Hiroshima Warning: this is long and kind of sad.

A while back I had to go to training over the weekend. So my company gave me two days off in the middle of the week to make up for having to work on the weekend. And rather than spend them sitting at home in my hot apartment, I decided to take a little trip. One of my friends from training is in Hiroshima. So I decided to go down there and see what I could see. This is the welcome sign when you leave the train station. I really appreciated how it was written in multiple languages.
The first stop on my itinerary was Peace Memorial Park. As you know Hiroshima is famous because it was the first place in history to have an atomic bomb dropped on it. The area that was destroyed by Little Boy has been turned into a park filled with monuments and statues to those who lost their lives that day. One of the sites here is the Atomic Bomb dome building. Originally this building was designed to promote products of Hiroshima. After it was destroyed by the bomb it was preserved to be a symbol for peace.

Here is the A-bomb dome building. Or as it is called by the locals Genbaku Dome.

Another shot of Genbaku Dome.
It was kind of eerie walking around this place that is so well known for the devastation that occurred here.
Here is a picture of a picture of what the A-bomb dome looked like before the bombing. The dome on top was a very distinct green color.
This is from the opposite end of Peace Memorial Park. In the foreground under the arch is the cenotaph that holds the names of all the known victims of the bomb. Each year on the anniversary of the bombing a ceremony is held here and if new victims have been learned about, their names are placed in the cenotaph. Behind that, but hard to see is the Flame of Peace, that will be extinguished when all nuclear weapons on earth are destroyed. And behind that is the A-bomb Dome.
Because of the heat that was created by the bombing, many people were burned beyond recognition. Their ashes are buried under this mound. There are roughly 70,000 victims here.
When I was still home and trying to get as much information as I could about Japan. I came across a book entitled Children of the Paper Crane. It is the story of Sakako Sasaki who was two years old when the bomb was dropped. She and her family survived the bombing seemingly unscathed. But ten years later she developed leukemia as a result of being exposed to radiation at the age of two. While she was in the hospital she began to fold paper cranes. The legend goes that if you fold 1,000 paper cranes, your wish will be granted. She began folding 1,000 cranes from her hospital bed hoping that she would beat the disease. When she reached her goal she just kept folding until she died. As a result the paper crane has become a symbol of peace. This monument was made possible by the classmates of Sadako who felt it was important for the children affected by the bomb to have a monument. They raised the funds that made this monument possible.
Even now sixty years later, people still bring and send paper cranes from literally all over the world to lay at the feet of monuments here.
Not far from Peace Memorial Park is the building that served as the Hiroshima Branch Bank of Japan. It looks much the same as it did before the bombing. It is one of only a handful of buildings that survived the bombing. It continued to be used as a bank until 1992, when it was given to the city of Hiroshima to be used in preserving the memory of that day. Now it houses literally millions of paper cranes that are brought to the park.
This is one of the many many piles of paper cranes inside the bank building. The man who was working there that day, was very nice. He asked me if I spoke Japanese. I told him no. So we tried to communicate in the little bit of each other's languages that we know. He knew more English than I know Japanese. He told me that the 10 million cranes in one of the rooms weighed one ton. That is a lot of paper.
Also at the Peace Park is a Museum with information about Hiroshima before and after the bombing. The entrance fee was 50 Yen (50 cents). That was the first thing in Japan I have found that was cheap. And the museum was worth so much more. One of the exhibits showed what the bombed area looked like before the bombing. The t-shaped bridge (Aori hashi) to the left was the target of Little Boy. And you can see the A-bomb dome building to the right of that. This was a very busy area with lots of homes and businesses.
And this is what the area looked like after the bomb. The orange ball hanging in the center represents the fire ball that was caused by the atomic blast. It raised the temperature in the area to a few thousand degrees centigrade.

Me back outside looking across the river at Genbaku Dome.


A clock near my hostel. It reminded me of the flower clock in Geneva so I had to take a picture.
There was a big shopping area nearby. So I went to check it out. I am learning Hirigana, one of the alphabets. And so I usually try to read signs that I see. And occasionally I understand them. I was excited when I understood that this one said Hiroshima, at least that's what the first four characters say. I'm not so sure about the last three, puraza. As I was typing that I realized it meant "plaza". I'm a bit excited about that right now. So Hiroshima Plaza. Fitting name.

I also decided to venture out to Hiroshima-jo. This is me at the gates.

Me in front of the castle. It was closed, but that's ok, I didn't really want to go inside anyway.

Funny Engrish sign outside the castle. Japanese people are so funny. And the last four characters in Japanese say "kudasai" "please".

Genbaku dome all lit up at night.

Day Two in Hiroshima took my friend Shane and me to Miyajima, to visit the floating tori. Its cooler when the tide is in, but I didn't want to get up early enough to see that. Come on, this is a vacation.

And this is the "floating " no stage. At least it floats when the tide is in. "No" is a type of Japanese theatre.

We also decided to hike up Mt. Misen while we were there. I had read that is was supposed to be a really beautiful hike. It was really pretty, but it was also almost all uphill. And these signs were every 10th of a kilometer, they became an obnoxious marker of how much farther my poor tired legs had to go.

On the way up we stopped for a breather, but then we noticed our little friend and decided that it was time to get back on the trail.

The view from the top. It was beautiful.

Another view from the top.

Me very tired to be at the top.

We were glad to be going back down. And we decided that it was time to do it the easy way. This is me, Shane, and Diane, she is from France and I met her at the hostel. We spoke a little French. It was fun.


Going down.


This photo opp was at the bottom.


After our long day of hiking it was time for some Hiroshima style Okinomiyaki. It was so good. It is different from other okinomiyaki in that it has noodles.

This dinner almost made me have to spend another night in Hiroshima. When I realized what time it was I had to leave dinner early, take a taxi to my hostel, grab my stuff, and take a taxi to the train station, in order to catch the last train out of Hiroshima. I never would have made it on the trams. Then when I got to the train station I was informed that I didn't have all the required tickets. So I had to pay for my trip home AGAIN. I had bought a round trip ticket in Nagoya, but apparently I did something wrong. But I made it onto the train. And it took me to Nagoya, unfortunately, I got there about 2 minutes after the last train to Toyota left. So I called my co-worker and manager in tears trying to figure out where to spend the night. I finally called another friend who lived in the area and she told me to come to her house. I did. And I was so thankful for good friends who love me.