Had breakfast at the Toyoko-Inn this morning. Jeff brought his tray up to the room so I decided to go down and get my own. I got my food (rice, sausages, roll, pickled stuff) and headed for the elevator. "Sumimasen!" Oh crap, busted!! She told me I wasn't supposed to do that so I had to sit in the lobby alone and eat my breakfast... I called Jeff and he said "could you bring me some more sausages when you're done" - I smuggled a few up in a cup. He always gets away with that kid of stuff...
We headed out from our hotel to the station and just happened to have perfect timing for the Hiroshima train. Had we missed it we'd have had an hour wait. Didn't plan that, it just worked out!
First stop was the A-Bomb Memorial. We walked around Peace park taking pictures. Had a man come chat with us at the child's memorial. Just asked where we were from, practicing English is what I suspect. Then some school kids showed up and we asked top be in their class picture - they loved that!! Probably not as much as we did though.
The first building of the memorial has all of the names of those who died, including American POW's. We looked through the list of names and came across one guy named John Long. Long is a family name of mine so I have to find out if maybe there was some relation. It was so sad to see all of the names of the people who died. There are stations setup to read actual accounts from people who were there. It makes your heartache.
On the way to the museum we had 2 sets of school kids run up to us and ask if they could ask us a few questions. They wanted to know where we were from, could we speak any Japanese and if yes what could we say. They gave us a little origami crane. We gave them Seattle pins. We then walked quickly to the museum as tons of kids were eyeing us. Jeff had read that the kids come there for school and are told to try and speak to Americans to work on their English. It was cute but could have kept us there for hours. You could hear them b/c they would literally run towards you. :)
The museum is pretty big, much bigger than it looks. It only cost about 50 cents to go through the whole thing. The exhibit explains the war and how it all started. They never blame America for anything in the exhibit. Noone was weird to us or anything. They blame the tragedy on war and they even say they started it. There position now is peace and they even have a flame going that won't go out until every nuclear bomb is gone. The pictures were graphic, which really is necessary b/c you just can't imagine how horrible such a bomb could be. Their skin was burned off and even melting off of some people. I'm not the history buff that Jeff is but this museum was interesting and you really feel so sad after witnessing what these people had to go through. Nuclear war looks like a horrible, horrible thing to put anyone through.
After the museum we headed for lunch as the museum took a few hours and we were hungry. On our way out of the park we wanted to get a picture of the Japanese flag blowing. The wind had died down so we sat down to wait a bit. These 2 women approached us and we just assumed they wanted to practice English... yeah no, they were Jehovah's Witnesses and they wanted to talk to us about peace and God. We indulged them, I even read a Bible verse for her. She wasn't pushy so that was good. We took her pamphlet and then went on our way. It was so weird and unexpected... I had no idea Jehovah's Witnesses were here too.
The shopping arcade is where we ended up finding lunch... and a few souvenirs (toys for Abby!). We had the "Japanese Pizza" which was delicious!! It's a flat pancake with cabbage, spices, meat, sauce, egg and more spices - it was great! We ate it right off the griddle. It was super filling though as we both had one. It also goes perfect with beer!
We started to head back, hopped on the wrong tram, finally got on the correct one and then headed for the train station. A massage and bath are in my near future!!
Pictures have been taking forever to upload but here are the last few days worth.
Day 7,
Day 8 and
Day 9! Captions will have to come when we get back as it's so time consuming right now and this computer takes a bit long at times... Sorry about that. Oh and our picts aren't always in order as we have 2 cameras going at all times and they don't always synch up when I upload the, Yet again, time consuming... When I get back I plan to organize them all.
Also, if you leave comments and don't want to be anonymous you'll have to sign up for an account. Jeff wanted me to make sure to tell you all that. However, being anonymous is ok, just leave your comment and then sign your name. :)
P.S. Mom, there is this drink that I discovered that you would love, it's Royal Milk Tea and it's basically a cold version of our yummy milk tea we love to drink!! I'll have to search for it in Seattle and we'll enjoy it when you come visit next!
I remember when I first learned about the A-Bomb in school and ever since then I have had this urge to visit Hiroshima. At 8:15am on August 6th 1945, Hiroshima became the first city on earth to have an atomic dropped on it. It is estimated that more than 140,000 people perished by the end of 1945 as a direct result of this horrible, then new, technology. As of 2009, it is estimated that more than 300,000 people have died as a direct result of the A-Bomb. Now, when I lived in Hawaii, we always saw Japanese visitors at Pearl Harbor and I wondered why there were so many. After visiting Hiroshima, I now know why. To the Japanese, Pearl Harbor was the spark that ended in the fireballs over Hiroshima on August 6th and Nagasaki on August 9th. For many, they feel compelled to pay their respects and to try to better understand the Japanese government policies of WWII. To say that Hiroshima is a moving place is an extreme understatement. While walking through the Peace Park or visiting the National Memorial Hall, you can not help but feel a little choked-up. We took well over 100 photos - mostly without us in them because it is hard to smile for a photo in this amazing place. Hiroshima today is world renowned for it's peace efforts across the globe. In fact, each time a nuclear device is tested in any of the "nuclear-states", the Mayor of Hiroshima sends that country's President an official Letter of Protest. The keep of record of these letters in the Peace Memorial Museum and there are currently well over 300 - it is most sobering and unnerving.
Not all is doom and gloom in Hiroshima. There are vast numbers of school children who take field trips there from all corners of Japan. We actually got to take a photo with a group of children which was absolutely amazing. We then were approached by other small groups of kids who wanted to ask us questions in English. They gave us paper cranes as gifts (this is symbolic of Hiroshima on so many levels) and in return we gave them some Seattle pins we were carrying with us. The kids brightened our day big time! Oh yeah - the Jehovah Witnesses are alive and well in Hiroshima - they are not nearly as pushy as in the states which was nice. As a history buff and former military brat, I had a greater understanding of the events that led up to August 6th and after - I felt like I truly connected with this place and I will never forget my thoughts and emotions. We spent almost 5 hours wandering throughout the park, memorials, museum, and hall. It is a vivid reminder of the destruction that mankind can do unto himself and hopefully the generations to come can learn from this important lesson - I strongly believe that the school children being present was a positive sign.
