SCGS - N.E. Nuggets

JAPAN TRIP

Sharing by Sarah Jean Mackenzie (3GY) and Cheryl Ang Cai Fang (3PR)

Hello everyone, we’re Sarah (from 3GY) and Cheryl (from 3PR) and we’re here today to share with you about our experience during the Media Arts Trip in Japan.

Last November, the two of us, together with twenty-six other girls and four teachers went off to Japan for a week. While we were there, we visited Tokyo and Hiroshima. Apart from visiting animae centres, attending manga-drawing lessons, we also had the precious opportunity to visit the Singapore Consulate in Tokyo and pay a courtesy call to the Hiroshima-Singapore Association in Hiroshima.

Hiroshima, in particular, opened our eyes to the atrocities of war and the importance of defending our nation in the face of danger. All of you know by now that Hiroshima is one of the two places in Japan hit by the atom bombs that were dropped by the USA in 1945, ending the second world war. We’ve also learnt about the atrocities the Japanese committed in Singapore, but what about the Japanese civilians who were hit by the bomb?

Well, when we went there, the first thing we learnt was the absolute brutality of it. In the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Museum we visited, we saw relics from the era of the blast- roof tiles that had bubbled because of the heat- and these are metal; burnt clothes and shattered remains of buildings and possessions.

We also saw pictures of bomb survivors and their injuries- mostly burns. The temperature in the area was over six thousand degrees Celsius when the bomb hit. They were really gruesome- really awful. Many of the accounts about people who survived the blast ended with the person dying afterwards, from radiation or injury.

That was sixty years ago.

This really hit home to us. We live in Singapore - a small country with limited resources to support an army- such as manpower, weaponry, technology and funding. Therefore it’s important for us to keep our defenses strong in other ways.

Especially with the volatile terrorist threats and challenges Singapore has faced in the last few years, we realize that these threats are no longer just confined in history books. There are real threats out there. And we need to always be on the alert.

And we must be constantly prepared. Just like our visit at the Singapore consulate in Tokyo, the Singaporean who showed us around and shared with us that one of his role in Tokyo was to maintain close relationships with the people there. This would lessen the chance of us being involved in a war and also ensure that will have allies if we do get caught up in fighting against wars such as terrorism. As students, we can play our part too. We can keep good diplomatic ties and build strong relationships with our friends from other countries.

The Japanese too are committed in maintaining strong ties with other countries. In the memorial park in Hiroshima, there’s a large bell- a peace bell, with a plaque that urges civilians to remember peace. The citizens of the bombed towns also sent a similar monument thousands of miles across the globe to the place the bomb was built, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to signify their commitment to peace.

It’s important that we’re ready in the event of war- it’s important that we’re constantly prepared so things like this could never happen to us. But it’s also important that we remember that everyone’s human- we can’t prosecute a generation for the crimes their ancestors committed. That’s an important part of being ready- if you forgive someone, they’re far more likely to lend you help in future times. Forgive- don’t forget- but forgive.

February 2009