Peace

December 27-28, 2010

All Pictures

Hiroshima
(広島市)
by bus

How to get there:

The bus stop for this bus is across the street from the Tokiwa near Oita Station, in front of the Forus.

Website:

• Bus Schedule
• Boat Website (Japanese)

Cost:

• Oita to Hiroshima – 5,700YEN or
• 4,750YEN with a group discount

Hours:

• Bus leaves Oita at 10:09 and gets to Hiroshima at 16:12

Notes:

• There is a bathroom on the bus.
• The ticket for this bus ride includes a boat ride from Kyushu to Honshu. But you can buy tickets for the boat alone.

Map:

View Larger Map

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K’s House

How to get there:

The nearest Station is Hiroshima Station.

Address:

1-8-9, Matoba-cho,
Minami-ku, Hiroshima city,
Japan 732-0824

Phone:

• +(81)-82-568-7244

Website:

• Map

e-mail: hiroshima@kshouse.jp

Cost:

• Depends on the room, but Dorm rooms are 2,500YEN/ night.

Hours:

• the doors are lock after a certain hour. I don’t remember what time.

Notes:

No free parking, but there is paid parking nearby.

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Hiroshima Peace Park
(広島平和記念公園)

• Memorial Hall
  (国立広島原爆死没者追悼平和祈念館)
• A-Bomb Dome
  (原爆ドーム)
• Peace Museum
  (広島平和記念資料館)

How to get there:

• Take the tram #2, 3, 6 or 7 to Atomic Bomb Dome (Genbaku Dome-Mae)
• This will put you right in front of the dome.
• From there you can cross the bridge and head south to see the park, the museums, and other monuments.

Address:

• Memorial Hall

1-6 Nakajima-cho,
Naka-ku, Hiroshima City
(in the Peace Memorial Park)

広島市中区中島町１番６号（広島平和記念公園内）

• Peace Museum

Peace Memorial Museum
1-2 Nakajimama-cho,
Naka-ku, Hiroshima City
730-0811, Japan

Peace Memorial Museum
広島平和記念資料館　啓発担当
住所：広島市中区中島町1-2

Website

• Memorial Hall
• A-Bomb Dome
• Peace Museum

Cost:

• Most are free.
• The Peace Museum cost 50Yen to enter.

Hours:

• The park is always open.
• The museum and hall’s times are 8:30 – 17:00.

Videos:

• History Channel: Hiroshima
• History Channel WWII Playlist

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Teppanya

How to get there:

The nearest Station is Hiroshima Station.

It’s a few blocks from K’s House

Address:

2-chome, Minami-ku,
Hiroshima Matoba 6-4
Kunimitsu floor Luart

広島市南区的場2丁目6-4

ルアール国光1階

Phone:

• (082) 568-5130

Website:

• Map

Notes:

Don’t order the pomegranate-grape drink. There is something wrong with the translation of their English menu. They will bring you grapefruit juice instead not realizing that something is wrong.

Maps:

View Larger Map

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The backpacking rookie

This was my nephew’s first time going on any type of backpacking trip. Though it was a very short trip, it was still fun seeing him experiencing Japan. I think he enjoyed it because he kept running off the take pictures of stuff or to ask questions of passers by.

The trip started out with us not knowing where the bus stop was. I knew which block the stop was on, but I didn’t know the exact location. Makeeya got a guy working at a nearby Starbucks to help us. We found it with plenty in time to catch the bus.

We knew the departure and arrival time, but everything else was a mystery to be discovered along the way. When we stopped somewhere near Bungo-Takada for what I thought was a rest stop. We were actually waiting to board a ferry.

The sea was rough and if I had looked out at the waves I could have made myself seasick. I went up stairs where the padded seat were and laid out to sleep. I could almost pretend that I was a baby being rocked to sleep by an overly aggressive mother.

It was night by the time we got to our hostel in Hiroshima. We had to leave for Kyoto at noon the next day, so we wanted to wake up early to see the sights. We decided to get something to eat then go to bed early.

Grape ≠ Grapefruit

The lady at the front desk recommended an restaurant a few blocks away from the hostel and gave us a map. It was pretty easy to find.

No one there spoke English, but fortunately they had an English menu. It had all the dishes written in both English and Japanese. We picked what we wanted to order and pointed to it. The waitress would then look at the corresponding Japanese translation. It’s a great system.

But there was a mis-translation in the drinks section. We all ordered the pomegranate-grape drink on the menu, only to be given grapefruit juice. We tried to explain to them what happened, but there was no uses. I ordered Calpis instead.

Ok, the name is horrible, but the drink itself is divine!

I’m a vegetarian who doesn’t eat chicken.

My mom is a vegetarian which makes eating in Asian a bit of a challenge. In most Asian countries the people do not eat a lot of meat, but there is a little meat in everything, even the kim chee has prawns in it.

I am not a vegetarian, but many of my friends who are, have told me how hard it is to eat in most restaurants in Asia. When they ask what dishes have no meat the waitors usually recommends a chicken or seafood dish. The concept of not eating anything that has ever had a mother is complete baffling to many Asians. This is why many western vegetarians living in Asia quickly fall in love with some India/ Nepali restaurant near their apartment.

So before we went to the restaurant I, on my mom behalf, ask the hostel receptionist to write a note to the waitress. I asked that the paper say that my mom was vegetarian and will not eat chicken, fish, beef, pork,… Even with the paper, we still had trouble ordering my mom’s food. They read the paper and thought, “This must be a mistake. How is this even possible?”

Just like my home

We took a Japanese-style family room in the hostel. This meant that we would sleep on futons placed on the floor. The gang was delighted to try out sleeping in a traditional Japanese way until I told them that the accommodations would have them sleeping in the same fashion as they had be sleeping at my place. The only difference would be that now the sheets match.

Now we just want peace.

The next day we went to the area of Hiroshima where the first atomic bomb was dropped.

While on Christmas break during grade-school in England, I visited my sister in D.C. She took me to the section of the Air and Space Museum at the Dulles Airport. They had the Enola Gay on display. In case you don’t know, that is the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.

I walked up to it and touched it. It was cold. It didn’t look scary like one would expect something that had killed so many people in such a short time would. It looked goofy and awkward as if it were hiding it’s true nature.

I wondered how Enola Gay, the mother of the pilot, felt when she heard about her namesake. Did it bother her? Did she wonder what on earth was her son thinking? How would I feel if someone named a bomb dropping plane after me?

It is a somber place. I don’t have to tell you how I felt walking around Peace Park in Hiroshima; you can imagine it for yourself.

I was surprised at how things were portrayed. I’ve visited many war memorials and monuments dedicated to fallen soldiers and civilians. There is usually some finger pointing that shows though. This one places no blame on anything other than the war. To me it said that it doesn’t matter who was right or who was wrong, having an atomic bomb dropped on your city for whatever reason, justified or not, is not a good thing for anybody and that peace should be more valued by every country.

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