My first night in town I checked out the main downtown area. As usual I wandered around aimlessly for an hour or so. The brightness of the lights illuminates every street making them seem all very similar yet each posses something different to offer. Finally I find a little bar on the third floor of a seven story building that I read about...Acholiday. A very clever name which would one would believe would be busy at 9:30 on a Saturday. Well, walking in I realize I am the only one in the place but I had a few drinks and chatted it up with the lady behind the bar.
She suggested I go to a place called Mac's...one of the oldest bars in Hiroshima. Old in Hiroshima is around 30 years because the Atomic Bomb completely flattened a 2 km radius around the hypo center where the bomb was dropped...that being the entire downtown. Walking into this bar it very cosy and it was nice to know that I was not the only one
in the place. CD lined shelves line the back of the bar 5 to 6 shelves high. There must have been 10,000 CDs. It is amazing to see how far technology has come that all that music can fit in the palm of our hand with the invention of the ipod. I talked to the lady behind the bar for a while until it became very busy. The man next to me...Ben...was a native from Hiroshima but studied at the University of Hawaii for two years and his English was fairly good so we talked and talked. He treated to me some Sake and we had a grand old time. Needless to say waking up in the morning was a little harder than I would have liked.The next day I found out there was a flea market going on in the nearby area so I went and checked it out. Apparently flea markets are the same everywhere in the world. There were stalls all over the place with mostly junk but it was fun to walk around and look at all the stuff. Did not buy anything because the idea of hauling it around for the next 6 months did not appeal to me. It was here I had my first taste of okonomi-yaki...a local dish that is noodles, cabbage, bacon, topped with a fried egg and special brown sauce...Delicious if I do say. As I enjoyed my okonomi-yaki I listened to a Japanese man play the piano and sing his finest version of Georgia by Ray Charles.
After that I visited the Peace Memorial where there was a great museum on all that occurred on August 6, 1945 at 8:15am. It explained that Hiroshima was a pretty big military manufacturing city and how it was chosen to be bombed. After the museum laid out the facts they moved onto how to prevent such a great atrocity like this again with the abolishment of nuclear weapons. The city of Hiroshima writes a letter of protest to a country every single time this country tests nuclear weapons...pretty amazing how avid this city is to stopping further bloodshed throughout the world. The museum then takes you through certain people lives the day of the bombing, where they were through the cloths, lunchboxes, tricycles, and so forth they found. This is the part that really brought the exhibit to life to me and it really was hard to get through. It was a great museum and very informative.
Outside the museum the whole park is dedicated to remembering that day and all the people it effected. There is a memorial to those who have died, a children's peace memorial, a peace bell which they encourage everyone who passes to ring in the hope for world peace, and some phoenix trees that still have burn marks from the blast that have been transplanted on the bank of the canal.It was a full day of walking around so I returned to the hostel to take a nap before hitting the town that night. In my hostel I met two Aussie girls...Nico and Tes...that were traveling . They had nothing on their plate for that evening so they joined me for free food which I read about at a Spanish restaurant, Cusco Cafe. Needless to say everyone in town seemed to get the memo about free food and the place was packed with a very international crowd. We stayed long enough to get a small plate of food but were not full so we checked out one of the most famous okonomi-yaki places in the city. You kind of line up outside until there is space but while you wait they take your order so once inside you food comes right out. Once again food was delicious and we went back to the hostel full and ready for bed.
The next day I was heading to Miyajima...a very famous island off of Hiroshima with a huge shrine (tsukushima-jinja)...and the Aussies decided to join me. It was the worst weather I have experience since being here, hard rain all day along with a consistent whirling wind. Regardless of the weather, we trekked on and saw the floating gate of Miyajima. It was very beautiful and surprisingly large.. 18 meters tall by 6 meters wide. Another great sight of the island was a 5-story pagoda named Taho-to. We walked around the island for a few hours but the cold was unbearable so we were back at the hostel by 2:30. The Aussies left for Osaka and I took a long hot shower and a nice nap...I seem to be napping a lot this trip thus far but that is what happens when you do a lot of walking I guess.That night had a few drinks with couple British brothers that were almost done with their travels through Japan. I actually met them in Tokyo at my hostel and they happened to be staying at the same hostel in Hiroshima...small country this is I guess.
Today I visited the Hiroshima castle which was rebuilt after the bomb demolished it. It was very interesting learning the history of the shoguns that built it back in the 1800s. They moved
from their mountain castle down to Hiroshima area because they could better country the water area. Many people believed the Mori family was idiotic for building a castle on a sandbar at the time but little did they know it would be a fabulous place to rule from. After the castle I hopped on the train and now I am in Fukuoka. This hostel has free Internet so I will be keeping you posted. Happy Thanksgiving...almost.
