Hiroshima

Trip Start Jul 27, 2006

Trip End Aug 2007

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Flag of Japan Hiroshima, Japan
Wednesday, October 11, 2006

I went to HIROSHIMA!! We had a long weekend from October 7th to October 9th! It is great. I get to travel around Japan without using my paid holidays. So, my fellow JET friend, Mason, and I went to Hiroshima. I was so excited because this was one of the places I definitely wanted to go!! We arrived on Saturday evening with absolutely no place to stay. All the hotels were booked. Great huh. But, we did manage to book a room for Sunday night. Thank goodness. We decided that eating was much more important than trying to find a place to stay so we wandered around until we found a cute little place to eat. It really was cute. I wish I woulda taken a picture! They even walked us out of the restaurant. They were so nice! Then we continued our wandering to try to find the Peace park and Atomic Bomb Dome. The most hysterical thing happened. We were wandering around looking for which city tram to get on and this random train person sitting on a random folding chair saw us and just pointed to a random city tram. Without any second guessing Mason and i take off running!!! Apparently it must have been a frantic type of pointing that meant the train was leaving soon! Hahahaha! And we make it to the train. And its the right one!! While we were riding to the Atomic Bomb Dome and Peace Park we couldnt stop laughing about the fact that this random man just pointed and we took off like he actually knew for sure we were going there. Which apparently he did, but still how funny!! We obviously do not blend in here at all!! Hahaha! I highly suggest going to the Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Dome at night if you ever visit Hiroshima because there are very few people there and there is a total different vibe at night.

01. Atomic Bomb Dome

It was a full moon while we were there and it was actually kinda creepy!! We did happen to meet some High school students from Perth Australia and they took pictures with us like WE were a tourist attraction. It was hysterical. There is a great children`s memorial at the peace park too with millions of origami cranes. Students from all around Japan send 1000 paper cranes as a sign of peace and rememberance for the children lost in the bombing. it is quite touching to see how many are there. Boxes and Boxes on display. After this its about 10pm and we`ve been to like 10 hotels asking if there are vacancies and there is not!! I was like well, I do have a bottle of wine in my bag, we can go sit on a bench, drink it, and passout like a true homeless person!! But, we decided against that when we realized the sun rises at like 5am and we would probably wake up then!! Definitely not a fan of waking up at 5am. Finally we stumble upon this Hotel called Hotel Ran. And they have a room!! Wipee!! We will sleep tonight. The funny part about this hotel is that its way off in some corner somewhere, down a pretty dark stretch of streets, and its a LOVE HOTEL!!! Hahahaha! The only hotel with a vacancy is a love hotel. And good thing it was past 10pm cause you cant rent rooms for the night unless its past 10pm!! Hahaha! So, yeah, we stayed in a love hotel. No biggie. It wasnt as weird as I thought it was going to be except for the tissues and condoms provided on the bedside table rather than a room service list or something!! Ick!! Come to think of it the whole love hotel concept is kinda gross.

02. Full Moon Over the Dome

Anyway, we went and wandered around again after that, ate some Italian (yes, Mason and I definitley both eat alot!!), and then watched a Magician for awhile. It was great fun, some good card tricks thats for sure and a funny Japanese woman who was freaking out like she`d never seen card tricks before!! It was great! Then, on Sunday we went to the Island of Miyajima. It is about an hour or so trip from the peace park and totlly worth it too. I didnt even know it existed till Mason told me about it and even then I thought he was talking about Iwo Jima. I do hope to see that Island still too. but, there is a famous temple on Miyajima that is apparently the most photographed thing in Japan. So I took some pics. Then we went to an aquarium and saw some giant fish and a seal show!! I love aquariums even though they seem a little oppressive to the animals. And a small hike around the island trying not to get head butted by the wild dear that stalk you for food!! The weather was absolutely perfect this entire weekend which could be one reason why I liked this trip so much. Then it was back to the peace park to go to the Peace museum. We thought an hour would be enough and boy were we wrong. We got there at 5 and it closed at 6 and we didnt even make it half way through!! So definitley plan at least 2 hours if you are going to go to the Peace museum and I also suggest doing the audio tour. Its only 300 yen and very informative! But, I am also partial to audio tours so....its up to you. Food time again!! Yes!! We ate Okinomiyake.

03. Statues at Night

It is famous in Hiroshima because they put noodles in it too. It was DELICIOUS!!! Huge and tasty!! I was so happy!! We were a little to full to do anything after that so we headed back to our hotel for the night (not a love hotel!!) and watched Splash!! Hahaha! It was great. Then it was off to find a watering hole. We went to a bar called Cover. It was a tranze (?) bar, not techno but tranze. The bartenders and dj`s were awesome and there was only like 5 of us there all together so we ended up chatting with them all night. It was cool!! My cousin Jamie would have totally loved this place! BTW dancing is apparently illegal in Hiroshima and not even the people living there know why, but if you are in a club dancing and cops walk in and see you, you will get arrested!! Haha! Ridiculous! So...I think I am going to suggest they watch the movie footloose and start a dancing revolution in Hiroshima. It will be my legacy! Monday we went back to finish the museum. It was so so so so worth it!! The informaiton was so well presented. It was factual from what I could tell, educational becuase you got bio, chem, and soc lessons, and emotional obiviously. I felt it was really well rounded. And the message is great. Simply world peace. Thats the word Hiroshima is trying to spread is that we all must get along before we destroy the earth and each other!! I support you Hiroshima!! We also saw Hiroshima castle (even though I think it was actually the wrong building once I looked at the brochure on the train ride home), and an amazing garden which was the perfect end to our trip. I highly suggest Hiroshima to anyone. It was amazing!! You cant even tell it was hit by an atomic bomb 60 yrs ago. Its totally rebuilt and functioning like nothing happened. So, impressive. Considering 5 years after the Trade Towers bombing all we still have is a giant hole in the ground. Thanks US Government, keep up the good work. Hiroshima is inspirational to say the least!