Day 2 began in the southwestern city of Hiroshima. Unfortunately, the city is best known for a tragedy of enormous human consequence, the first attack with a nuclear weapon in history. On August 6, 1945, the US dropped Little Boy on Hiroshima. It detonated 600 m above the centre of the city and instantaneously flattened most of the city, killing thousands of people. It's entirely unknown how many people died as a result of this bomb because of the mass devastation, but its estimated to be somewhere around 160,000. More on Hiroshima later on, as we actually started our day heading south from the city a little to Itsukushima, or Miyajima Island as it is also known, before making our way back to Hiroshima in the afternoon.
Miyajima is an island located in Hiroshima bay, and is home to the Itsukushima "floating" Shinto shrine, a UNESCO world heritage site. While departing the short ferry, guests are greeted by an English-speaking voice over the loudspeaker, warning you that there are wild deer on the island. "Deer are herbivores," the voice continues, "however, they may eat your personal belongings such as tickets or clothing, so exercise caution." Indeed, the deer were quite aggressive if you had something they wanted. Later on while we were enjoying some yakitori, we had to shoo some deer away.
We arrived at Itsukushima shrine just after high tide. When the tide is high, the shrine appears to be floating in the bay. During low tide, people can walk right out to the shrine and pick shells from the sea floor.
Within a few minutes of arriving on the island, we garnered the attention of some local school kids who were out to learn more about the tourists who visit their island. A group of three school-aged kids in uniforms with pieces of paper approached our group and asked to interview one of my companions. She agreed, and discussed with the kids important topics such as what their favourite sports were and where we were visiting from. One of the girls asked "My favourite sport is swimming, how about you?" While talking to these kids, we realized they were practicing conversational English. After being interviewed, the children showed their appreciation for our cooperation by presenting my companion with a gift, an omamori, which is like a good luck charm. Omamori are presented to someone to wish them good fortune.
On the island, there is also a ropeway or gondola to get up to the top of Mount Misen. The mountain rises 550 metres out of the sea, and is quite the hike after the gondola to get up to the summit. Whenever you visit a country where English is not the primary language, you'll always find quirky translations on signs or menus. This is where we found one of our favourites. On the signs leading to the base of the mountain, the translation read "10 minutes to the ropeway. 7 if run a little!" Once we neared the top, we enjoyed a visit to a few Buddhist temples such as the Yumi Katsura Lover's Sanctuary. Inside the temple there is a fire burning that is said to have been burning since the year 806 without ever going out.
The trip up and down the mountain actually took long enough that we left Itsukushima around low tide time. It was very interesting to see the shrine at those two different times.
Once back in Hiroshima, the day took a somber turn. Our walk took us past the A-bomb dome, formerly a banquet hall until the nuclear bomb knocked it almost flat. The building is very close to the hypocenter of the blast, and serves as an every day reminder to the world of the damage that can be done if nuclear weapons are not controlled. It is a devastating sight.
Across the canal from the dome is the Hiroshima Peace Park. At the north end of the park there is the children's peace monument, dedicated to all of the children that were killed in the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The peace monument is modelled after the story of Sadako. Sadako was two at the time of the bombings and was exposed to radiation from the blast. Later on, around age 11, Sadako developed leukemia as a result of the radiation exposure. There is an old Japanese legend that says if you fold 1,000 paper cranes then you can make a wish, so she did. Unfortunately, Sadako succumbed to leukemia at age 12, however, her story lives on around the world as a cry for peace and nuclear disarmament. The memorial is small and unassuming, but is surrounded by what is likely hundreds of thousands of paper cranes donated by children from around the world. It is a very touching sight and being in that place, feeling the history and the weight of such an enormous tragedy, it was impossible not to get emotional.
Our final Hiroshima visit was to the memorial museum, which does a fine job of displaying and examining some of the human costs of nuclear war. The most striking exhibit to me was that of a young boy's tricycle and helmet, charred and burned after he was thrown off by the blast. The Peace Memorial Park is a persuasive collection of exhibits and memorials that argue for nuclear disarmament, and certainly make a pretty good case of it. These devastating weapons surely don't do humanity any good by being in existence.
Finally, we boarded a train to a small traditional Japanese town called Kurashiki. We enjoyed some yakitori (salted meat) and got laughed at quite a bit by the service staff when we tried to order sake. Apparently sake is complicated and there are thousands of types. The two servers looked at each other in puzzlement and just laughed uncomfortably as we tried to navigate our way through a Japanese-only menu in a small town where not many speak English.
Back at the hotel, we entered some traditional Japanese baths. This particular one was on the top floor of our hotel, and was separated into men's and women's. The men's had some strange sit-down showers, indoor and outdoor shallow hot pools, a deep cold pool, and a sauna. Plenty of shaving cream, disposable razors, and other goodies to make yourself feel at home!
More tomorrow! It's been a very busy few days and I apologize for the lack of pictures, but I'll update all these posts with pictures soon.