hiroshima

sorry for the long delay. many of you know that i went to hiroshima this past weekend and i've been due to update you all with pictures and lovely history and what-not.

WELL TOO BAD!

you have to read through miyajima first! that place was were i visited first and (no offense) i liked it more.

so not far from hiroshima is this beautiful island called miyajima. it's famous for it's japanese maple trees and deer (shika) that just walk around freely in the town. but it's most famous for its torii (red shrine entryway) that's in the water. it's ENORMOUS and faces the ocean; almost like it's either having japan enter the world or the world is entering japan. either way, it's amazing. (click on the picture to make it bigger if you so wish)

here it is with the tide almost fully up. i eventually went down to it (almost right up to it) once the tide went out.

there we go. it's so large, i love it.

not only was there this torii, but there was a 5 story pagoda which is a narrow building with chinese designs. it's a pretty stereotypical aspect of japanese culture.

i loved this thing and constantly talked about going the entire trip. SO AWESOME! sadly, by the time we arrived, we couldn't go inside. i bet it was amazing in there, though...

in any case, the area around was just gorgeous. again, the pictures will be at the bottom since there are quite a few. as always, there are more on my facebook.

all right, onto hiroshima. this didn't make it on my facebook because...well let's face it. what does everyone know hiroshima by? not the beautiful and sprawling city it's become or the culture that's there, but instead, the A-Bomb. even the japanese think of it that way before anything else.

we had spent the night in hiroshima the evening before after being in miyajima and went awfully early. i was very nervous and prepping myself to be extremely sad. i had been to the holocaust museum in washington d.c. back in the States and now i was going to the A-Bomb museum. last on my list is the pearl harbor museum and i'm pretty set in WW2 areas (unless there's some fascists museum i don't know about).

anyways! so we get there and right off the bat i feel a lump in my throat at seeing the atomic dome. for those who don't know what that is or don't know enough, the atomic dome is basically the only remaining building still standing from when the bomb was dropped. it was hit by the blast only a few miles away and because of that, most of the structure stood. it burned for an entire day before anyone was able to put it out and another day to go inside. it used to be a building for city officials to use (not quite like city hall or anything).

here it is before

pretty beautiful, huh? at the time, it was considered an achievement to modern architecture.

here it is now


around this time, 15 high schools came along. i got even more nervous and knew things would end badly if i got too close. i already felt horrible that it had happened, but the fact that i was a foreigner at the area made it all the worse

so next we moved towards the museum across the river. we came across the children's peace monument. children from all across japan were inspired by a girl in japan who, when 2, was hit by the blast. she didn't suffer any injury and she seemed fine. she grew up healthy and strong until she was 10 when she developed lukemia and slowly began to die. by 13, she had passed away, but not before making over 1000 paper cranes. there's an old legend in japanese culture that if one makes 1000 paper cranes, their wish will come true. she kept wishing to be healed (even though they never told her that she was dying, she kept records that she hid under her bed showing that she knew something was up with her blood) and eventually made the tiniest paper cranes ever.
once she died, kids all over japan made the cranes wishing for world peace and complete destruction of nukes or bombs of any kind.


once done, we passed by the flame of hope and the tomb of all those dead. the middle schoolers had stopped there to put down flowers and do a simultaneous bow. it was a bit touching, so i quickly moved away. i was already feeling really sad.

we then moved inside. i'm not gonna show too many pictures because some are just so sad...

the time of when the bomb hit

pretty much all that's left of a 3 year old

a person used to be there in that darker area. that's all that remains of them- their shadow

before
after

WELL NOW! with that lovely stuff out of the way! i'll end with a few pictures and my fav. picture is at the end

DEER
bambi and his mom!
view from the top of a small shrine in the town
the leaves are changing colors. such pretty japanese maples

and finally, my favorite picture which really made me cry at the end of the hiroshima museum
(please enlarge and read the message. it's inspiring)



needless to say i cried at this place, but it was worse because around me where middle schoolers crying and old people looking ready to faint. one middle school girl glared at me which made me feel god awful. but when i saw the shadow on the ground, a little old lady who came up to me and asked if i was okay (in japanese). i replied that i'm trying not to cry. she pat me on the shoulder and said, "it wasn't you who did it". i looked at her and she gave me such a sweet smile and pat my hand.

~星子☆