Sat Jan 13 2007 (Day 23) - Hiroshima

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Our room at Benten no Yado in the morning, before breakfast and before the roomkeepers put away the futons




The floating torii in the distance


Breaksfast in the dining room area a few floors below

Fish


Gohan & soup. The Japanese have rice in the morning

After breakfast we went to the bath area which has excellent views. This is the women's bath

Looking down into the garden area from the bath building


Another level up is the men's bath, also with spectacular views while bathing

The building containing the baths, from the garden


We checked-out from Benten no Yado and hopped on to the ferry to take us back to the mainland




At the Miyajimaguchi train station, waiting for the train to Hiroshima

Back in Hiroshima station

Outside the Hiroshima station, figuring out how to get to the Peace Memorial Park


After a while, we figured out that we can take a tram to get to A-Bomb Dome at the Peace Memorial Park. It was quite confusing as there were no english instruction on how to purchase the tram tickets. The tram arrived and we got on, wondering whether we should have purchased the tickets from one of the machines at the tram stop or buy when we board the tram (which didn't seem to be the case because everyone just got on and sat down...perhaps they have daily passes or something) or do we pay when we alight at out destination. I was worried that we should have tickets or some receipt for the driver when we get down the tram. It won't be good if he starts yelling at us in Japanese for trying to get a free ride. It turned out that we had to drop a fixed fare into a coinbox near the driver when we alight. Oh...that was close.

Anyhow, we managed to arrive at our destination without any hassle.
The A-Bomb Dome was the first sight at Peace Memorial Park

There were some visitors, quietly reflecting on what had happened here.

The rider was lowering his head to avoid getting shot by me.

Near the Peace Memorial Museum

An incident never to be forgotten

The time the bomb striked.

There was a watch, displayed in the museum, which stopped at the time the disaster striked Hiroshima. I didn't take any photos in the museum, I felt that all the items on display related to death and I just didn't felt like capturing any of it. It is all in my memory.
It is strange how when you are in a somber place, you get a distressed feeling as well. What happened here was very sad and shouldn't have taken place. Even though the Japanese Army deserved retribution for their cruelty during the Japanese Occupation, the majority of the victims of the Hiroshima bombing were civilians. They should never be the ones that have had to suffer, it should have been those who commanded the war.

Life moved on and Hiroshima has rebuilt itself. Today, it is like any other city in Japan.

It was still early so we had coffee and some macaroni at a cafe in the station. Then. we headed for Osaka via the shinkansen, about 3 hours ride away. Arrived in Osaka and had to change a couple of trains to get to Namba station where we will be staying for the next few days. Our bags was extremely heavy and lucky it didn't take too long to find the hotel we were staying in - Dotonbori Hotel in the Dotonbori area.
After checking in, we headed out to find dinner and see what Osaka is like. The Dotonbori area is very vibrant and lively at night, especially near Shinsaibashi

Who says only China has bicycles

Our hotel is straight ahead. Very convenient location


Spotaka on the right was where we managed to get our snowboard boots and gear a few days later ,before heading to Niseko.


It has been a long day and it was crowded everywhere so we decided to just have Makudo but even that was crowded so we got teku-audo (take out) to have back in the comfort of our hotel room.

Next day...