Los Alamos Historical Society team, from left, Stephanie Yeamans, Judith Stauber and Kallie Funk with Director Akitoshi Nakamura Friday at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. Courtesy photo
Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum Director Akitoshi Matsuo explaining Fat Man replica. Courtesy photo
LAHM team Kallie Funk, Judith Stauber and Stephanie Yeamans at nuclear weapons development exhibit. Courtesy photoBlog Entry By Kallie Funk, Judith Stauber, Stephanie Yeamans
Los Alamos Historical Museum
Friday, April 8, our Los Alamos Historical Society team met with Director Akitoshi Nakamura and six other staff of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. We were offered tea, spent a short time getting to know one another, and received several gifts from Director Nakamura.
Following the formal boardroom meeting, we were taken on a guided tour of the museum led by Director of the A-Bomb Heritage Section Takashi Matsuo. The museum exhibits emphasize verification of the fires, heat rays, blast, and radiation caused by the atomic bomb. The permanent exhibit begins with life in Nagasaki before the atomic bomb and ends with relief efforts and survivor testimonies facing each other on parallel walls.
A separate exhibit space outlines the history of nuclear weapons development and features a geopolitical framework for events that led up to the dropping of the world’s first atomic bombs. This area includes specific reference to the Manhattan Project and Los Alamos, topics that are left unmentioned in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.
On a second tour we were led through the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims by Director Masanobu Chita. The memorial’s central focus is the Hall of Remembrance containing a registry of all the names of Nagasaki’s atomic bomb victims. We were moved through the Hall’s symbolic, glass pillars to an altar space and directed to offer a prayer for the souls of the victims. We were officially escorted throughout the museum and memorial spaces by the staff team and our tours were well documented by photographers from the museum and Japan’s Kyodo news service.
We look forward to building this new museum-to-museum relationship and hope to have a future opportunity to welcome the Nagasaki staff to Los Alamos.
LAHM team with members of Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum’s staff. Courtesy photo
Twelve pillars and registry in Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims. Courtesy photo
