At a house in Hiroshima, some people decided to spend the Golden Week holiday by doing a little spring cleaning in the late morning of 3 May. However, what started out as a tedious chore turned into a life-threatening situation as a piece of unexploded ordnance was found in one of the homeâs closets.
Despite their age dating back to World War II, these undetonated weapons can still go off and should not be touched, even in the slightest, unless by a trained professional. So they called the fire department, who sent word to the Ground Self-Defense Force 13th Division.
When the GSDF arrived they blocked off all surrounding traffic and carefully removed the weapon so that it could be safely exploded elsewhere. The projectile was said to be 27 centimeters (11 inches) long and 90 millimeters (3.5 inches) in diameter, weighing in at eight kilograms (18 pounds).
The shell was Japanese-made, but how it ended up in the closet of this particular house is unclear. However, it often seems as though these unexploded bombs are found in populated areas such as the one found 2 years ago in downtown Osaka.
This time, the ordnance was discovered about 4 kilometers south of JR Hiroshima Station in a residential area. Firefighters requested people evacuate their homes, but the area was successfully cleared by the afternoon.