Another Big step of Retail Banking in Thailand #Financial industry Thailand #No fee #Fee removal

Risa Hemtasilpa 02-04-2018

September last year, Commonwealth Bank announced that withdrawal fee from other banks’ customers is removed. It is another significant move in the banking industry of Australia since it forced other banks to follow suit.

When I heard this news, I thought that abolishing transaction fees is difficult in Thailand. Why?

Because Transaction fee is the second largest income and some banks have a high portion of non-interest income which is approximately 40% of total operating revenue. On the other hand, only 24% of Commonwealth bank’s income comes from non-interest earning; together with the downward trend of fee collection in a cashless society, makes an effect of fee removal in Australia less than banks in Thailand.

Surprisingly, there is a Fee(phe)nomenon in the banking industry of Thailand at present. It is starting with the Big four banks: SCB, KBank, KTB and BBL unveil “No Fee” campaign. The campaign removes fee from top four frequent transactions via digital channels¹ –different banks and different zone money transfer, bill payment, and money top up - forced other banks to follow.

“No Fee” is not new in Thailand, but it usually is used by smaller banks to attract customers. However, Thailand is still a cash base society which means people consider wide coverage of ATMs and branches and stability as a top priority. Therefore, no fee from small banks can attract only a tiny share of the wallet, but it is not powerful enough to change clients’ main bank.

Three possible main factors stimulate final decision of cutting fee;  

First is digitisation trend. Growing of Fintech has poked banking industry to be more active.  Banks in Thailand have developed mobile applications and internet banking to match consumers’ lifestyle. Building up innovative image, reducing operation cost and decreasing traffic in branch also reasons that banks encourage people to do the transactions via online and self-service machine.

The other factor is promoting cashless society from government. In July 2016, the government released Prompt pay campaign and encouraged people to link their identity number or mobile phone number to bank accounts. Free money transfer for the first 5,000 THB. to the Prompt pay account was offered, and 10 THB. was the highest charge for higher volume. All banks actively tried to maintain their customers’ base and number of transactions since one number can link only one bank account.

The one who lost the number of transactions to competitors, the only way to win back is about the fee.

The last one is competitor movement. Middle-income segment and above are being customers of more than one bank. Moreover, the fee is a sensitive issue for them. If two banks are stable, deliver good service and convenience, they will go for the one that offers the lowest fee or higher saving interest rate.  

What effect of this fee(phe)nomenon?

1.    Prompt pay: People will link Prompt pay only for receiving a tax refund or other benefits from the government while they can choose to do the transaction with other banks.

2.    Small banks: It is such as nightmare for small banks since fee cannot use as a trigger anymore. They need to differentiate themselves rather than jump into the fee war and tradeoff lost.

3.    Bill payment: Some supermarkets and convenience stores have bill payment service which previously charges a lower rate than banks. Now it’s time to reconsider their strategy.

4.    Money top up for mobile phone: the bank is going to grab some share from other service providers.

This is another step of financial industry’s competition in Thailand. How some types of fee removal affect the bank? How much transaction growth in digital channels? What type of income that they will boost up and what strategy that they will implement in this situation? Will cost reduction from digital migration strategy pay off? All questions are exciting to find out, aren’t they?

Note:

¹ SCB and BAY offer free of charge for money withdrawal from cardless ATM.

Reference:

ANZ. (2017). ANZ annual report 2017.

Bangkokbiz (2018). Fierce competition for fee reduction. Krungsri offers pay bills with Krungsri gets 5 THB cash back. Retrieved from http://www.bangkokbiznews.com/news/detail/797319.

Bank Of Thailand (2016). Prompt pay. Retrieved from https://www.bot.or.th/Thai/PaymentSystems/PSServices/PromptPay/Pages/default.aspx.

Brand Buffet (2018). SCB bluffed “It is not just a No Fee promotion, but it is Fee cancellation”. Retrieved from https://www.brandbuffet.in.th/2018/03/scb-kbank-free-fees-digital/.

Commonwealth Bank. (2017). Commonwealth Bank annual report 2017.

Hawke, S. (2017). ATM fees dropped by the big four banks. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-24/commonwealth-bank-and-westpac-axe-atm-fees-for-non-customers/8979250.

KBank. (2017). Kasikornbank annual report 2017.

SCB. (2017). Siam Commercial Bank annual report 2017.

What different between Banks in Thailand and Australia

What different between Banks in Thailand and Australia

Risa Hemtasilpa 03-09-17

Yesterday I went to open a bank account in Australia and I noticed several differences in the two countries

First, there are not many customers in Australian bank branches and after opening the account, staffs will activate the mobile application and said: "Next time you don’t need to come to the branch you can do it online, it’s very convenience". The branch role seems to change from transaction base to Advisory focus. While in Thailand, you can see people line up in bank branches especially during lunch time and in the evening. Thai people trust more on bank staff in doing the financial transaction for them and they also need evidence of transaction from the bank; even though banks in Thailand are trying to migrate some transactions to digital.

Second No fee for the debit card, in Thailand fee is applied for the debit card; while in Australia, we can get debit card for free of change and also we can choose colour in some banks.

Third, some banks in Australia have a condition to having at least $2,000 go in the bank every month otherwise you will be charged $5 per month for saving fee. In contrast, Thailand has a condition that you need to have at least 2000 Bath in each bank account to avoid saving fee.

Fourth, In Australia people can avoid paying withdrawal fee by cash out from a cashier in stores, while in Thailand the only way to withdraw money from a debit card is ATMs.

Fifth, Internet saving account is offered from most banks in Australia with saving interest benefit while normal saving account with a debit card does not have an interest rate. In Thailand, only a few banks offer Internet saving account. The most well-known Internet account is TMB ME with talk of the town campaign “4 times saving interest rate”. In addition, even though saving account has the very low-interest rate, but there is some.

Sixth, Letter that comes to the house is plain letter without Bank logo. By doing this, it can prevent some identity thief issue who will randomly open your post box to find some new cards or pin arrival. In Thailand, Brand Logo is printed on envelope to help customers identify information in the letter.

Finally, card activation, in Australia customers can activate their cards via online banking or scanning card in mobile application; while in Thailand there are 2 ways of card activation, first is by call centre and the second is by SMS

It seems like developed countries’ banking innovation is way forward from Thailand; however, all innovations need time to adopt. People in different country have different environment, concern, personality, adoption sensitiveness and level of education. As a consequence, one which is suitable for one country may not work or too fast to implement in another country.

How to create memorable TV advertisement in information flood world

Risa Hemtasilpa 31-10-15

From my research experience about memorable TV Ad, I found that there are three common types of Ad story that make people recall ad easily.

First is Funny Advertising, Funny story make people want to follow and watch the ad until it complete. Nowadays people have bombard by advertisement and information, hence it is more difficult for advertising company to create attractive ad and make the message cut through audience.

Source : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gia9f7Vxvuo

Second is emotional story, as we know that emotional story can engage people through their sensitivity. The impressed story will build word of mouth as well as brand recognition. However this kind of story is suit for brand that want to create company image or brand awareness rather than sell.

Source : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZMX6H6YY1M

Third, ‘Good thought’ story, to change consumer behavior by convincing them to do what you want, ad content should make them think and get away from their familiarity. TMB no fee is a good example of this type of TV ad. The content reminds people why they have to pay for something that supposed to be FREE! The man in black suit earns money from public parking lot, public street, and try to get fee from financial transaction. The ad presents differentiate of TMB which offer no fee service.

Source : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYlGilQ_8oA

And after my trip at Singapore, I found that almost all ads in theater are Good thought content. The one that I like tell story about Singaporean athletes who try hard in practicing and aim to be a champion for their country with Que sera sera song as a background. Then it end up with sentence “The Future is not what our to see but it is what our to create”

As we know content is King! However creative content need to base on objective of ad. Moreover the ad will not effective if audience cannot recognize brand of Ad. In addition, in this information flood era, people have less attention to something that they are not interested.

There are two ways that ad agency can use;

1.        Making message cut through audience within first 5 sec. of Ad.

 2.       If the message is at the end of Ad… your story need to grab attention of audience by interesting story and easy understanding which make people follow your ad until reach message that you want to communicate.

3 characteristic of ME Generation and how to catch this market

3 characteristic of ME Generation and how to catch this market

     Risa Hemtasilpa 18-07-15

Who is Gen ME

Gen ME or Millennial is called for generation of people who was born between 1980 and 2000

Characteristic of Gen ME are

1. self-confident and independent

Marriage and children are second-tier concern since the generation believe that they can live on their own and need more time to enjoy their life. Regarding to Goldman Sachs research, median marriage age is significant higher from 23 years old in 1970s to 30 years old in 2010s. Moreover nowadays couple or individual prefer to live separately from their parents to have their own space. Nuclear family tends to be higher. Convenience and freedom is accounting on main reason for people who rent condo or apartment rather than live in parent house.

2. Stage is needed

Advance technology, Internet and plenty of ‘How to’ resources, Millennial is able to learn and improve their skills faster. Consequently, they thirst for stage and show off their talent. This could be proved by popularity of talent- related game shows in Thailand such as AF(Academy Fantasia) which on air for 10 seasons already, The Star(11 seasons) and Thailand got talent etc.

3. Me focus  

A Number of self-video posts on Youtube, Selfie phenomenon and check-in on Facebook are example of this characteristic. People publish what they are doing, what they think, what they like and so on on Social network to tell other people about their self-identity.

Behaviour of Gen ME in online shopping and smart phone usage

Remark: Survey from Thailand marketing research society conducted amongst people in age 15-69 years old in 9 countries (Australia, Newzeland, Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand) with 8,933 samples

Products and how to promote your product for Gen ME

·         Create campaign that Gen ME can share their self-identity together with able to share in social media.

·         Communicate through Gen ME media channel such as Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Line and review article on community platform eg. Pantip. And celebrity endorsements for them are net idols, popular local designer IG, and superstar who has clear image etc.

·         Like and Share 

Use power of social media and make them like and share your products, this is the best way to build awareness, and following by their usage.  

      Example

Smule Application is Karaoke application which you can sing along with your favorite singer; for instance, Flash light from Jessie J.  This serves Gen ME in various angle such as able to share, being a place to show their talent and self-identity.

Line Marketing  many companies create Line character sticker to send new product and information direct to customers. Line application is very popular, especially in Asia. Regarding to Line official mentioned that 5 countries which are most active in Line application after it hits 400 million users; namely,

         -  Japan

         -  Thailand

         -  Indonesia 

         -  India

         -  Taiwan

     (Line official blog 2014)

So communication through Line in above countries tends to reach customers better.

Ps. Line doesn’t reach only Millennial but also baby boomer.

Reference : 

1. Line 2014, Line now has 400 million registered users,<http://official-blog.line.me/en/archives/1001168967.html>

2. Goldman Sach 2015, Millennials coming of Age, <http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/pages/millennials/>

3. Video เสียใจแต่ไม่แคร์ ฮาสุดๆ, post by fern montira, published on 13 May 2012, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5iHxQvS-Rs>

4. ASTV 2013, แนะเจ้าของแบรนด์สินค้าปรับตัวรับกลุ่ม Gen ME, published 12 November 2013, <http://www.manager.co.th/iBizChannel/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID=9560000140691>

Another step of Loyalty Program with Personalised marketing

Another step of Loyalty Program with Personalised marketing

Risa Hemtasilpa 8-11-14

Marketing strategy has moved from one-to-many, many-to-one, many-to-many and now to each individual. Personalised marketing is applied to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. The study from Cisco shows that 69% of U.S. customers are willing to give their bank more personal information so as to get personalized service.  

Talking about loyalty program, normally loyalty program is about giving rewards, discount coupon and reward point to loyal brand customers. Companies aim to maintain their loyal customers since maintain customers spend less cost than acquire new customers. However those loyalty offers sometime useless in customers’ perception. Have you ever got discount coupon on what you don’t need?, Have you ever felt that the reward you got is some kind of trick making you spend more? To step beyond expectation, companies should offer product and service on customer need base and personalized is the point!

Company can create personalized reward from customer historical purchase data; for example, promote event that specific to a user, remind anniversary of his/her first purchase with you, send happy birthday card or gift card etc.

Case study on retail industry :

Tesco Lotus

In Thailand, Tesco offer discount coupon for customers who have Tesco Lotus club card. The amount of discount is depending on point in the card and the point is transferred into different amount of discount in specific product. Sometime I feel like I waste my point for nothing since the product they offered are not what I usually buy. However one day I noticed that the coupon I got offered discount for products that I bought in my latest visit… I was surprised…!!! (but I’m not sure whether it use personalized marketing or just a co-incidence.)

Burberry

Burberry is accounting on the best omni-channel retail strategy amongst UK retailers (Webcredible 2012). It personalized service experience comes from customer’s purchase historical data which staffs can access from their ipad on hands. In addition, customers can also log in to their ‘My Berberry’ and see their latest search items to help them making decision.

Case study in Banking :

Deniz bank

In a video posted in Youtube, Deniz bank track customer’s journey and offer specific promotion to them; for instance, Ms. A always go shopping in Europe on sale season, the bank send notification about sale period and special promotion when spending credit card in Europe for her etc.

WellsFargo

Besides favourite button on ATM screen based on each customers’ transaction, the bank also introduced it’s ATM cash tracker. The feature allows customers to track their transaction including past transaction and average over the past 12 months.  

Garanti Bank

Garanti bank in Turkey launched mobile application which help customers monitor their financial health. The cash track barometer display customer’s spending pattern and warning when they overspend money.

Reference :

Camhi J 2013, Banks fall short on delivering personalized service for customers, study finds. <http://www.banktech.com/data-and-analytics/banks-fall-short-on-delivering-personalized-service-for-customers-study-finds/d/d-id/1296317?>

Yurcan B 2013, Wells Fargo Launching Personalised ATMs, <http://www.banktech.com/channels/wells-fargo-launching-personalized-atms/d/d-id/1296164?>

Deniz Bank <Deniz bank, June 2014 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Srrn8Y_wVLI>

CEB 2014, Innovation of the Month: How Garanti Bank’s Mobile App Embraces Lessons from Disruptors.

Webcredible 2012, omni-channel customer experience

Gamification in Banking

Gamification in Banking

Risa Hemtasilpa  27-07-14

Generation Y is focused by many banks as various reasons;

1.  Increase in number of Gen Y, number of people in young age in Thailand is accounting on 16 million, while in 2015 number of Gen Y estimated to be 75% of world population (ASTV 2013).

2. It is one way that bank can build up relationship with people in their young age. We have an assumption that familiarity and relationship would made the bank becomes top of mind bank and bank selection.

3. People give reason of using one bank as main bank since they have been using the particular bank for a long time. Consequently, the quicker bank enters to their life, the higher opportunity bank becomes their main bank.

However Gen Y customers are not really associate with branch, they would go to bank branch only two times a year… Yes, when they have to pay tuition fee! 

Banks try to find a way to appeal this customer segment and Rajashekara V. Maiya, associate vice president & principal-Finacle product strategy at Infosys, said that gaming is pervasive among members of generation Y (Ryan 2013). Then gamification trend begins.

I have examples of banks who are using game to create customer experience as following;

BBVA :

created game to educate people in using online banking. Activities that customers do in the game or each transaction that customers do through BBVA online banking website grants point for users to redeem gifts such as music, film downloads or discounts.

In addition, the result of the launch is interesting, BBVA game has attracted over 120000 users in only 11 months and number of Facebook fans and twitters has multiplied by 15 timers from the start of the project.

OCBC :

                          

bank has released “PlayMoolah” which educate children on financial responsibility. The special point of this game is points can be earned and donate to charity.

Commonwealth bank :

Commonwealth bank released Investorville which is a simulation of property investment. It explain first-time buyers of process and consequence of their financial decisions, taxes and impact of different type of loans.

Turning to Thailand, KBank (Kasikorn Bank) launched Facebook game called ‘KSME start up’ in 2010. It is a business simulation which people can practice their business management in the game.

Currently (2014), KBank (no.1 in Digital banking) cooperate with Line corporation and True move (no.1 in 3G network) release new game called Line Let’s get rich and it has a very good feedback.

After it launched the game, it can achieve the highest number of download and increase continually.

                         

                           

KBank is moving parallel with consumer behavior and trend.  Statistic shows that there are 24 million people in Thailand use Line application which is accounting on the second highest of the world (ASTV 2014). As a result, this is time to move further from Facebook to Line! Even though SCB was the first bank who launched Line sticker with its own character, KBank seems to win back with its Brown&Cony sticker and now Line game. However now I do not see any role of KBank in this game except its small logo at the starting point pretending to be money provider (which may over look). I will keep an eye on how it engages this financial game image to the brand and improve customer engagement or at least develop brand awareness and business friendly perception.

The activities could be

1. Improve its role in the game eg. KBank reward for players who can make green line cities, or being a helpful bank

2. Advertising notification when people turn on the game about KBank activities such as let’s get rich seminar. (the advertisement must not about banking products which would create negative perception of the bank in hard sell)

3. Since the game is about buying property, KBank could have property investment seminar or how to get rich seminar etc.

Reference

Phillip Ryan 2013, 5 Signs Financial innovation is better in Asia,

< http://www.bankinnovation.net/2013/11/5-signs-financial-innovation-is-better-in-asia/>

Kevin Shane 2013, http://www.gamification.co/2013/12/19/augmented-reality-games-for-bank-engagement/

Jonathan Camhi 2013, 5 banks leading the way in gamification, http://www.banktech.com/data-and-analytics/5-banks-leading-the-way-in-gamification/d/d-id/1296142?page_number=6

Positioning Magazine, KBank launch SME Startup city, media released Novemeber 2010.                      

ASTV 2014, ‘Line’ entering online game market after open subagent in Thailand, media released March 2014, http://www.manager.co.th/Cyberbiz/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID=9570000034795

http://www.manager.co.th/iBizchannel/viewNews.aspx?NewsID=9560000126385

Social Media … reason why Service failure recovery becomes more important

Social Media … reason why Service failure recovery becomes more important

Risa Hemtasilpa 01-05-14

For service business, Service failure recovery is a must thing to focus on. Why? Because nature of service depends on individual, and quality is difficult to control. As social media becomes one of daily activity which people all of the world involve with,  service failure tracking needs to do as fast as possible; especially in Thailand.

In Thailand, Click, Share and Comment are popular activities on social media. People addicted to consume other’s information via both social media and websites such as Pantip. “Drama” and “beautiful world” are the words that could give you a sign that what Thai people today like to consume.  Thai people create words on what they are consuming or engaging with. “Drama” means sad story of other people and “beautiful world” called person who think too positive and close their eyes from the truth that real world also has bad side. Consequently, bad experiences are counted on one of drama which means people like to share and consume…. Which also means the negative WOM and impact on social media will spread big and quick.

    

 This statement could prove by a survey from Positioning Magazine, showing percentage of people behavior when they face bad service. The result shows 51 % of people in Thailand will share negative experience online, which is a significant higher than world average (26%)! This also reflect nature of Thai people they are introvert (They don’t like to reveal what they think and also their negative emotion).

At first I think that why people complain online in their Facebook or Pantip, doing this cannot solve their problem at the first place. Face to face complain once the problem occur can get recover faster and easier. However I understand all things on the next day, the day that I went to have a service at one bank near my house. I asked about fee of transfer money from different province account via mobile banking and the staff ended up with the answer “I don’t know, I’ve never used this application”. What! Common this is just a basic question that bank staff should know and even she doesn’t know she should ask others or her senior rather than answer this to customer. I was about to tell her that there is no fee if transferring via mobile after I tried it myself but she was on phone talking to her friend about herself?!?! After the transaction finish I want to comment it on Facebook or Pantip immediately and I truly understand that why people chose to comment online…sometime is not about nature of characteristic but it is about opportunity to make a comment or sometime it’s useless to make a comment to person who has not have service mind.

The solution for service business in Thailand nowadays to prevent negative social media share is to create ways to track service failure as fast as possible and recover it before customers leave the company to comment on social network. What company do today makes them get feedback too late such as mystery shopping and call back to let customers give service score which research result will release a few weeks later or at the end of the month etc.

Reference : Positioning Magazine, Part 1 Consumers are not loyalty and 80% of Thai people are ready to switch brand, released on 19 Mar 2014.

New Mobile Application for loyalty program

New Mobile Application for loyalty program

Risa Hemtasilpa  26-04-14

There are many tactics for loyalty programs such as loyalty card, reward point, stamp paper card etc.; however all of those tactics are willing to attract customers to shop/buy more often.

In Thailand you can see stamp paper card in almost all small shops and restaurants, while loyalty card will be provided in supermarket or department store.

Talking about stamp card, have you ever lost some/or forgot to bring some when you nearly reach a promotion point? Have you ever feel annoy when see a lot of paper cards in your wallet?

There is a new mobile application developed in Thailand for solve this concern! It’s called “getmystamp”. While other apps use QR code scanning, this app use stamp tool which look like a pen to stamp it in your phone. Even though this app has launched since 2012, I have never heard about it until Citibank credit card promotes this app and I saw the ad on dining table in one restaurant and I found it’s interesting.           

Let’s see how it work

You can download this app in app store on your phone.

Inside.. the app categorized your activities and shops which join the promotion. For me, I use Citibank credit card and it’s such a useful app, gathering all promotion shops of Citibank in one place.

After I pay by card and reach restaurant condition, they will stamp the point on my phone.

And this is the result…How cute is it!

It’s good to see Citibank join this activity, but I don’t think people will prefer this rather than directly discount on the bill. Personally, this application is more suitable for shops/restaurants, but not for the credit card product. Consumers today are spoiled by promotions, people have low patient and want to get something with bigger value by spending less effort. People prefer direct discount rather than point exchange to discount as some banks are doing. This one is even worse… no discount, just normal point from card spending. Nowadays credit card acquiring is very competitive, there are many card offer in various restaurants. As a result, credit card promotion launch should be innovative and impressive to customers. 

นอกเรื่อง ตอน...Hiroshima เมืองประวัติศาสตร์แห่ง Atomic Bomb

               ญี่ปุ่นเป็นเมืองที่มีความ creative หลายๆอย่าง ไม่ว่าจะเป็นรายการทีวี เช่น ทีวีแชมป์เปี้ยน ที่คนไทยติดทั่วบ้านทั่วเมือง เพราะไม่เพียงแต่เป็นรายการที่ให้ความสนุกสนาน และความรู้สำหรับผู้ชมแล้ว ยังส่งเสริม สนับสนุนอาชีพ ความสามารถ และความสร้างสรรค์ของคนญี่ปุ่นอีกด้วย วันนี้มีโอกาสมาเที่ยวฮิโรชิมา ซึ่งเป็นเมืองหนึ่งทางตอนใต้ของญี่ปุ่น สังเกตเห็นว่าการ present เมือง แห่งประวัติศาสตร์โศกอนาตกรรมของเค้าทำได้อย่างล้ำลึก และน่าสนใจทีเดียว เมืองนี้ถ้าสังเกตดีๆ จะมีร่องรอยอดีตอยู่ในสถานที่ต่างๆ เช่น หิน, ต้นไม้, รูปปั้น, และอาคาร เป็นต้น  โดยเฉพาะ museum สถานที่พลาดไม่ได้ที่หนึ่งของฮิโรชิมา สิ่งแรกที่เจอคือสิ่งนี้ค่ะ 

แว๊บแรก คือก็เป็นสถาปัตกรรมทั่วไปที่อาจจะมีความหมาย abstract art artเล็กน้อยเหมือนๆกับพวกสถาปัตยกรรมในเมืองนอก แต่พอรู้ความหมายแล้วรู้สึกทึ่งไปเลยทีเดียว … ถ้าสังเกตดีๆ จะเห็นว่าเค้าตั้งใจทำมาเป็นรูปนาฬิกา เท่านั้นยังไม่พอ นาฬิกาดังกล่าวยังบ่งบอกเวลาเกิดเหตุ คือ 8.15น. เวลาที่ระเบิดนิวเคลียร์ลงฮิโรชิมา ความหมายแฝงยังมีมากกว่านั้นตรงที่หัวนาฬิกา ชี้ไปตรงจุดเกิดเหตุ เท่านั้นยังไม่พอ หิน อิฐ ที่อยู่บริเวณพื้นที่รอบๆน้ำพุ คืออิฐ หรือ กระเบื้องที่แตกจากเหตุการณ์จริง ณ ตอนนั้น ส่วนน้ำพุแสดงถึงเลือด และ น้ำตาของความสูญเสีย…แม่เจ้า ได้ยินอย่างนี้ไม่รู้สึกแปลกใจเลยที่ญี่ปุ่นให้กำเนิดโคนัน 5555 เกี่ยวมะ … พอเข้าไปข้างในอาคารแรก เป็นลักษณะห้องโถงใหญ่ ภายในตรงกลางห้องมีเจ้านาฬิกาย่อขนาดจากด้านนอกตั้งอยู่ รอบๆมีกระเปื้องเล็กๆถูกทำเป็นรูปตึกต่างๆ แสดงสภาพพื้นที่หลัง  Atomic bomb , ด้านล่างเป็น block ยาวๆ แสดงชื่อเมืองต่างๆของญี่ปุ่น ถ้ามาดูเอง คงจะดูแล้วก็ผ่านไป ไม่ได้รู้สึกอะไรเพียงแค่เห็นอานุภาพของนิวเคลียร์ที่ทำลายล้างจากรูปบนฝาเท่านั้น แต่ความหมายที่ล้ำลึก เมื่อได้ฟังจากปากไกด์วัย 70 (Kato Sung) ทำให้ความรู้สึกที่กลับออกไปทวีความเศร้ามากกว่าเดิมหลายเท่า ลุงคาโต้บอกว่า block ต่างๆพร้อมรายชื่อจังหวัดนั้นเมื่อดูกลับไปที่เจ้านาฬิกาขนาดย่อส่วนตรงกลางโถง บ่งบอกถึงความใกล้ ไกล ของเมืองที่กระทบจากการโดน bomb รายชื่อเมืองที่อยู่สูงขึ้นไป แทนเมืองที่อยู่ไกลออกไป ส่วนกระเบื้องชิ้นเล็กขนาดประมาณ 4 ตารางเซ็นติเมตร ที่ถูกนำมาประดิษฐ์เป็นรูปภาพนั้น แทน 1 ชีวิตที่ต้องสูญเสียจากเหตุการณ์ครั้งนั้น และกระเบื้องที่นำมาประกอบกันมีจำนวนทั้งสิ้น 140,000 แทน 140000 คน ฟังแค่นี้ ยังรู้สึกขนลุกไม่พอ มากไปกว่านั้นกระเบื้องที่เอามาทำจากส่วนผสมของอิฐจริงที่มาจากเหตุการณ์ bomb เรียกได้ว่า ประวัติศาสตร์ได้ฝังรากลึกลงไปในทุกอณูของสิ่งที่นำมาใช้เล่า และสื่อผ่านออกมาอย่างซาบซึ้งและลงตัว

พอเข้าไปด้านใน museum เค้าได้มีการนำเรื่องราวจริงของหลายๆคนที่อยู่ในเหตุการณ์นั้นมาเล่าในรูปแบบต่างๆ แต่ที่น่าขนลุก (อีกแล้ว) คือ ภาพจริง, สิ่งของเครื่องใช้ จริง จากเหตุการณ์ประวัติศาสตร์ ซึ่งคนที่มีชีวิตอยู่ต่างบริจาคมาเพื่อนำมาไว้ในพิพิธภัณฑ์แห่งนี้ ตลอดทางเดิน เราจะเห็นทั้งเสื้อเลอะเลือด, ขวดแก้วทรงบิดเบี้ยวที่กำลังจะละลาย, และ นาฬิกาข้อมือของใครคนหนึ่ง ที่หยุดเวลาไว้ที่ 8.15น. เป็นต้น ทุกอย่างมันทำให้เราเห็นภาพ ได้จินตนาการถึงเหตุการณ์จริง มันสลดมากที่เห็นภาพคนกำลังใช้ชีวิตปกติของตน และเพียงเวลาไม่นาน ความสูญเสีย ความหวาดกลัว ความเศร้า การโหยหวนร้องขอความช่วยเหลือดังระงมไปทุกหนทุกแห่ง คนที่โดนรังสีอาการหนักๆคือเนื้อย้อยละลาย, บางคนไหม้ดำ ผิวลอกออกมาเป็นเกล็ด คนที่โชคดีหน่อย คือมีชีวิตอยู่นั้น (ไม่รู้ว่าจะเรียกว่าโชคดีได้รึเปล่า) รังสีเคมีก็เข้าไปในร่างกายค่อยๆทำลายอวัยวะภายใน และอยู่กับพวกเค้าไปจนตายเสียแล้ว

ภาพนึงที่รู้สึกได้เลยถึงความไม่แน่นอนในชีวิต คือภาพจำลองของ shadow เป็นสถานการณ์ที่มีคนคนหนึ่ง กำลังนั่งรอธนาคารเปิดอยู่ที่บันใดซึ่งเป็นบันไดหิน ระหว่างนั้นได้เกิดเหตุการณ์ไม่คาดฝันขึ้น ทำให้ตัวเค้าถูกไหม้เกรียมเป็นสีดำ ในขณะที่รังสีทำให้พื้นหินเป็นสีขาว คงเหลือแค่รอยก้นบนพื้นหิน ที่เค้านั่งทับไว้เท่านั้น

นี่เป็นอีกภาพหนึ่งที่ได้มาจากในพิพิธพัณฑ์ ขอบอกว่าหลอนมากๆ ให้ลองเดาดูว่าเป็นภาพอะไร ............

นี่คือภาพของฝนสีดำบนฝาผนังสีขาว หลังเหตุการณ์ atomic bomb แม่เจ้า... มันมีผลกระทบถึงขนาดนี้หรอเนี่ยะ !!!!

หลังออกมาจาก museum เราได้เดินไปยัง Hiroshima castle ซึ่งระหว่างทาง เราพบตั้นยูคาลิปตัสต้นหนึ่งที่โคนเป็นสีดำและมีไม้ค้ำ ลุงคาโต้บอกว่า ต้นนี้เป็นต้นไม้ไม่กี่ต้นที่มีชีวิตอยู่หลังการ Bomb ครั้งนั้น พอเดินต่อไปอีกกน่อย เจอผนังก้อนหิน ซึ่งมีสีดำๆบางส่วน ลุงคาโต้บอกว่า อันนี้ก็เป็นร่องรอยของระเบิดเช่นกัน (แอบรูสึกโชคดีมากที่ได้มากับไกด์วัย 70 แต่แข็งแรงมากคนนี้ เพราะถ้ามาเอง คงจะไม่ได้รู้ หรือสังเกตสิ่งพวกนี้เลย)