华的。人口超过119万,一个新兴的美食广场,高耸豪华的购物中心,以及时尚的夜生活。这个充满活力的开放城市有着绿色的林荫大道,被纵横交织的太田川河环绕。然而,它也是一个有着历史纪念意义的城市。在公园和人行道上,超过75个大大小小的纪念碑像雨后春笋般在城市中萌芽,就像风一样散落在整个城市。随着城市的发展和演变,广岛的The number of fatalities is not known, due wartime population transience and the destruction of records in the blast. Estimates are in the region of 135,000 people, roughly equivalent to the population of Oxford. It is therefore unsurprising that many locals have Hibakusha veterans in their families. The Hibakusha community maintain a living collective memory of the bomb, sharing their atomic folktales similarly to the Kataribe storytellers, as a cautionary modern mythology against nuclear war.
由于爆炸毁灭了战时人口流动和记录,死亡人数尚不清楚。估计当时该地区的人口为135000人,大致相当于牛津人口。因此,许多当地人的家中仍然有核爆幸存是不足为奇的。广岛社区保留了活生生的爆炸集体记忆,他们就像是叙述故事的评书人,分享着他们自己的核爆故事,并且通过这种警示性的现代神话来反对核战争。It was assumed that nothing would grow within the bleak blast-zone for 75 years. Photograph: Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum/AFP/Getty Images
曾经推测,在这片荒凉的爆炸地带,75年内寸草不生。图片来源:广岛和平纪念馆/法新社/盖蒂图片社
It was assumed that nothing would grow within the bleak 1.6km blast-zone for 75 years. However, surrounding prefectures donated trees to Hiroshima. Fresh stems quickly pushed through the damaged earth, plants took root, and the branches of the Hibaku-jumoku, the survivor trees, unfurled leaves of weeping willow and oleander from budded stalks. The city has been rehabilitated, and it is challenging to imagine it as a place of devastation. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is a lush focal point of this re-greening process, and a unique human ecosystem has sprung up among the gingko trees and sussurating cicadas.
曾经推测,在爆炸的核心区域1.6公里范围内,75年间都会寸草不生。然而,周边的县向广岛捐赠了树木。鲜活的茎叶迅速在毁坏的地球表面蔓延,植物扎根,核爆幸存下来的树木hibaku jumoku的枝干在迎风招展的垂柳和夹竹桃中间抽出了新芽。将这座已被修复的城市想象成为一个毁灭荒废的地方是需要挑战想象力的。郁郁葱葱的广岛和平纪念公园是重建绿化过程中的一个的焦点,也是在如雨后春笋般涌现的银杏树和蝉鸣之间的一个独特人文生态系统。
The park has its own distinctive psychogeography, providing a public space for complex emotions and experiences to be explored by locals and tourists. International visitors feature prominently around the larger memorials and cenotaph. They ring the delicate origami crane bell-pull within the Children’s Peace Monument, take a few photographs of the cenotaph, stroll beside the Peace Pond, and then across the river to the A-bomb dome.
情绪与体验提供了一个公共空间。国际游客的面容特征在纪念馆和纪念碑周围显得很突出。他们将精致的纸鹤围绕在儿童和平纪念碑周围,拍了几张纪念碑的照片,漫步在和平池塘边,然后穿过河流来到原爆圆顶。
公园里有自己独特的地理心理学,为当地人和游客探索复杂的Distance is no indication of personal connection, and victims of Hiroshima have originated from across the USA, China and South East Asia. Thousands of Koreans died in Hiroshima: the men were forcibly conscripted and the women performed the duties of “comfort women”. The monument and Cenotaph to Korean Victims are festooned with brightly coloured flowers and receive a constant trickle of visitors, many of whom are Korean. Swags of peace cranes garland the smaller memorials dotted about the park, and the fragrance of sandalwood and citron lingers, as incense is lit and local heads are respectfully bowed. Japanese schoolchildren come here to learn, and they sit in the shade of the trees at noon in civilised huddles, to eat lunch and chatter.
距离并不象征着人与人的联系,广岛的受害者来自于美国、中国和东南亚。成千上万的韩国人死在广岛:男性被强征为苦役,女性被强征为“慰安妇”。韩国遇难者纪念碑都装饰着色彩鲜艳的花,由之流不息的游客带来,他们当中,许多都是韩国人。破烂的和平鹤环绕着公园的小纪念碑,当焚香之时,檀香和柚子香气萦绕其中,地方领导都恭恭敬敬地鞠了一躬。日本的学生来这里学习,他们井然有序的一起坐在正午的树荫下吃饭聊天。
Many visit to reflect upon the atrocity of the bombing, but this attitude is not universal. I learned this during an encounter with an American man at the Ground Zero memorial, tucked away on a side-street beyond the boundaries of the park. We smiled at each other, as he shared his reasons for visiting, declared the power of the bomb to end the war, and the American soldiers, including his grandfather, whose lives were saved by this action. He was grateful for the bomb, but I was shocked at the way he had decided to make an emotional connection with this place.
许多访客反思了轰炸的残暴,但是这种态度并不普遍。在爆炸核心纪念馆遇到一个美国男人之后,我意识到了这些。我们在公园边界外的一条小路上互相微笑,他分享了他来这里的理由,宣称了炸弹在结束战争中所发挥的力量,包括他的祖父在内的美国士兵,他们的生命被这次行动拯救了。他很感激炸弹,但是,对于他将自己的情绪与这个地方相关联的决定,我感到震惊。
However, the local community has a deep and profound connection to the park. Volunteers in distinctive uniforms meticulously maintain the place on a daily basis. This voluntary care of space escalates, as Hiroshima Peace Day draws near. Visit the park at 6am towards the end of July, and you will discover hordes of elderly people from the “Senior University”, wearing sunhats and brandishing trowels. They crouch above the ground, plucking weeds from the soil with gloved fingers. Whilst they garden, trails of elegantly dressed office workers bisect the park at intervals, carrying files and parasols in delicately gloved hands. Commuting to work, this stretch of land has become another familiar part of the rhythm of their daily lives.
然而,当地社区和公园之间有着深厚的联系。穿着显眼制服的志愿者们,每天都一丝不苟地维护着这个地方。随着广岛和平日的临近,志愿者照顾的空间逐步扩大。在七月底的早上6点开始,你会发现从“老年大学”来的成群的老年人戴着帽子,挥舞着小铲子。他们蹲在地上,用戴手套的手指拔草。当穿着高雅的办公人员在公园小径走过时,戴着精致的手套、手里拿着文件和阳伞。在上下班的路上,这片土地已成为另一个熟悉的部分,是他们日常生活的节奏。