KURATE (JAPAN): It’s the kind of visit that makes people pause and reflect, offering a deeply moving insight into one of humanity’s darkest chapters.A group of young Indian footballers, who are here for the Reliance Football Development League (RFDL) exhibition tour in Japan, were left with a sobering experience after they paid a visit to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum on Saturday. During the last days of World War II, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan – “Little Boy” on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and “Fat Man” on Nagasaki three days later – completely destroying both cities and killing hundreds of thousands of people. “When I was a student, I had read about this tragedy of the largest scale. But now seeing the pictures here and feeling how humanity suffered on a day like this has left me speechless,” FC Goa youth team coach Israil Gurung told TOI.“At the same time, the museum also offers a timely education in how Japan was able to get back on its feet despite having suffered such destruction of humanity and became a world power again. This is an important lesson even from a sports perspective. No matter how great the fall is, if you have the desire and strong willpower, nothing stops you from recognizing and restoring the message of my player. place,” remarked Gurung, a former winger and I-League winner with Churchill Brothers.Bengaluru FC Reserves players under Renedy Singh and Punjab FC youth team under Praveen Kumar also joined their FC Goa counterparts in the museum tour.“Behind every photograph in the museum, behind every item displayed here, there is a story and a reminder of how life could be changed in a matter of seconds,” said Punjab FC coach Praveen. According to him, such large-scale destruction caused by nuclear weapons must always be avoided.“We learned about the darkest chapters of history through this visit. War cannot be the solution to our problems and we must live in a peaceful coexistence,” he added. The three Indian youth teams, who finished in the top three of the 2025-2026 RFDL, have already played two matches each against the Japanese U-18 sides.Their final round games are on Monday. (The writer is in Japan at the invitation of RFDL.)