So we had to get up supper early to start the trip to Hiroshima. I had to leave proxy at 6:30 am to make it to I-House before the bus left at 7am. It was about a 7 and a half hour long drive. All I wanted to do was sleep. Instead I stayed up watching the movies they had running for us. They played Ponyo (in Japanese with no subtitles), a weird Japanese movie that I had never heard of I think it was called A Funeral (wish I had skipped that one even though it had subtitles), and finally an action film called Gomen (also in Japanese, no subtitles). I'm not sure if Japanese cinema is truly for me. American movies are more fantasy based and the good guy usually wins. In Japanese films the good guy usually dies, the cheating spouse never gets caught, and everyone always cries as they confess their sins to the police. Well anyway...
We reached Hiroshima and we took a ferry over to see the Floating torii on Miyajima. There were lots of tourist there because on that particular day the water had receded enough to allow people to go out and touch it. We also go to see the deer park. The deer weren't skittish at all and they allowed us to pet and feed them. It was really fun and I was kind of sad that we couldn't stay longer. That night we were allowed to wander around Hiroshima at our leisure. Nana, Kimu and I walked for a bit before we stopped for Ramen. They had supper spicy Ramen that was super delicious, but there was way more of it than I could eat in one sitting. We walked for a couple of hours just taking in the sites. I almost killed a bike rider though. I was walking and I heard him ring his bell and I stepped in the wrong direction and he sides swiped me before he proceeded to crash into a wall himself. I was so embarrassed the whole thing was my fault and I felt so bad. But he just got off and asked me if I was ok. I said that I was fine and he biked off. Then I turn to look and these two guys on motorbikes are just sitting at the light staring at me and laughing. Instant shame for life. We bought cake from the fancy restaurant in the hotel and ate it before turning in early.
The next morning we got to eat at the hotel restaurant again. It was so nice. There was not one or two but three full bar stations and a drink section. They had both Western and Eastern breakfast foods available and an assortment of fruits to choose from. I ate so much. But I knew that we would be out for the rest of the morning.
After a brief drive we arrived at the Hiroshima Memorial Museum. It was heartbreaking to see all of the pictures from the Atomic bomb and to see the effort to stop Atomic bomb testing. Something like that makes you wonder what sort of evils the human race is capable of and why we keep repeating our mistakes. I would definitely recommend visiting the Hiroshima Memorial Museum. When I learned about WW2 and Hiroshima it was sort of distant. But actually going there sort of bring it into perspective like nothing else can and puts all excuses for allowing it to happen to shame. For a little while, in the museum and seeing a group of older Japanese people reminiscing, I was ashamed to be an American. Every country has committed some atrocity in history but it is still hard to stand up under the weight of that particular one. After the museum tour, we started the long drive back to Nisshin. It was a tiring trip but well worth it.
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