So Saturday at 5:30 AM I woke up and a group of us walked down to the bus stop to catch the 6:45 bus to Hirakata station.
We took several trains to Shin-Osaka and then got on a Shinkansen, bullet train.
Mei.
Tizzy on the escalator going up to Shinkansen platform.
Waiting for our train: Hikari.
Mei, Suki, and I.
Prof. Scott, it was his class we were joining on the field trip.
C. O. W.
Kirstin and me.
Roomies.
Peter, Clem, Steph, Maha.
Brittany and Shanikia.
Cameron in the background... -_-;
It goes so fast your ears pop. It gave me a headache.
Steph and Brittany.
Made it in one piece!
So we took one of the trollies Hiroshima is famous for to the Peace Memorial Park.
We bought the all day pass for trolly and ferry. Saved us a lot of money.
Shanikia and Clem deciding which trolly to take.
Really long trolly of four cars.
Lindsey!
Shanikia!
This is the Genbaku Dome-mae. (Atomic Bomb Dome) The building was originally a commerce and business building called the Hiroshima Prefectural Products Exhibition Hall. The atomic bomb exploded like 100 feet from it. It is one of a scarce few buildings that was left standing after the explosion. It has been left untouched as a symbol and reminder.
People leave water at the memorial because the victims of the explosion were burnt and cried out for water. It is to sooth the souls of the victims in the afterlife.
A crane is perched on top. I find this ironic since it is the Japanese symbol of long life.
There are fountains all over the park, also to sooth the victim's souls.
This is the Motoyasu-gawa river. After the explosion, thousands of people jumped into the river to find relief from the fire or their fierce burns, but died in the radioactive waters.
This is a memorial to all the children that Japan forced from schools to work for the war effort. Even elementary and middle school children were forced to work in factories to help win the war.
Paper cranes made and donated by school children.
Depictions of children workers.
This memorial was erected in honor of the children who died from leukemia due to the atomic bomb explosion. It is said that one of them, a little girl, thought that if she could fold one thousand paper cranes, as the old legend goes, would get one wish. She wanted to wish to be well again. She died right before finishing the last of the thousand. Now, children and people all over the world fold cranes and send them to be displayed here.
The pictures are made of paper cranes.
Japanese students on field trip there too.
This picture is made of pictures.
This is another building that survived the blast.
A group of protestors.
Before the bomb.
What it looks like now.
The top floor was dedicated to nuclear disarmament.
T shirts at the gift shop.
We got to hear the story of an actual survivor of the atomic bomb. Dr. Scott translated. Mrs. Sujimoto was a 14 year old middle school student at the time and working at a airplane propellor factory just north of where the bomb was dropped. She had had high school students listen to her story and create artwork to illustrate for her, which she showed on the screen. She said she had dedicated her life to telling her story and making sure no more would have to witness what she had.
She said she saw the bright blueish light and dove under her workstation, covering her ears like they had been trained to do. Her friend's feet were in her face. Then there was a loud roar and the ground shook. She specifically remembered being physically thrown up off the ground from the force of it. Then the roof collapsed and she and her friend were pinned. They didn't know that there had been such wide-swept destruction. They thought it had only hit their factory. She repeated to us over and over "Okaasan tsukete! Sensei tsukete!" (Save me mom! Save me teacher) The cries of her fellow workers that she could hear in the rubble with her.
Her friend wiggled enough to get free and pulled her out as well. They emerged to find a "terrible hell world." Where it had been sunny moments ago, it now looked like twilight. She had glass in her right arm and had injured her left leg, but was alive.
She said that the people she saw, she thought were ghosts. They were charred black and red with eye balls popping out.
She insisted that we understand that it wasn't clothes hanging off the victims, but melted and peeling skin.
She described to us, seeing a young middle school student carrying his own arm and a woman carrying a charred baby corpse. Both of them died right in front of her.
She said everyone begged for water. She said it didn't mater if she gave or didn't give the victims water, they still died. Then it started to rain water black with radioactive fallout. She was lucky enough to not get rained on. The rain was heavy for one hour and then it just stopped. Those that got rained on, suffered and died from radiation poisoning.
Her father was away when the bomb was dropped, but came to search for her and her sister. He did find her and helped with the relief effort to aid victims. He died a year later from the exposure he had endured while there.
She says she is still haunted by the sight of thousands of dead bodies, human and animal alike littering the river. She can't look into it anymore.
Mrs. Sujimoto said that she had visited the US last year and talked to university students in Minnesota and Ohio. She hoped that Obama would come quickly to Hiroshima and listen to the survivors' stories before they were all gone.
The black rain that devastated the areas not hit by the bomb as well.
What shocked me the most was, Mrs. Sujimoto said that the Japanese government did not really acknowledge this disaster to the Japanese people for nearly thirteen years and even then, they only sent a few doctors to Hiroshima!
A photo of a group of elementary school students evacuated prior to the explosion due to the fear of air raids. Nearly all of them became orphans.
They had drawings by survivors on display for us to see.
belongings to victims.
Sober and quiet, we left the museum deciding to not go into the west building to see more graphic stuff because we were tired, hungry and low on time.
We walked the streets looking for food and found a small ramen shop.
At the entrance there is a ticket machine. You pick what you want and buy the ticket. Then you give it to the cook behind the bar and they cook what you ordered.
Gyoza, bamboo, and ramen.
Deciding we had enough time to make it, we hopped on the trolly ststem and rode it to the end where Miyajima island is.
We took a ferry out to the island.
The O-torii Gate in the distance.
Low tide! So no fun! But this was the only time we could go because we had to made it back to Hiroshima station to catch our 10:45 night bus to Namba.
Lindsey and her "friend."
The O-torii Gate looks like it is floating in water at high tide. At low tide you can go out and see it.
So big!
Deers eat paper! No I didn't give it to her, but she acted half starved...
Itsukushima Shrine. At high tide is floating on water.
But again.. low tide, we get to look at seaweed.
Walking through Itsukushima Shrine.
Yeah.. Really wish it hadn't been low tide... It would have been that much cooler... But oh well, at least we got to go....
Starting to get dark. Sorry for increasing bad quality of photos...
Apparently, Miyajima is famous for it's wood. You see wooden bowls and spoons for sale everywhere. But mainly these paddles. We didn't understand it...
Then we got it. Possibly world's biggest paddle? Dunno, didn't ask. Shops were closing all around us.
Finally made it back to Hiroshima station and had about an hour and a half to kill. Ran into Jennifer there and found out she was on the same bus as us. Then we found the coolest store ev-vah!
It has imported goods from all over the world!
Lindsey finally found her some tortilla chips she had been craving.
Oh yesssss!
Tomato paste!!!!!!!!
Only alfredo.. no traditional... boo...
British A1!
Campbell's! Between Shanikia and I we practically cleaned them out of cream of mushroom and cream of chicken. No golden mushroom though...
"Frosties"
I did however clean them out of Dr. Pepper!
My haul was a bit expensive, but totally worth it. This is what they gave me the stipend for! Right?
Jupiter gets our approval!
Carrying it is the hard part...
OMG! Why can't we make cute things like this at Fresh Market?!
So pretty!
Totoro cake!
Tiger bread! Upper right hand corner.
Our bus.
It was very very nice!
They give you complimentary slippers.
You can recline your seat and have a foot rest and everything. They turn the lights out and it is dead silent in there and dark. I was able to sleep for five out of seven hours and I usually have a hard time sleeping on buses. Of all the ways to travel, this was noy bad at all and much cheaper than the Shinkansen.
We got to Namba at around 5:40am. Let me just say that that station is the most confusing station I have ever been in at 6:00 in the morning. Finally we found the right line to connect us to Yodoyabashi so we could transfer to the Keihan line and take that to Hirakata-shi. Then we took a bus back to Katahoko. It was 7am when we got home... I think.
My bounty from Jupiter made it to Hirakata with no problem, save one Dr. Pepper which I drank...
I mainly bought things I had had a hard time finding here in Hirakata. They were actually imported so the directions on the box are in English! (Mostly, the couscous is in German!?) They had Japanese directions taped to the box for Japanese customers. lol.
So I got home, dumped the food on the counter and passed out for eight and a half hours on my futon. Then I got up, took a shower, did laundry and started on this blog which took me five and a half hours to upload and comment on. I hope you guys appreciate it...
Going to eat and go to bed. G'night.
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