Month of goodbyes.

Keloids (click for more). Image:source

I live in Hiroshima.What else is this town is famous for if not because of its tragic atomic bomb history.
I assumed month of August is like Aidilfitri in Japan, where people go out to visit graves, pay respect and pray for dead ones. Why August? Actually nobody told me about its significance. In my opinion, this maybe somehow related to the 'mass murder' of people by the first atomic bomb dropped onto this city 66 years ago.

I was eager to see how can I participate in order to benefits myself living in this one historical place. So, I sign up for the activities offered in the "66th Peace Memorial Day".
The first activity was, a short movie about a newlywed couple living in Hiroshima and how their life was shattered by the atomic rays. I was attracted to this movie because by that time, I was also a year old married. Just like the lady inside the movie poster. So, I went. Alone.

As I entered the hall, I saw many old people. In a quick glance, I didn't see any young Japanese attending this forum. Well, I am not sure if they have been into such activities for so many times or what. And of course a few foreigners like me.

So, the movie started and I was so relieved after seeing the english subtitle included:D

The story is a about a girl who fell in love with this one Japanese guys who by that time is serving for the airforce. The marriage was planned by the elders which at first the girl has refused. However, when the guy turned back to leave her house (after his proposal has somehow being rejected by the girl), the girl called him and from there that moment the wedding is on. The girl has obviously fell in love with the guy's back which for her is strong to protect her the rest of her life.
They live so happily after a year of marriage (who doesn't :P). And one day when the husband came home, when he just opened the front door, the rays hit the area and in a blink all they can see is fire and unbearable heat. Some things aren't burning but their heat was hotter than the fire. The wife was buried by the house. And the husband's back was exposed directly to the rays. He was then lived in a dead body.

Many people are dead. Many more were half dead and wishing to just died.
Many people saved, can't drink water as it will severed the internal injuries. Can you imagine burning and treated in already heated city and burned but you can't drink even a drop of water? Well, some tried to drink..but they just could not swallow anything >.< The husband however was so much alive and begun  producing worms like he's already dead. So, the husband's back really saved his wife.
Miracle saved the husband. While many other were dead in several weeks, but he's getting better despite of keloids on his back. That time, what the wife has loved the most about her husband is gone. Awful looking and painful keloids at his back was used to show Americans and the world that times about how terrible atomic bomb has brought to human life.

The husband was hospitalized for 6 years, underwent countless of surgeries. After his released, the couple has to start their life from scratch. Due to health reason, the husband was not eligible for most of the jobs available and not to mention they by then has to live in a dead city. For them, the city could only offer memories. Memory of how they survived and the husband feels it was his job to continue the world of his survival. For that, the couple opened a souvenir shop, located in front of the genbaku dome (the landmarks of the atomic tragedy).
The husband passed away in the year of 1980's but the wife, is still around (now 89 years old), continue telling the world about their atomic bomb survival experience.

I was so cliche. I did felt the sadness, anger, love brought by the movie. However, when I think about how our grandmothers and grandfathers suffered during their colonization, the sadness became natural :P

For me, if it's not because of this tragic history, Japanese won't be so modest as we know them today.
People around the world were saying, there's no chance of living in this devastated city. Not even for a nut. Now, look at how they rise. They did all from total scratch and dust. Can we achieved the same in the year 2020?Can we remain modest if ever we achieved the mission? Just like Japanese do?