Day 7 Nov 06 - Hiroshima

We all had a good night’s sleep on our futons and went downstairs to see what surprises we might find on the breakfast table.  Breakfast was lovely – rice, miso soup, fish, omelette and vegetables.  A nice – and very Japanese – start to the day.

Nothing looking at us this time

 

The very hospitable Wada-san

 
We packed our bags, then after a little more conversational Japanese practice, we said our sayonaras to Wada-san and drove off in our little beige box.  We enjoyed our sightseeing drive while making our way to the ferry terminal.  The islands are very mountainous, with little fishing villages tucked into coves wherever possible.  The locals continued to show their surprise when they caught a glimpse of us.  Foreign tourists are few and far between on Etajima!

Our little beige box at the ferry terminal

Leaving Etajima

 

When we got back to Hiroshima, we let the GPS lead us back to the car rental place, via a brief stopover at the shopping centre.  As most Japanese streets don’t have names, GPS locations are pinpointed via the telephone number.  We simply entered the phone number of Nissan Rent-a-Car and the GPS knew just where to go.

After the formalities at the rental shop, we dumped our bags in the station lockers and headed for the Atomic Bomb Dome.  This building, which was almost directly under the bomb's hypocentre, has been preserved as a reminder of the devastation.  There were many groups of school children visiting.  They perform a brief ceremony and deliver their garlands of paper cranes in memory of the people who were lost in the bombing.  One group sang a song which was very moving.

A group of school students paying their respects

 

 

John and Erin at the Atomic Bomb Dome

Autumn colours in Hiroshima

Garlands of paper cranes

We were accosted by a group of young school students who asked ‘What is your name?’, ‘Where are you from?” and asked us to write a peace message.  That was fine the first time, but there were hoards of students all doing a similar thing.  They stuck to their script and didn’t understand when we told them we’d already done it, so I figured out how to say that in Japanese, and from then on we were able to turn them down with a friendly smile.

We then went over to the Peace Bell where, as promised, we rang the bell on John’s Dad’s behalf. 





 

Ringing the Peace Bell

Next stop was the Museum.  As John and I had been there in 2010, I was happy to skim through.  It’s a very sobering place to visit and I find it a bit overwhelming.  Erin was very interested in the history of the event and had a thorough look around.  She intends to follow her visit up with some further reading.

By the end of the museum visit we were very weary and my ankles have done their usual balloon impersonation, so we were happy to retrieve our packs and get on the train to head for Nara.  We ate our bento box dinners on the train, so when we arrived, we'd been fed and were ready to head to the hotel for a rest.  Unlike most Toyoko Inns, this one was not near a JR Railway Station.  It was near a station, but on a private railway company line that didn't connect with JR.  We caught a taxi to the hotel, which wasn't such a bad thing, as getting dropped near the door was a blessing.
 

John spent the rest of the evening going up and down in the elevator doing the washing, while Erin caught up with her journal and I sorted out 'stuff' and organised photos.

Tomorrow is ‘cycling around Nara’ day, which I’m looking forward to very much.