‘Providential’ nightmare of Nagasaki shaped by religious, ethnic undercurrents

NAGASAKI: August is high season for tourism in Nagasaki. One morning last week at the Nagasaki Peace Park, the venue for an annual televised ceremony to commemorate the Aug. 9, 1945, atomic bombing of the city, throngs of tourists wearing name tags hanging from their necks were shuffling in and out of buses, snapping pictures in front of the iconic Peace Statue.

Shigeyuki Anan, a 61-year-old local historian, walked past the 10-meter bronze statue of a male deity built after World War II to wish for eternal peace. “It cost ¥40 million to build, at a time when there was no legal protection at all yet for hibakusha (atomic bombing survivors),” he said coolly.