The mayor of Hiroshima writes a letter to protest each nuclear test ever since. A few of these have been addressed to Bush II. That�fs right: even though the US no longer conducts above-ground nuclear testing, it still conducts a number of �gsub-critical�h nuclear tests each year. I�fd researched arms policy and debated the merits of so-called �emutually assured destruction�f before, but it somehow seems hard to justify after seeing something like this.

Outside we saw the actual A-Bomb Dome, once the rotunda of a large conference hall but reduced to the metal frame when the bomb detonated nearby. The ghostly image has been preserved today much as it was that fateful day.

It wasn�ft all gloomy though: We also got to see the collections of thousands paper cranes sent from children all over the world. Decades ago, a bomb victim named Sayoko was dying of leukemia but believed a legend that if she could fold a thousand paper cranes she�fd recover. Which she did from her hospital bed, including some so small she had to fold them with a needle. She still died, but she inspired children from her school and around the world to fold their own paper cranes and send them to Hiroshima, where they�fve been collected ever since.