Chisun Hotel Hiroshima

This is my first travelpod entry! I love to travel around the world so much, but let me write about my small hometown first.<br> I live in Iwakuni city, Japan. Iwakuni is a small town near Hiroshima, where an atomic bomb was first dropped about 65 years ago.<br> Iwakuni is famous for ...

I thought a long time about how to make this entry. <br><br>Perhaps the thing to say about Hiroshima is that it is a city of contrasts. To me the Peace Park area with it's museums and monuments feels separated from the rest of the city and in many ways from the rest of the world. I got a sense in being in the Twilight Zone episode "The Cornfield" and every once in a while some people ...

... A photo is worth a thousand words :-) So back to what I was saying.......I am convinced that he actually injured his neck doing one of his multiple head jerks in a narcoleptic seizure......but that's just me. He returned from his massage, only to have a worse neck injury than before he had gone. Apparently the masseuse had beat the **** out of him and although he had screamed for mercy, she couldn't understand his broken japanese and dug deeper ...

... it was definitely a good pick-me-up after Hiroshima. I got a souvenir keychain because it was so pretty ^_^. It got dark pretty fast though and so we jumped back on the ferry and Roxy and I had pizza manju for dinner. Tastes just like pizza! hehe. Anyways, after that we headed back to the hotel. Emily went to sleep first, while Roxy and I tried to plan out what to do in Kyoto before we eventually fell asleep.

... We arrived here yesterday and I must say it is buzzing. Its a beautiful city as well. We headed straight to Peace Memorial Park where the museum, and A-Bomb Dome is. The park is amazingly beautiful - especially when frosty with snow - but also very eerie when you look up and the Dome is towering above you. It certainly is a stirring reminder of how destructive warfare is. Walking through the museum put it all in perspective, and it makes walking through Hiroshima an extremely ...

... by as we were treated to simply stunning scenery, the local shrubbery slowly but surely being covered by a thicker blanket of snow the further north we traveled. Takayama itself, was a great taste of old Japan, most of the buildings dating back to the Edo period - not to mention the streets laden with snow and cheap hot food stalls. Most of my time was spent jumping around and making snowballs while Rachael attempted to locate the main attractions, which, I maintain ...

... all make a big fuss of "Hiroshimayaki" - which is just a Hiroshima special Okonomiyaki (essentially a pancake with noodles, meat and veg, all fried up right in front of you). This is certainly one of my favourite Japanese dishes! Spent some time wandering around Hatchobori which is one of the main areas of Hiroshima. Lots of shops and malls. After that I went back to peace park to get a feel of the place in the dark, before heading back to the ...

... with somber stories and artifacts from before and after the war. There was an introduction on the history of Hiroshima and how it was founded. There was also history regarding the rapid military expansion of Japan and how Hiroshima became a large military manufacturing city to support Japan's war effort. They showed rationing tickets, clothing coupons, and metal collection to make tanks, guns, etc. Later exhibits talked about the actual dropping of the bomb, with several ...

... the A-Bomb dome on the way. This building, the ruins of what was the Industrial Promotion Hall and the last of the buildings that wasn't flattened on the day to remain standing. Now a Unesco World Heritage Site. The bomb detonated almost directly above it. We stood there probably a good 10-15 mins just looking at the remains. There were constantly people around it and a bit of a giggle - Japanese school girls taking pictures of each other on there ketai (cell phones). Across ...