The new museum documents the military education that Hiroshima's children got during the war years. It shows women practicing with bamboo spears that the government issued to all Japanese in preparation for a U.S. invasion. And there's a photo of a lantern parade held in Hiroshima in 1937, celebrating the Japanese capture of the Chinese capital, Nanjing.
The word “Hiroshima” may bring to mind a black-and-white image of a mushroom cloud. It’s easy to forget that it’s an actual city with a million people and a popular baseball team. In 1995, John Biewen visited the city to speak with survivors and to ask: What did the world’s first atomic bombing mean in the place where it happened?
Hearing Hiroshima is a production of Minnesota Public Radio, from American Public Media.
Photo: Selections from the 1995 tapes. Photo by John Biewen.