Hotel Jal City Hiroshima

... hood, a dining table that folds up, benches that you can store in the floor, sliding closet hardware, and, most amazingly, electric tatami mat units that open up to reveal storage space!<br><br>GRAPHICS EVERYWHERE<br><br>I've spent much of the day photographing mundane signs, ordinary buildings, and manhole covers. Attentiveness to design and graphics is ubiquitous in Japan. Cuteness communicates!<br><br>MODERN ART<br><br>The Museum of Contemporary ...

I am a true Gemini ... those of you that know me personally will agree I am a total chatterbox, unable to stay quiet for more than a few minutes before the next interesting fact pops in to be shared. <br><br>For this reason Japan is killing me guys, this place is a communication NIGHTMARE or when im feeling calmer lets say communication Jungle!!! I just love talking to people ...

... more subway style with bench seats along the side and hand rails along the ceiling. I ended up sleeping the majority of the way to Hiroshima and before I knew it we were at our stop and ready to hop on another tour bus and travel to the Peace Memorial Park and Museum. We were given headphones with English tapings to take with us through the museum so that we could learn about the different exhibits. They had pictures of victims of the nuclear bomb ...

... afterwards. There was horribly detailed information about how people died, and about those that attracted cancers. Also exhibited were some of the paper cranes made by the little girl Sadako Sasaki. Her later ones became minute, she folded them using pins. There is also a replica of the actual bomb, the "Little Boy" that was dropped by the Enola Gay. We were both lost for words after leaving and aimed for the city centre for sustenance. We had one of Hiroshima's ...

... 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 ...

... only secondary to the snow experience.<br><br>I wish we could have spent more time in Hiroshima personally, as the city is very attractive and surprisingly less depressing a visit than one would think with all the sites and reminders around the place to the atomic bomb. Peace Memorial Park is amazing, and the accompanying museum concerning the bombing of Hiroshima is fascinating, complete with all sorts of equally fascinating articles such as the original U.S ...

... the best of the 3 sights on the list. This gate seems to simply float on water. Do make sure to go during high tide otherwise its more like a mud gate and you can walk through it! :p Amanohashidate(Amanohashidate) : "bridge to Heaven". Now originally I read "sand pit" with huge trees for bridges. So when I arrived I was picturing a pit, (think like StarWars with flying ships, battles, a huge half-man half-worm guy and then a man eating worm at the ...

... of the nicest things was the garden. The Shukkein garden had tons of trees, a pond, mosquitoes and lots of crabs. We chased around the crabs trying to take pictures of them, but they mostly got away. I had a hard time enjoying the garden; I was scared of all the mosquitoes. I hate mosquitoes. We went out to okonomimura (Okonomi village, famous for 30 restaurants all serving Hiroshima-style okonmiyaki) and people watched for ...

... are fairly deserted. The thick forest beyond eventually sprawls up the 530m mountain of Misen-san, which offers a good workout for those willing to hike it. Once I'd enjoyed a delicious lunch of oysters (a local speciality), I decided to give it a shot in lieu of taking the pricey ropeway. It turned out to be quite a sweatfest, requiring about an hour and a half of near-constant ascent. By the time I reached the top, my shirt was soaked through, so I made sure to wash ...

... Oh wait I forgot to tell you, everything was televised as there was a camera crew filming us while we ate or rather not eat. I guess i must have shocked the Japanese whith me skwering the meat with one chopstick. Later that Mama Naoi drove us to McDonalds 30 mins away from her house so that we could eat. I guess dinner didn't go so well.. So too was next day's breakfast... we were served this brown pasta (Yakisoba) and we asked what they were, Maki, the son said ...