Lilly Ashton writes about Hiroshima:
Hiroshima, I think, could be the greatest place on Earth. It has this one, big, wide road running down its centre – Heiwadori, or “peace street” – and you can see big, endless hills in three directions. There’s something captivating about it. It’s the perfect city, full of restaurants and boutiques and 7/11s as needed, but with such vast expanses of greenery. Heiwadori is decorated with tons of flowers, and the parks are big and luscious.
Although I’ve known that Hiroshima is a place people live and visit–the main character in the 2024 movie Touch visits there, for but one example–it nonetheless came as a surprise to read a blogger talking about drinking matcha latte there.
“What about the radiation?”, I asked myself.
The City of Hiroshima, understandably, covers this on its website:
Q. Is there still radiation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
The radiation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki today is on a par with the extremely low levels of background radiation (natural radioactivity) present anywhere on Earth. It has no effect on human bodies.
Atomic bombs differ from conventional bombs in emitting explosive energy on an entirely different order of magnitude and radiation. Of the emitted energy, 5% was initial radiation and 10% was residual radiation.
The initial radiation emitted at the moment of detonation inflicted great damage to human bodies. Most of those exposed to direct radiation within a one-kilometer radius died. Residual radiation was emitted later. Roughly 80% of all residual radiation was emitted within 24 hours. Research has indicated that 24 hours after the bombing the quantity of residual radiation a person would receive at the hypocenter would be 1/1000th of the quantity received immediately following the explosion. A week later, it would be 1/1,000,000th. Thus, residual radiation declined rapidly.
As an aside, you should really watch the movie Touch–it’s really good, and perhaps the best COVID-adjacent movie I’ve seen so far.
And Lilly Ashton’s blog is a good read too.
About This Blog
I am Peter Rukavina and this is my blog. I am a writer, letterpress printer, and a curious person.
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