Japan trip - Day 4

We woke up really early that day and went back to Hakama to get Shinkansen tickets for our trip back home. We wanted to stop in the middle so we can take the opportunity to visit our next destination.

I have been trying to take a photo of the shinkansen from the front but truth is I suck and always get it when its already on the platform.

It is the first time I see one of these, this company is from Kyushu.

My cat's name is café au lait, every time i drink this i think of her!

This is what the shinkansen looks like from the inside, not sure if its very interesting or not...

Trips on the shinkansen are always pleasant. One can buy drinks and food from the ladys who carry carts or from vendind machines. There are very clean bathrooms and there are also smoking rooms. The seats are spacious and there are hangers to place almost anything you would need. It also takes a lot less to get to a place via shinkansen. For instance, from Osaka to Tokyo it is about 2 hours and a half whether as if you travel by bus its 8 hours.
13.000yen for a ticket for that trip via train and via bus it can be from 3000yen to more depending on the company and the bus conditions. So its a 100 euro difference. And this is a one way trip.

We arrived at Hiroshima very early. It was sunny and not that cold at all. We got out abd placed our trolley in a lock as well. You can do so for a day for around 3 euros. Not bad.

Hiroshima station  the crane is the city symbol

Random Christmas window, i just love Christmas!

We got on the tram that heads to the Dome. Hiroshima is one of not many cities that still uses trams as a means of transport. I really like them. They are not only pretty but also practical especially if you are off sightseeing.
When the voice announcement said "Dome" I felt a bit chilly to be honest... and then in silence I just approached the building. I just stood there reading the plaque info and feeling slightly nauseous. I then noticed the statues around the area and asked what they were about....

In honor of the A-bomb victims

A-Bomb Dome aka ruins of the former Industrial Promotion Hall

Photos that show the Dome as it was before and after the bomb.

So the Dome is the building closest to the hypo center of the nuclear bomb that remained at least partially standing. It was left how it was after the bombing in memory of the casualties and as a reminder of the destructive power of nuclear energy used in war.
Actually some people in Hiroshima didn't want this building to stay up, they wanted it gone because it brought back too many painful memories but it was kept and it is now considered a world heritage site.

Memorial Tower to the Mobilized Students.

During the war students were mobilized to help in clearing sites so that the city would be more protected during bombings, etc. So a lot of children died because they were out doors that day.

The Memorial Cenotaph.

After this we headed over to your next destination, the Peace Memorial Museum.
We got in and there was an intro video on how the nuclear bomb destroyed so many lives and a little intro to the historical facts we were going to read and learn during the visit. It was touching to say the least.
The room was filled with historical data and artifacts from when Japan first engaged in conflicts in the are. There is an audio system you can use which just tells you what you can read by yourself as everything is simultaneously in Japanese and English.
In the center of the room there are two models of the city,before and after the A-bomb.

Hiroshima before the A-bomb

Hiroshima after the A-bomb

Next to it there were a ton of walls with silver plaques with writtings on them. After taking a closer look I realized that it is a letter from every Mayor for the city of hiroshima asking the world to stop using nuclear energy.

This Photo shows the last 3 put up. In total 587 letters were written and will continue to be.

On the second floor one eventually moves on to what is the most harsh area of the museum: The effects of the A-Bomb. The next image is of the only photo taken on that day. The photographer later said that the shock was immense and that the people were suffering so much that he felt bad exploiting them.

The only photo taken on that day, right after the bomb hit.

This is a true scaled re creation of the bomb that fell on that day named Little Boy.

The tales of those who were deceased of suffered from that day's events were just... sickening... those poor people. I'm not posting more, just one that explains just how terrible this was for these people.

Yoshio Hamada, then 26, was exposed to the bomb in his barracks 900 meters from the hypocenter. His left hand was on the windowsill when the bomb exploded, and the middle and fourth finger on his left hand, which were exposed directly to the heat rays,were burned so badly that the skin and nail peeled and hung from his finger tips. He lost about one centimeter off the ends, and ever after, strange rod-shaped black nails like these grew directly from the skin at the end of those fingers. These nails, unlike normal fingernails, contained active blood vessels. When the nails broke, large amounts of blood poured out. And after a nail broke off, the same sort of nail continued to grow. 
Source 

Black Nails

In the end of the museum exhibit there was a big glass window displaying all sorts of different objects and how the impact changed them. I leave you with some photos.

Aftet this I just couldn't imagine that that city with all those trees and singing birds had gone throught that and that just 66 years ago on the 6th of August there were thousands of people dead and severely injured people with their bone showing and their melted skin falling from their hands and just destruction all around...
But we are here and that too had to pass. We took strolls, got the usual fridge magnet and left for the shopping district nearby.

At lunch time we decided to go with the Okonomiyaki because Hiroshima is famous for its own style. We didn't know where to go and we opted to go up some stories at a random building advertising its dish. It was very early for lunch so it was practically empty.

Okonomiyaki Hiroshima style

My husband was hungry so he ordered this as well and he hit the spot because it was good.

We felt really lucky to have found such a nice place, you never know!
After that we just explored the area a bit. I also took this opportunity to visit the mall where Btssb, Angelic Pretty, Maria store and Volks store & showroom are located and it was bit depressing because the mall looked old and Maria was the worset organized store ever. I did drool over the BJDs though, a lot!

Took this one for big bro: Arcade heaven, taito Station

This is the entrance of the street

This one I like a lot, dunno why.

The hypo center aka the exact spot that the bomb was drop on that day, just some 600m above that spot.

Since we only had this day to spend in Hiroshima and we wanted to take a night train back home we had to rush a bit so we just went back to the stop and got into the tram once more.
This time the trip was looong, it seemed like we're going to a very far away place. I guess trams really are slower...
Our last tourist visit was Itsukushima shrine and to visit it we'd have to cross the sea by ferry boat.

The view from the ferry.

When we cross I found myself in a lovely little village(?) and I thought to myself "I could live here!", it was just darling! Other than rambling about it,i'll just use the photos as an illustration. Hope you don't mind.

A map of Miyajima. There is still so many things to see. I really would like to go back there.

This map marks all the famous tourist related info that they feel is relevant. Check out all the spotlighted places!

Just like Nara, this island is full of Deer. You should not mess with them though, they look sweet but they do attack if you annoy them.

How to correctly interact with deer. (the Leave them alone technique haha)

A Pagoda. People who know me will understand why i wrote that its just a pagoda.

I don't know, there's just something in the way Japanese use English that always makes me smile and take photos.

One of my favorite shots of the day. I hope you can see some of the townsfolk's houses here too. Isn't it dreamy?

A horse god. I thought he looked rather mighty and took a photo. Not many people did though... it was all about the gate and the gate and the gate....

The main structure. One had to pay to get in and it was late so we didn't have the time to visit. A shame.

 The shrine was designed and built on pier-like structures over the bay so that it would appear to be floating on the water, separate from the sacred island, which could be approached by the devout.
wikipedia

Ok, I also love this.. so I was kinda joking over there, we took a ton of shots with the torii (gate). A Torii symbolically marks the transition from the profane to the sacred.

Before heading home I got some of these to give as omiyage. I got some locally found only momiji.

Even the momiji has its own mascot for crying out loud!

Even metallic dinosaurs eat momiji over there!!!!!

These iron sculptures were found outside of a local small hotel and seem to be completely out of context BUT they are fabulous and I wanted to bring one home with me... that plus they eat momiji - which btw i did not place on the dino's mouth, it was already there!

 And after this we pretty much got into the boat, crossed the sea, got in the tram, fell asleep on the tram.... and headed back to the train station where we had to eat something. We just went to a regular restaurant and I had some ramen, Hiroshima ramen.

A bowl of ramen looks like this. This one has bamboo, pork and green onions.

We then got our bag from the locker (again it only costs 3 euros to keep it there all day!) and got in the shinkansen again. We arrived late at Oji, got in the bus and headed back home. I think we fell asleep in five seconds that day... we were beat!

Hope you appreciated the post, i'll have to post more today in a row otherwise i won't be able to keep posting about every day as planned.
Jo