Hiroshima Peace Candles

The site where the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima is now marked by a memorial park to peace. Just one building remains from the bombing with the story of the atomic bombing told by a museum in the park. The park swarms with tourists. We visited during the Hiroshima Flower Festival, which featured song and dance displays by school children of all ages.
Despite the energy and noise, the park is dedicated to peace. On paying a small sum, candles were available to the public to write messages of peace. People, young and old alike, write their messages.

The candles are placed on tables, or stands or in pattern formations. The whole park fills with candles. Each evening, the candles are lit by volunteers.


Once the candles are lit, and darkness falls, the park is illuminated by candles, all burning orange and yellow with messages of peace.

And, then, each evening, around 10pm, as if to remind us of fragile nature of peace, the candles are extinguished.

City full of light

Tokyo, by day or by night, is a city full of light: neon, plastic, bright and colourful. During a stay in Tokyo, Fukuoka and Hiroshima, the visual senses are charged with explosions of colour and light and plastic. Cartoon characters and manga abound in Japan, advertising even the most serious of businesses. Household appliances, toys and models all have faces - humanised into smiling creatures.

Plastic, tacky, amazing figurines and toys sell all over Japan. These items have no discernable use except to please the visual senses. Japan, as a nation, works hard and plays hard. Rows upon rows of consumer products abound. In the 'entertainment districts', the streets are filled with rainbows of neon, moving lights and noise. Pachinko and slot machines are riotous halls of flashing lights and loud music and sirens.

The effect is overwhelming and leaves you thinking that Japan has a two-sided design tradition - that of elegant, simple design and of excessive, camp, tacky, chaotic colours and lights.

The photos below were taken in the three cities I stayed in, but inspired by my first weekend in Tokyo in particular in Kabukicho (the red-light district) and Harajuku (the youth shopping district). Click on any photo to expand.