Shin Osaka

Hiya,

In the morning after waking up today (11.11), we headed down to the 2nd floor for breakfast. It was a mixed Japanese/American buffet with a pretty good selection. I had a few orange and pineapple slices, a croissant, toast with blueberry jam, Japanese rice, and mango juice. It was very delicious, and by far the best breakfast I've ever had in a hotel.

The Japanese clearly understand my intense love of all things Mango.

Afterward, we headed to the station to make our way to the Peace Memorial Park. I have to admit, navigating around Hiroshima has been doubly difficult than in Tokyo. We eventually managed to make our way to the park via streetcar (tram). We first arrived at the A-Bomb Dome, a building that partially survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. It was truly amazing to see this building in ruins but still standing before us. We made our way further into the park afterward, stopping at the Children's Peace Monument. Here stood the statue of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who died of leukemia after suffering through the radiation after the bomb fell. She is depicted holding a paper crane above her because she folded over 1000 paper cranes while in the hospital (a Japanese tale says if you fold 1000 paper cranes, the Gods will grant you a wish). Unfortunately, her condition progressively worsened and she died at the age of 12.

The Streetcar that took us to Genbaku Dome.

The dome itself.

One of many artworks put together using the paper cranes made by children around the world.

Beyond the statue was the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall and beyond that the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Inside the hall was a touch screen system where one could search for the profiles of those that had fallen to the bomb or the radiation thereafter. Some 18,000 names are registered and some even included pictures. Inside the museum one could find a number of surviving items that just filled your soul with feelings of melancholy. One display case contained the charred skin and nails of a Jr. High Student. Elsewhere in the museum were tattered clothes, sections of walls and metal structures that suffered damage from the bomb, and other partially intact items. Another display case contained a human shadow etched in stone. Towards the end of the museum route, I found models of people with their clothes charred and their skin melting away. The absolute horrors of nuclear weaponry have never felt so real before today. 

A model depicting the city before the bombing.

And one depicting  the city after the bombing.

Models of the victims of the atomic bomb.

After arriving back at the hotel, we checked out and proceeded to the station. Our original tickets to Shin-Osaka via shinkansen were for 14:15 (2:15PM) but we had to check out at 12:00, so we changed to an earlier train. I did the math while on the train and according to my calculations, in 15 seconds the particular shinkansen we were on travels the distance of 13 football fields. 


Upon arriving in Osaka, we made our way to the hotel, the New Osaka Hotel, and checked in. It's nice here, but there's even less written English around the premises, and even less spoken English by the staff. We decided just to eat dinner and then spend the rest of the day at the hotel since it was slightly raining and starting to get dark. Tomorrow I think we will go to Amerikamura, an "Americatown" of sorts, much like a Chinatown. Maybe we'll go to Osaka Castle too. I've yet to decide on the itinerary. Then the next two days we will likely spend in Kyoto. 

A most delicious dinner consisting of kake udon, Japanese rice, and deep fried chicken for a mere 590 JPY.

Until next time,
Daniel