Friday, April 4 - Hiroshima and Miyajima

That morning after a fairly decent sleep, I got up and headed to the breakfast room. I found out that Vaso had gotten up before me and already eaten by the time I got there. Breakfast was buffet style with eggs, salad, toast, pasta, sausage, and fruit. Since it was all-you-could-eat, I grabbed a plateful to make sure it tided me over until dinner that night. While I was eating we talked to this student from Okinawa (the resort island of Japan). He told us that we could come and visit any time we like. I love all these connections that we are making!



We decided to go check out the peace park. Ever since arriving in Hiroshima, I have been wondering how much of the city was leveled 63 years ago. It seemed like a nice normal city on the outside, but most of the buildings have been built after the bombing in 1945. After passing an art museum on the way there and seeing that it was closed, we decided instead to check out Hiroshima castle first. We figured that at least the gardens would be open.



The castle was just like any other, a giant moat on the outside with giant walls surrounding the castle grounds. There were lots of trees and paths that all eventually converged and went to the castle. I thought it was interesting that the only real building left was the castle itself, positioned on the north-eastern end of the garden, right beside the moat. That seems like some bad planning on their part. If I were to build a castle I would put it in the middle of the grounds, not by the edge of the moat. Anyways, we spent quite a bit of time there taking in the scenery and taking pictures. Two things of note were 2 trees that were around 700 meters from the atomic bomb when it was dropped. They were re-planted in the castle grounds and are still living after everyone thought they would wither. This was just one of the many things that reminded people all over the city of the bombing.



Inside the castle was a museum with various exhibits from Hiroshima. The coolest thing was the ability to wear classic Japanese armor and clothes for free. Vaso and I jumped on that opportunity, making a lot of natives turn their heads when they saw us. The rest of the castle was not terribly interesting, but it offered a great view of the city.



Next we headed to the peace park. Our first stop along the way was the Genbaku-dome (Atomic Bomb Dome). It is the closest building to the bomb that was still standing after everything was said and done. It used to be an art exhibit place where various treasures of Hiroshima were stored. The building was eventually marked as a national treasure and is now a symbol of peace.



We moved onto the peace park and came upon a giant plaza. The eternal flame, which supposedly has been kept burning since the bomb in 1945 was the first thing that we came upon. I thought it was interesting that we could not find any signs about it.



A little further down was the A-Bomb Cenotapth which contains the record of all of those who perished from the bombing.



Finally we went to the museum. There was no picture taking allowed, but most of the museum was exhibits with a lot of reading. They also had video’s playing all over the place of the bombing. Among the more interesting and sad things were pictures of victim’s wounds, destroyed belongings, and their stories afterwards. There were life size models of what it probably looked like just minutes after the bomb hit of people covered in blood, clothes tattered, and buildings in shambles. It looked like a picture right out of a zombie video game. The hardest thing to believe was that this happened 63 years ago. During that time, there were no computers, nobody had gone to space, Einstein was still alive, and my parents were not born yet. Even so, the destructive power of that one bomb is stunning. With the advent of technology in this day and age, I do not even want to think how the destructive the bombs are these days. All the people in New York or the 12 million in Tokyo could be dead in an instant if a bomb were dropped today. Needless to say, it was a really humbling and sad place.

Vaso and I did not talk much at all during our visit to the peace park.

We met outside and decided to get bento for lunch. The nearby place said that it would take them 30 minutes to make the rice for our lunch, so we ordered and went for a walk. We picked up some drinks, sat by the river for a while, and discussed what we were going to do next. Grabbing our bento, we returned to the spot beside the river.



We decided to go to Miyajima. It is an island a little off the coast of Hiroshima that has the famous red gate built in the middle of the ocean. When the tide is down, you can walk all the way to the gate, but when it comes in, the gate is inaccessible and makes a stunningly beautiful place. The fastest way to get to the island was a speedboat from one of the rivers in Hiroshima. We headed over there and asked about it. They told us that since it was Sakura season, they were giving cherry blossom tours during the day and we would have to wait until 6pm to go to Miyajima. Luckily, they were nice and told us another way to get there. We were supposed to hop on a train to a stop called Miyajima and then take a 10 minute boat ride over. Upon wandering around for a bit and finally stopping to ask someone, we found out that there is no train. There is a streetcar. Much like those of San Francisco, a little one car train runs on tracks in the middle of the main streets in Hiroshima. Cool. We hopped on one and took it to Miyajima. The ferry to the island was super cheap and owned by JR. A one way ticket cost 170 yen! ($1.70)!



The island was absolutely beautiful. It is extremely under-populated. Most of the people there are tourist who like to stay on the beaten path. Vaso and I being the adventurous type, decided to wander off into the mountains. We arrived on the island and the first thing I noticed were deer. Yes there are deer wandering around trying to get food from the local tourists.



They are so used to people that you can go up and pet them, but are still considered wild animals. Anyway, we visited the gate in the water and the 5 story pagoda, then headed up a road to the mountains. We took a nice walk and found some sweet overhangs with views of the entire city.



Upon returning down the mountain, we stopped at a souvenier shop where I bought some trinkets. Vaso bought a wooden sword. Really? I could not believe that he was going to lug that thing all the way down to Kyushu and back. We found a nice bench overlooking the gate and sat there and talked until the sun went down. When it became dark, a boat traveled through the center of the gate, turned around, and traveled back out to sea. We got a bunch of cool pictures of the gate.



By this time we were starving, so we returned all the way back to Hiroshima station and grabbed some Udon for dinner. Then we headed back to the hostel for some shut eye. I did a load of laundry that night and went to bed.