Japan: Hiroshima

My alarm went off at 0545. I was too amped and excited to be tired. Shocking. I'm almost always exhausted upon waking up. I showered and got ready. Becca and I checked out and we took the Port Line two stops from Sannomiya to the Port Terminal. As we were getting off the train we could see the MV Explorer getting directed in via tugboats. It was still pretty far out.

We made our way to the Terminal and watched the ship pull in and dock from the 3rd floor. My adopted father/LLC Midhun was up on the 7th deck taking pictures. He saw me and Becca and screamed to us, his daughters. He was up taking pictures. It was so cool to see the ship come in like that at sunrise at 0645. This will be the only time we'll get to see that. I got a bunch of good pictures, too.

We had to get back on the ship to drop off our stuff and backpacks before our trip to Hiroshima at 0800. A ton of people who traveled independently from Yokohama to Kobe were there just in time for their trips with SAS, too. I think they said 200 people sailed on the ship from Yokohama to Kobe. I'm so glad we did our own thing and explored Japan for the extra day and a half.

It took forever for the ship to get tied up and cleared for us to get back on. Everyone was waiting in line to rush back on with their over night bags. We got back on at 0740. We were near the front of the line. We rushed on, dumped out all our stuff, and repacked our bags for the day.

Tania and I rushed out and got on one of the 3 buses. We got boxed lunches and waited for Nic and Becca. The buses waited longer for everyone who had to go through security to drop off their bags. At 0815 we were on the road for the 5 hour trek to Hiroshima. We had 2 stops along the way for food and coffee. We had a tour guide: Miho. She gave us the history of Hiroshima.

We got there around 1300 and walked around the Peace Park and the frame and structure of the building, now known as the A-Bomb Dome. We walked across the Aioi Bridge that was the target of the bombing.

There were a bunch of peace memorial statues commemorating the victims and promoting peace. While we were walking through the park along one of the rivers there were a lot of cameramen and reporters, then an older woman from Kenya dressed in bright robes walked up to the building plaque with a Japanese man. We found out that she was a Nobel Peace Prize winner from about 50 years ago from Kenya and she was with the Prime Minister of Hiroshima. We made it onto the news, in the background.

We saw the paper cranes left at the different memorials. Our group left 1000. They're believed to bring peace. They're colorful and look so pretty. There were a bunch of young school children walking through. They were about 6 years old. They were so cute in their uniforms and matching hats. They waved at us and posed for pictures.

Our tour guide had us take out our cranes and hold them in a circle and then wrap them up to put into the shrine. There were all different colored paper cranes arranged to make pictures saying peace or scenes. Apparently these cranes were burned down at one point. I can't believe anyone would burn down a peace shrine.

After our cranes were placed inside, an older Japanese man happened to be walking through this area. He spoke English really well and introduced himself as a survivor of the bombing. He had been on the outskirts of the city when it happened. His younger brother and father were killed as they had both been in the city at the time and their bodies had yet to be found. He said he visited the Peace Park often. He also said that he does not hate the United States today and that he supports Obama. I had been curious about people's reactions in Hiroshima to this huge group of Americans visiting this site. But no one seemed to show displeasure at our presence. After hearing more details about the events I find it hard to believe this city doesn't despise Americans. I wasn't a huge fan of us after this experience.

We went into the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum there. We watched the movie on the bombing and the aftermath. It was so eerie and sad. It told the whole story in detail that was never portrayed in my history classes. I think everyone cried.

After the movie we went through the museum. It was so powerful. There were replicas of how the city of Hiroshima looked before the bombing and then after. There tattered clothing and broken watches, melted bottles, parts of buildings throughout the museum. There were articles about the US's decisions leading up to the bombing, information on atomic bombs, and a globe showing who possesses nuclear weapons and how many. It was creepy. There were parts that showed the effects of radiation exposure, including body parts.

I couldn't believe it. I'd read and learned the basics and knew many of these facts. But being in Hiroshima, in person, seeing all of this was completely mind blowing. And to top it off, the museum was emphasizing peace and peaceful coexistences. There were different gifts given to the museum from different countries to express their
peace.

I left there feeling different than when I went in. It was depressing. It was hard to really feel uppity after seeing what we, the United States had done to this one city and people. It affected them and their health for years. Today people still suffer from complications of the a-bomb.

It was so crazy. I'm so glad I decided to go on this trip even though it was wicked far away. The ride back wasn't too bad. Another 5 hours. We stopped twice. Once for dinner and once for snacks. We got back around 2230. We planned out what we wanted to do for the next day, our last day, and went to bed. I didn't get to bed til almost 0130. So yet another night of little sleep.