05/02/11 - Atomic Bomb Dome, Hiroshima　広島

Time for another Japan blog!

This blog is going to be about my second (and last) day in Hiroshima. We went to the Atomic Bomb Dome which was bombed during the WWII on August 6, 1945.



The Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome is the closest building to where the bomb dropped that remained standing. The main reason for coming to Hiroshima was to see this building, so we dedicated a whole day to go visit it. Some advice though however, if you're planning to go shopping or something in Hiroshima, go BEFORE you visit the Atomic Bomb Dome Museum. You'll most likely feel depressed after visiting it and won't be in the mood for going out.. Well that's what happened to me anyway.

Anyway, onto the blog, we woke up and decided to make some onigiri as snacks for the day. I also filmed a video on how to make onigiri when we sold them to raise money for Japan, if you guys want I can upload it. I haven't uploaded it yet because of the bad quality video :(



We took the tram again to get to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. I can't really remember how long it took to get there, perhaps around 30 minutes.




We arrived at the Atomic Bomb Dome. I took a lot of photos of the Atomic Bomb Dome.




They had to put bars inside the building to prevent it from falling down









The Peace Memorial Park is really big. I tried to go to all the monuments there but didn't have enough time to go through everything. We sort of had a time limit because Russell and Eric had to leave Hiroshima that day by Shinkansen (bullet train). Anyway, I kind of wandered off on my own to go to the monuments myself.

The Peace Fountain is right next to the Atomic Bomb dome.



Me in front of the Peace Foundation.

It was so quiet and peaceful in the park




Next I went to the statue that had thousands of cranes hanging off on the side. I think this is a memorial for the children who served Japan in the world war.








You can also pick up a sheet explaining the monument and the history behind it. You can either pick it up in Japanese or English.

I picked up both the Japanese and English versions but decided to just post the English version on here.

While walking around I couldn't stop taking scenic photos of this park. Everything just looks so beautiful






I then crossed the Motoyasu-bashii bridge which took me to the Children's Peace Monument.



Surrounding the monument are thousands of cranes on display sent from all over the world.






A picture of the Atomic Bomb Dome from across the bridge:


I kept walking and arrived at the Peace Clock Tower


The Peace Bell:


I also got a video of me ringing the Peace Bell. Will edit the video sometime.

Next is the monument for the Korean victims and survivers



Merciful Goddess Kannon of Peace


We were running out of time so I was unable to go through all the monuments. There are 65 monuments overall but I was only able to cover around 20 of them. We then decided to go to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. While walking to the museum, we walked past some really beautiful scenary.

Flame of Peace. I read somewhere that this flame will only go out once every country in the world gets rid of all their nuclear weapons (Not sure if it's true or not).


The pond of peace



You can see the Atomic Bomb dome through here

Fountain of prayer


So we went into the museum. The entry is really cheap, it was only 50yen which is like 75 cents. This museum is very foreigner-friendly. They have their displays in both Japanese and English.



This watch stopped once the bomb hit Hiroshima at 8.15am



A model of Hiroshima before and after the bomb. The red ball indicates the hypo center.
Before:



After:







This globe indicates which countries have nuclear weapons in their possession.







I'm sure a lot of people would've heard of Sadako Sasaki. The girl who died because of the radiation from the atomic bomb, she tried folding 1000 paper cranes hoping she can live. She was just 2 years old when the atomic bomb hit Hiroshima. When she was 12 she was diagnosed with leukemia and died later that year. It is believed that whoever folds 1000 paper cranes will have their wish granted to them. I'm not sure how many cranes Sadako folded before she died, there are too many versions of the story. But the museum had paper cranes Sadako folded herself on display. Back then origami paper was expensive, so Sadako folded cranes out of anything she can find. They had some really tiny paper cranes she made on display.







The museum was very informative, but it does make you depressed after when you walk out of it. What I liked about the museum was that it was non-biased. They didn't point fingers and blame anyone for what had happened. It was worth the trip going all the way to Hiroshima to see the Peace Memorial Park.

After that, I had to rush back to the hostel with Eric since his Shinkansen was leaving soon for Nagano. I wasn't going to leave until the next morning for Shizuoka so I decided to go back with him.

Waiting for the tram.

I was on the tram for about 3 stops until I realized I forgot my hat at the museum. I left it on one of the displays while reading it.. so I had to rush off the tram and then head back to the museum. I decided to stop by a Surplus (convenience store in Japan) to buy drink so I can have coins later to pay the trams.


I decided to just walk to the museum since I would be able to get there faster that way. I got back to the museum and luckily my hat was already at the front desk. I managed to get it back, signed it off then took the tram back to the hostel. I did want to go shopping for a bit and check out the city of Hiroshima, but I wasn't in the mood for that unfortunately. Instead I decided to stay at the hostel to get ready for the next day as I was going to head off to Shizuoka.


My shinkansen ticket to Shizuoka (It's like $200 T_T)

My next few blogs will be all about homestay and highschool experience in Japan! Follow my blog to keep up to date with posts!