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For no particular reason, my girlfriend and I took a trip to Hiroshima last Friday. The bus ride was about 5 hours from Tottori, a rather long trip for two days of stay, but it was definitely worth it.
We stayed at a place called the "World Friendship Center" located slightly west of the Peace Park, about a 20-minute walk. The place was clean and very cheap, if you ever decide to go to Hiroshima, send me a PM and I'll provide you with more information 
This is perhaps the most famous tourist spot in Hiroshima - A-Bomb Dome (gen-baku Dome). This building is extremely close to where the bomb was dropped, and it withstood the enormous heat and vertical pressure given off by the bomb. All other surviving buildings have either been torn down or severely renovated, except this building.
This structure is near the centre of the Peace Memorial Park. The structure contains a concrete case in the centre, which contains books with the names of those who were killed by the bomb. Every year, during the Peace Memorial Day, the case is opened, and more names are being added (some survivors are still dying of radiation). The saddle-shaped monument is taken from Japanese folk lore in which people ride horses with such saddles to heaven (I think...)
Flame of Peace. The flame will always be lit until all countries in the world abandon nuclear weapons. Also, it is slightly harder to see, but there is water on the other end connecting the flame of peace to the aforementioned monument. The water is called "Pond of Peace", and there is always water because, after the bomb was dropped, people were desperately trying to obtain water. A very common motif in the park.
A statue dedicated to a child who died of radiation - Sadako San. Sadako initially survived the bomb, however, when she was twelve, she began to become sick, and her body's white blood-cells would double or triple on odd days. She did not want to die, so she decided to fold paper cranes because 1000 paper cranes could grant one wish. Underneath the monument, there are cases displaying paper cranes sent in by people all over the world.
During the war, there were a lot of Koreans being forced to work in Hiroshima and tens of thousands of Koreans were killed by the bomb as well. This monument was created with Korean rocks, and the turtle is a typical theme as the dead ride turtles to heaven according to Korean lores. The monument was initially located outside of the park, and was recently moved inside.
Peace Bell donated by Greece. Notice the nucleus on the bell.
A structure combining four religions -- mourning for all people who died because of the bomb.
A museum inside of the park. The clock face shows 8:15 - the time when the bomb was dropped. Another motif in the park.
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Aside from its depressing history, Hiroshima offers great okonomiyakis. Hiroshima's okonomiyakis are slightly different from Kansai (Osaka) style. The toppings for okonomiyakis in Hiroshima are layered rather than mixed, hence giving it a better texture.
Okonomiyaki #1
Okonomiyaki #2
Okonomiyaki #3
And this is where we stayed...
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Day 2: Miyajima
Miyajima is famous for quite a few things: wild deers, maple leafs, maple leaf buns, crafts made out of wood, oysters, and finally, the big Tori.
A wild deer angrily glaring at me...
Ootori. When we first go there, it was low tides, so you can actually see the base of the tori, and it loses its "floating" effect. However, when it is low tides, a thing to do is to walk up to it, and try to stick a coin into one of its many cracks. It is believed to bring good fortune.
And that is exactly what I did...
Momiji bun. A maple leaf shaped bun containing some form of sweet inside. I really like them.
Moving onto the main dish - oysters... We went to the most popular oyster restaurant on the island (in business for 60 years iirc), and they were absolutely delicious.
Raw.
Onigiri
Boiled and topped on rice.
My favourite - grilled
Deep fried.
Finally, right before we left, the tides rose a little bit, and you can somewhat see the tori float...
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Is there any residual radiation left over in the region? Like higher rate of cancer for the people?
Looks like a beautiful place, sad history though. Looks like it recovered pretty well.
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I keep on wondering about the same thing actually.
The city recovered extremely well, there's no way you could tell that it has been bombed had it not been for the park and the Dome.
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Osaka27163 Posts
Great stuff Cambium, thanks for sharing.
There is a great okonomiyaki restaurant near my school. When you come visit me (when is that happening?) I'll take you there
About the cranes, when my grandfather was dying of cancer my wife's family wanted to send a message to him as he has been very kind to them over the wedding. So they folded a thousand paper cranes and sent them. They brought him a lot of comfort. Folding the cranes happens for many different reasons, obviously one of them being from the Sadako story which you see on those monuments.
Another, less serious use, is during the high school baseball tournament. During qualifying, each high school makes 1000 cranes, and the losing team gives theirs to the winner. By the end the winning team can have 10-15-20k cranes easily.
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On June 03 2008 11:54 Manifesto7 wrote:Great stuff Cambium, thanks for sharing. There is a great okonomiyaki restaurant near my school. When you come visit me (when is that happening?) I'll take you there About the cranes, when my grandfather was dying of cancer my wife's family wanted to send a message to him as he has been very kind to them over the wedding. So they folded a thousand paper cranes and sent them. They brought him a lot of comfort. Folding the cranes happens for many different reasons, obviously one of them being from the Sadako story which you see on those monuments. Another, less serious use, is during the high school baseball tournament. During qualifying, each high school makes 1000 cranes, and the losing team gives theirs to the winner. By the end the winning team can have 10-15-20k cranes easily.
Wow, that is totally cool
I will definitely go back to Kyoto some time from now until the end of the year, maybe we can meet up then
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cool pics, thanks for sharing
the food made me hungry
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Wow nice pictures! The deer looks cute! No sushi?
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Beautiful pictures! Teehee I see your watch. And I believe the deer was sleeping. xD
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I love the pictures. Japan must be so fun haha
And the food O_O
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I shed some tears. I really miss Japan.
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What a beautiful city.
The Japanese know how to build cities.
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is awesome32277 Posts
Nice post and pictures, thanks a lot for sharing!
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Great thread. Beautiful pictures and scenery. Aaah, Japan. :3
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Very nice pictures. My cousin who is learning japenese took a "Field Trip" there and he told me its a must see if you ever in Japan.
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United States22883 Posts
In the museum do they still have the shadow imprint of the person who got vaporized and the statues of the melting people?
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Yes. And one with a dog (iirc).
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Food looks good. Makin' me hungry.
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Great blog. Haji you should be ashamed when you see this aha.
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I see 2 seperated beds...
haha but aside from that take pictures of some people lol, what do U look like? What do ur gf look like? ~~ mystery mystery...
I would imaging the floating building to be really cool :D
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Hong Kong20321 Posts
waoh OKONOMIYAKI!!!! omg 
so jealous
why do you travel so much u.u
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What an excellent, interesting blog! Love all the pictures. Glad you had enough time to actually ENJOY that stuff as well as taking pictures of it!
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On June 03 2008 11:54 Manifesto7 wrote:
Another, less serious use, is during the high school baseball tournament. During qualifying, each high school makes 1000 cranes, and the losing team gives theirs to the winner. By the end the winning team can have 10-15-20k cranes easily.
Koshien 甲子園 is so big in Japan. Those high school players dream day and night to be there.
I guess it is like passing on "your dreams/wishes" to the team who beat you and hope they would carry it all the way to winning.
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Japan's a cool place, but as Haji posted earlier, their rigid hierarchy class system leaves something to be desired. If I had to guess, it probably has one of the biggest gender-pay gaps in the first world, but don't quote me on that.
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Spenguin
Australia3316 Posts
5/5 Japan=awesome now!
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cool fotos *jealous*
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that's one serious looking dear.
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I love the pictures... but I'm curious...
How exactly do you eat okonomiyaki? Looking from the pictures, all the stuff might slide off if you tried and picked it up like a normal pizza (I've heard them being compared to pizzas at home) and eating with normal utensils like chopsticks seems to defy the purpose of mixing ingredients.
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