HIROSHIMA, Japan — The most powerful weapon of war ever to be used was detonated by the United States in Japan on Aug. 6, 1945.
The 75th anniversary of the nuclear attack was going to come as Japan hosted the 2020 Olympics.
The Summer Games were postponed, but the people of Hiroshima still hope to share their city and message with the world.
Hiroshima Japan is a place of contrast.
It is tranquil and beautiful in its views and spirit, even though this place and its people endured destruction the world had never seen then - or seen since.
It is one of Yasuka Kondo’s earliest memories.
“It was so sudden,” she recalled. “It was so instant and devastating.”
She was there the day the first nuclear weapon was used in the world.
War tore down her city of Hiroshima. Peace rebuilt and now redefines it.
“It’s a place where people from all over the world come and find peace of mind,” explained Hugh Cann. He was born in Australia, but has been living in Japan for more than 20 years. He guides tours and shares the history of the city.
It is a city that chose to hold onto reminders of the human cost of war. The bombed-out shell of a dome that was once a center piece of Hiroshima is part of the landscape of downtown.
Survivor Kiyomi Kono is glad it’s there.
"It is the last remaining thing that is a reminder and it is important,” she said.
The reminders around Hiroshima are not to instigate resentment, but to inspire ongoing reconciliation. It is meant to show the devastation of war and the power of peace.
“I hope people will never have to experience what I did,” Kondo said.
It is Hiroshima’s plea to the world.
The sound of the peace bell is a message of peace that is a consistent part of daily life.
“It reaches into the notion of peace and brotherhood,” Cann said.
The bell has become part of the melody of the city the world came to know on Aug. 6, 1945.
Kondo will never forget.
“I was 4 years old and I was playing near a river with my older sister,” she recalled. “It was 8:15 in the morning and there was this flash, and we were all totally astonished by it.”
“Survivors say it was like any other morning,” Cann added. “People were going about their business heading to work and kids were going to school.”
Then, it was as if the world stopped.
US aircraft Enola Gay dropped an untested atomic bomb, nicknamed “Little Boy,” to end World War II.
“The nuclear bomb created absolute destruction,” Cann described. "It was unlike anything in the history of warfare. Anyone within the first hundred meters of the blast was instantly vaporized.”
In the hours after the bombing, Kono remembers walking with her family trying to find a safe place.
“It was like walking through hell. I will never forget the scenes that were before my eyes,” she said.
They made their way towards a hospital.
“We began to see people with their clothes in tatters and skin dripping off their bodies,” she remembered. “When we arrived in the city, we were stepping over bodies.”
Seventy-thousand people died instantly. Within four months, the number of people who died from injuries from the bomb doubled to some 140,000.
“I had another cousin who was 4 years old at the time of the bombing. He later developed leukemia and died," Kono said.
In the years that followed, tens of thousands more died from cancer and radiation sickness.
There is a museum in Hiroshima where people come to learn about that day. It shares the stories of people who died and messages from survivors.
Kondo visits often and volunteers to guild children through the peace park.
"When I walk through, I can’t help but be reminded of what happened.”
She said she wants the generations to follow to know her story.
“I hope people will never have to experience what I did.”
The people of Hiroshima have made the darkness of the past, part of a hopeful message for the future.
"I pray for peace across the world, which is something I feel strongly about," Kondo said.