Springing into Singapore and Japan.

[love_the_life]

......
Nevertheless we put in a pretty decent effort overall.
View attachment 98691

I'll say you did!

 

[GarrettM]

Wednesday May 10. Hiroshima day 2.
Our plan today is to stroll the peace park and museum in the morning, followed by Hiroshima Castle in the afternoon. Plus I've got a date with a football game tonight. Happy days.

The park is literally around the corner from our hotel. For some reason it wasn't as sobering an experience as I was expecting. Obviously the feel of history, and destruction is here, but the city just has this lightness to it that I was absorbing pretty quickly and beginning to enjoy immensely.

But enough about me! Picture time.




I was struck by how well the dome is preserved. Obviously some work went into in the 60s, as part of that process. But it seems minimal, and things are more or less as they were following the bombing.

 

[GarrettM]

Also impressed with the lack of graffiti. Now I know this is one of the most significant sites in a country known for its respect of history and all that. But I guarantee if this building was in Perth some cough would have scratched it up up or tagged it or something.

 

[GarrettM]

I should disclose now that most of these pics were taken by my wife, who is better with the camera than I.



No drones!


The view from the bridge as we crossed the river to the other side of the park.

 

[GarrettM]

The Bell of Peace.


We tolled for peace. Doesn't seem to have worked sadly.


And a look back across the way.


It's a tough thing to actually picture what happened here, even having read about it in school and more so since. I'm not sure the brain can truly comprehend the reality of it.

The brown building on the right is Orizumu Tower, which opened in September last year. More on that later.

 

[GarrettM]

On this day, as I presume on most days, there were many school classes in the park. A choir sang at the Children's Peace Monument, and then paper cranes were added to the growing collection next to that artwork.

\

 

[GarrettM]

We continued on to the Pond of Peace, and of course the memorial flame.

And being Japan, we can't go far without someone stopping us to engage the child.

 

[GarrettM]

MrsGM was looking for the Memorial Mound, but for some reason couldn't seem to find it. Or if she did, she didn't really notice. I wasn't paying much attention.

We did go into the museum though.


The interactive display was eye-opening.

 

[GarrettM]

As were the items on display...

 

[GarrettM]

Unfortunately our museum stay was cut short thanks to an increasingly agitated almost two year old. A real shame as there's clearly a lot to take in here, and I would have liked more time to absorb it.
We had seen the cafe at the Orizumu Building earlier, so decided to give it a try.

http://akushucafe.com/

Bub enjoyed watching the ladies cook, and they equally enjoyed watching her. It was a veritable mutual appreciation society.


I ordered the Hiroshima burger. It was ok.

 

[love_the_life]

On this day, as I presume on most days, there were many school classes in the park. A choir sang at the Children's Peace Monument, and then paper cranes were added to the growing collection next to that artwork.

In a previous 'life' I was the coordinator of a school house which was named for a college north of Nagasaki which was also bombed. As one of the first things the new Year 7s learn in their pastoral group is how to fold an origami crane.
Some years back a school excursion visited Hiroshima and placed cranes at the memorial as well.

 

[GarrettM]

In a previous 'life' I was the coordinator of a school house which was named for a college north of Nagasaki which was also bombed. As one of the first things the new Year 7s learn in their pastoral group is how to fold an origami crane.
Some years back a school excursion visited Hiroshima and placed cranes at the memorial as well.

Our efforts at paper cranes, such as they were, will be detailed when I get to our excursion to Orizumu Tower

Desperately wanted to get to Nagasaki but couldn't. Next time!

 

[GarrettM]

Almost a month since we actually returned from this trip and still I haven't been able to finish this.

But we have internet at home now, so will try to get it finished before the end of this week.

Ahead in this report: football, Miyajima, deer, paper cranes, more trains, some shopping, frustrations in Fukuoka, a scary health emergency, and a thorough analysis of our first ever international business class experience.

 

[GarrettM]

Come hell or high water I will get this report finished! Still in Hiroshima, and after a morning at the peace park and museum, we wanted to check out the castle. And get the toddler to sleep for a bit, which is also pleasant. It was still a bit of a gloomy day, but otherwise nice.

 

[GarrettM]

In particular I wanted to find the three trees that had survived the atomic bomb. One of them was a eucalyptus!


The other two were a willow, and a holly tree.

 

[GarrettM]

Going to try to smash the rest of this report this weekend, but still quite a ways to go.
We're still in Hiroshima Castle Park for now. Thankfully bub has gone to sleep.




Impressive.

 

[GarrettM]

It's another recreation of course, having been built, burnt, and rebuilt many times over the years. Lovely and traditional outside, but completely modern inside, for use as a bit of a museum.
Plenty of feudal era weapons and armour inside, but you're not allowed to take any pics of it sadly. And I'm not much of a rule breaker.

But there's other stuff you can photograph.
Some old crockery for example.



Or a model - I assume it's a model - of a kago, used to carry around people of prominence and such.



An old map of the area. Very cool.

 

[GarrettM]

There's a weird sort of virtual reality presentation of the history of the castle as well. Narrated by a cartoon character vassal of the original castle's master. But narrated in an odd Scottish accent. Go figure.
It details the way the joint was built, and issues they had with dredging the water logged soil and all that. Tends to gloss over the slave death toll, but whatever.

It's worth a visit for sure if you've never been. And I got another stamp for bub's collection.

After we left the park we took a stroll through the city, and came across one of the weirder vending machines we'd seen.

Dashi!

Love the warning sign on the bottom. Wonder how any foreigners it took before they put that on.

 

[GarrettM]

At this point in the afternoon it was time for us to separate, as I had to get to the Hiroshima Big Arch to see Sanfrecce take on Sagan Tosu in the J-League Cup.
I didn't realise I could have jumped on the Astram Line all the way there, so I ended up getting a taxi. A bit more expensive, but at least I got there easily enough.


Again I had pre-purchased a ticket, so it was a simple matter of finding the right entrance, and in no time at all I had exchanged my voucher for the ticket.
Perused the merchandise stalls outside and bought a little bar towel to add to my souvenir collection. No ties though. Pity.

Hiroshima Big Arch, currently known as Edion Stadium was built in the early 90s, and holds about 37,000 people. A grandstand on one side, and the rest of the seating is all open, benches and terraces and all that.
Not a big crowd tonight - it's a cup game after all, but sat amongst the active home support, and atmosphere is ok.

Click on the video below to hopefully make it work.

[video=facebook_share;10155473794171908]https://www.facebook.com/garrett.mundy.3/videos/10155473794171908/[/video]

 

[GarrettM]

Some more pics of the evening.



For the sake of efficiency I decided to double up on my refreshments purchases.


It's a nice looking place, nestled among the hills.


Sparse crowd though. It's a weeknight.