Hiroshima

This week in Japan is a National holiday, called the Bon Holiday. Where you give food and thanks to your ancestors so most Japanese return to their home towns to honor their ancestors shrine. For us this means a one week holiday from work. During our holiday we decided to visit Hiroshima for three nights. We left Innoshima by bus on Tuesday at noon, things went without a hitch which is always a bonus. Two hours later we arrived at the Hiroshima bus station which is also attached to a mall (10 floors). We decided to go to the top floor for a quick view of the city. As you can see it was a beautiful day.


Since there was a handy line up of cabs we took one to our hotel. It wasn't very expensive (probably because we could have walked if we had any idea where we were going). Oh well. At our hotel we checked in without a hitch (again, Yay) and proceeded to our room where were excited to change into our matching complementary nightgowns Yay.

We are so cool!!!

I had a bath. Which I can't do at our apartment so I was excited about. But then we realized we were starving so we got dressed again and went out in search of food. Now this was going to be a challenge because the only time we have eaten at a restaurant was with Narumi and she ordered. So we found a restaurant that had a picture menu. We went up pointed to what we wanted and actually got it. We ate this cold noodle soup that we had tried with Narumi and onion cakes (we think). Then Cam went back to get another onion cake, so I asked him to grab me a deep fried shrimp I had seen. He unfortunately hadn't seen it, and brought back deep fried octopus (Hiroshima is famous for it's octopus). So in honor of trying new things we were both brave and each ate a tentacle. Tastes fishy!! Not our favorite though. Then we walked back to the hotel and watched Japanese TV. Kind of fun. Luckily they have an English movie channel that was playing a movie called "Empire of the Sun" starring a 13 year old Christian Bale it was a fantastic movies even with the Japanese subtitles.

Today (Wednesday) we got up and headed for the Peace Memorial Park. As I'm sure you all know at 8:15 am, on August 6th, 1945 the first Atomic Bomb was dropped in Hiroshima, Japan. The Peace Memorial Park is dedicated to the victims of that horrible day. To which two months later the death toll was over 140000 people. The park is beautiful with many fountains.

But almost right away we headed into the museum which basically meant two full hours of humiliation for me because I cried almost the entire time. I didn't really see anyone else crying except that a lot of times a women saw me crying and then started crying too, I felt bad. We bought the English audio headsets for 300yen (3 dollars) and entrance into the museum was only 50 cents. This was probably the most interesting and heartbreaking experiences of my life. At 8:15 that morning time literally stopped.

This is one of two watches found in the aftermath the time shows 8:15. (By the way I'm crying right now). The audio was riddled with personal stories of mothers who never found there children or found them only to bring them home to die. Thousands were trapped with no one to help get them out. Survivors were ridden with guilt. Yet somehow they rebuilt this city filled with peace. The mayor of Hiroshima writes a telegram in protest of every nuclear test. They are heartrenching. This is a diagram of what the city looked like before the bomb was dropped.
And this is after. . .
I didn't take very many pictures inside because mostly it was to devastating. Only 5 pictures were captured that day during that attack a photographer went into the city from the outskirts but seeing the devastation was only able to take 5 pictures. He said he couldn't take pictures of peoples skin burning off their bodies, and corpses in the streets it was to awful.
This is a replica off the Industrial promotion Hall now called the A bomb domb - this was the target of the Atomic bomb. we have pictures of the actual building later.
Leaving the museum we signed the signature book and left our impressions in the same book that Pope John Paul II signed in June 1981 (the month and year I was born) that made me cry again. Then we headed back into the park. This tree was burnt in the blast from the bomb, but still lives today, clippings from this tree were planted at elementary schools all over the world.
This is another memorial in the park showing the time 8:15
The next memorial is very beautiful it is a victim cenotaph that contains the names of all the victims of the bomb. It frames the A-Bomb Dome across the river. If you look closely you'll see the flame beneath the arched cenotaph. It is not meant to be eternal when the last nuclear weapon on earth has been destroyed it will be extinguished.



















Next we headed over to the children's peace memorial inspired by leukemia victim Sadako. You might know the story she was 2 when the bomb hit and developed leukemia at the age of 10. She decided to fold 1000 paper cranes, the Japanese symbol of longevity and happiness. She was convinced that if she were to achieve her goal she would recover. She died after folding her 644th crane, but children from her school folded the other 356 cranes, with which she was buried and children from around the world continue to send cranes to this day. In grade 4 we did a chapter about this story and learnt how to make paper cranes. I somehow have retained that information, this story is one I frequently think about, I often fold a paper crane and think about that young girl. So this was something I was very excited about. While we were there cam decided to take some artsy pictures.




















The next memorial is for all the bombs Korean victims. Great numbers of Koreans were shipped to work as slave laborers in Japanese factories during WWII. Sadly this Memorial wasn't erected until 1970 and is a reminder that no prayers were said for these victims.
Lastly, we walked around the A-Bomb Dome which is the only building left standing after the bomb hit. It's propped-up ruins, have been left as an eternal reminder of the tragedy. The dome has become a symbol of Hiroshima's plea that nuclear weapons never be used again.

After that we decided to check out the trams, at one point trams were used in all the big cities in Japan, but the rest of Japan scrapped the idea. Hiroshima bought all the other cities second-hand trams and extended their tram system. So now you can get all over the city for next to nothing. We went into the red-light district which is full of the fanciest shops like Gucci, Armani, Prada, Yves St Laurent you get the idea. Also a lot of bars and clubs, and Karaoke which weren't open yet because it was only 7:00.

We found a McDonald's If you weren't reading our blog when we went to Europe it's sort of a pact Cam and I made to eat at a McDonald's in every Country we visit. I decision which my stomach is making me regret right now. I guess after a couple of weeks of Japanese food, my stomach couldn't handle the big mac. Oh well. We took a relaxing walk back towards the Hotel. Cam found I an electronic store, of course we perused around there for a while. I had to go to the bathroom where I discovered Japanese style toilets. Uh oh, it's sort of like a hole in the ground that flushes. I had to think this through, I'm the girl that always ends up peeing on herself if you have to pull over the car and squat somewhere. so here's is Karleen's guide to going to the bathroom (number 2, remember the big mac) Japanese style. Step #1 Take off you're shoes, so that you can proceed to step 2, Step #2 Take off you're pants and underwear so if you miss you can just wash up. Step#3 Stand on your shoes you don't want to stand barefoot in a public bathroom (that's gross) Step #4 Hover Crab Style and do your business. If you follow these steps with a little luck you'll walk out of there unscathed. Oh remember to put your pants back on (that could be a whole other issue).

So we made it back to the hotel, here we are. We'll probably have more to write about tomorrow, good night.
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