August 6, 1945…

A-bomb dome. Photo by my friend Catharine, with whom I went to Japan with summer '04.

It is the anniversary of the first atomic bomb attack.

I’ve been to Hiroshima twice.

The first time was in 1995 with my mom and a family friend from Japan, and it was coincidentally the day after the 50th anniversary of the bombing. Every monument at Peace Memorial Park was covered in strings of paper cranes. The second time was in 2004 with a Korean-American friend, and we sought out the memorial for Korean victims. It had previously never occurred to me to think about the Korean victims that were there under Japanese imperialism.

Both times, I visited the Peace Memorial Museum. It’s a large, extensive, and well-designed museum, where you can really see and hear the horrors of what a nuclear weapon can do. Particularly affecting are the everyday items left behind from the attack — a tricycle, a lunchbox, clothing — charred black and ripped apart, accompanied by descriptions of what happened to their respective owners. Every world leader should be required to visit this place.

You should visit, too. But if you can’t, a few film recommendations:

White Light/Black Rain: A documentary by Japanese-American filmmaker Steven Okazaki, this film about the atomic bomb attacks at Hiroshima and Nagasaki is surprisingly even-handed and includes interviews with a wide variety of survivors…as well as Americans who were involved in the bombings.

火垂るの墓 (Grave of the Fireflies): This isn’t about atomic bombs (it’s about a firebombing in Kobe), but a related must-see nevertheless if you haven’t seen it already. They showed this to us at my Saturday Japanese school in about 3rd grade, and it would be an understatement to say I came out of it shaken.

うしろの正面だあれ (Ushiro no Shomen Daare?): I honestly don’t know if you can find this in the U.S. based on the fact that it’s difficult to even find any information about it, but this is another animated film set in WWII Japan that I saw when I was young.