Honshuu Trip: Hiroshima!

Saturday's trip from Tokyo to Hiroshima comprised of hopping local trains all day from the first train in Tokyo at 5:20 to the last train reaching Hiroshima at 8:40ish pm.  The trip itself was over 15 hours from way before sunrise to sundown.  As a group of nine, the transfers between trains went smoothly, but never again will I make such a trip.  Im pretty sure that noone in the right mind living in Japan has willingly made such a trip... i could be wrong. Ha!!

Sunday:

Hiroshima!

Hiroshima's specialty. Its own style of Okonomiyaki.

The last day of our trip we spent in Hiroshima.  The two main things to see today were the Atomic Bomb Dome and the shrine at Miyajima.  Once again like Nagasaki, the memorial park was one place i wasn't sure I wanted to visit mainly because it would give me a somber feeling.  Then again, Im glad I got to visit it.  Its one of those places that reminds you that not everything you learn in textbooks is part of the past as some sort of fairytale.  Seeing all sorts of things in the museum like tattered clothes, imprints of shadows bleached into walls, and old diaries, you begin to remember or realize how precious human life is.  Wars are never good and lots of people suffer at the quarrels of a few.  I wouldn't consider it somber as much as it was moving.

Our next and last major sight to see in this trip was the Shrine at Miyajima.  Usually the Torii (gate) is usually surrounded by water and known as the "floating gate" but because it was low tide we had the opportunity to walk up close to the base and see it in HD. 

Also, I didn't expect any animals like these cute deer to be roaming the island so freely.