This morning, we visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. We got up early, picked up breakfast from the hotel's pastry shop, and grabbed a streetcar headed west. When we arrived at the Genbaku Dome, we were awed that so much of the building had remained after the blast. The dome building remained relatively intact due to its proximity to the center of the blast radius. We then decided to head north, stopping by the Sadako Children's Peace Monument, built in honor of Sadako Sasaki, who was exposed to the A-bomb at age 2 and died ten years later from leukemia. It was inspiring to see the thousands paper cranes folded in her honor at the site, as well as viewing the monument itself. We passed the Flame of Peace, then went down into the National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims, which gave a history of the events on that day and some accounts of child survivors of the bombing. Entering the memorial, we walked downstairs counterclockwise (symbolizing going back in time to the day of the bombing) and then were put into a 360-degree panorama of the surrounding neighborhoods from the hypocenter of the bomb. There was a fountain permanently set on 8:15 (the time of the bombing on August 6, 1945) with flowing water to quench the thirst of the bomb victims. Upstairs, a DVD played voiced-over accounts of the childhood survivors, which were both interesting and gut-wrenching. Afterward we headed into the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The bottom floor of the west building gave a history of the war effort in Japan, and the global political situation, leading up to the bombing. The second floor was dedicated to discussing the relief efforts after the attack, as well as levels of nuclear weapons and decommission efforts worldwide. The second floor in the east building held various artifacts from the bombing, both from buildings and people's personal items. The whole experience was very sobering, as it put the events leading up to, including, and after the dropping of the A-bomb in an intense perspective.
After the park, we decided it was time to grab some lunch and get ready for the afternoon at Miyajima. We walked to a nearby okonomiyaki food court, Okonomi-mura, which housed several shops that serve this regional specialty. After scoping out the various possibilities, Katie and I decided on one that was very busy when we first came in. In fact, the cook had to wipe down places for us to sit! I ordered the okonomiyaki with soba noodles; Katie got udon. We ended up splitting the dishes after all, and they were both delicious! Our cooks were very nice, even offering to take a picture for us before we ate. For our first okonomiyaki, I thought it was great. Hopefully we can go back in the future.
After lunch, we caught the tram out to the Miyajima ferry, then took the ferry over to the holy island. Miyajima is home to several shrines, as well as the "floating" torii gate at Itsukushima, although we arrived shortly after low tide so it wasn't quite floating yet. We walked to the shrine, which was partially under construction, and saw a wedding party along the way. The shrine offered great views of the torii, the main island across the water, and the mountains surrounding the area. After exiting the shrine, we walked along the beach before turning further inland to visit Daisho-in, a large Buddhist temple site. Daisho-in had many smaller shrines and temples on the site, including a long arcade of various Buddhas, and smaller renditions of the Buddha's disciples scattered throughout the grounds. We also found a dark cave that housed Buddha statues representing 88 shrines, which pilgrims believe visiting will bring the same blessings as visiting all 88 shrines personally. Unfortunately, the temple, as with many things on the island, closed at 5pm, so we headed back toward the ferries. We admired the floating gate again, which by this point had a good few inches of water underneath it, then stopped by the largest wooden rice scooper in the world before catching a ferry back to the main island.
We took a JR train to Hiroshima again, reserved our tickets for our ride back to Tokyo, and decided to visit the steakhouse at the Hotel Granvia for dinner. We nearly walked into a private party before we were properly escorted to our seats. We each ordered our respective steaks, which were cooked directly in front of us by our chef. Let me tell you, Japanese beef is absolutely delicious. I ordered the B set, which also included a couple fish dishes, a rice set, and dessert. It was lovely. At the end of the meal, we hobbled back to the room, and watched some TV while planning for tomorrow. We also found out that I had read the local baseball team's schedule incorrectly, and we were missing the game being played in the stadium we can see from our room. Oh well!
Tomorrow, we head back to Tokyo. I'm looking forward to seeing the countryside again from the train, as well as getting some good reading done. Next time, we'll need to stay in Hiroshima longer for sure.
-B
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