The downtown area of Hiroshima was calling, and our train was booked for the evening so we knew we had to get out and make the most of the time we had, and so we jumped up, grabbed our cameras and headed out! The first place we went for was peacepark, a huge open park built very near to ground zero for the bomb. We arrived and found the A-Bomb Dome, an industrial hall / meeting room that, due to being almost directly underneath the blast, was one of the only buildings left standing in Hiroshima. The blast pankcaked the floors but since it was side on to the walls the pressure was equal both sides and they stayed standing. Nearby was a small statue of a child from before the war, the surface on top had been blasted smooth but the original texture of the stone in some places, under the chin for example, was still rough, this really brought home just how close it had been to the blast, and just how hot it was..
We walked over the bridge through this beautiful park, built in place of dense housing that was there before the bomb, and down past a series of statues, donated or in memory of certain groups, one being to the children affected, and as I walked past, a family came with a very old woman in a wheelchair, who must have been alive during the war, paying her respects and taking a picture in the garden, very touching.
Further down was a casket containing the name of every known victim, and a large museum about the a-bomb. It was a very moving experience, and in some places very vivid with pictures of the dead and dying, a step with a shadow left of some person sat there when the bomb went off, and many other heartbreaking scenes and stories of people who were caught up in the blast. This also included a lot of information about the war in general, and the lead up, interestingly the focus was not ever on America as being at fault, the included talks of it's strategic importance and was more focused on ending nuclear war than blaming the Alies for the part they played in the war. We read about the number of dead being 70,000+, more than Nagasaki, in part due to Nakasaki's hills which offered a little protection for some, and saw a huge wall with a letter sent to every country asking for nuclear disarmament.
It was a very sad and emotional visit, but well worth it.
After the museum and in a very contemplative mood we went to visit the cities old castle, it was a lovely castle, but not on the same scale as Osaka or Okinawa, the central tower however was beautiful peaking over the trees.
We then found a traditional garden, built back to the design of hundreds of years ago, and although small, containing many different beautiful and unique scenes, it was very cleverly done and well thought out. It included a small pagoda that I lay down in, and promptly fell asleep for half an hour, oops, feeling well rested we walked around the small lake and took lots of pictures.
After that we were both pretty tired, however we had a train to catch! So back to the hotel for our bags, then back to the station and onto the bullet train, we got Nagoya and changed onto a small local train for another 45minutes journey to a small village where Mina's brother lives. We got off the train at a dark station in the middle of nowhere, the platform was empty, and it was very very Japanese, it was awesome!
Mina's brother arrived a little late, and he was a great guy, he packed our things away and then took us for some food in a local place he liked, we sat on the floor and ate some tasty Japanese food, and although he didn't speak much English, and I didn't speak much Japanese, we bonded over a mutual understanding of beer.
After a couple of beers he asked if I had ever been to a hostess bar, I said (through Mina's translation) that I hadn't (and in truth had no idea what a hostess bar was), he was surprised but said nearby was his favourite, and he would show us.
We paid and walked out, walked 5 doors down and into another bar, the 'hostess bar'. It was tiny, 15 meters long, 3 meters wide, with a sofa at the end, a bar down one side and a row of stools along the bar. The bar was quite full with most seats taken by single Japanese men and Japanese girls working as 'hosts'. The girls were very well dressed in cocktail dresses, hair all done and with lots of makeup, and the guys would sit, and the girls would sit and drink with them, and talk, and keep them company, and the guys could talk with a nice girl with no pressure, and that is all that happened. The guys talk, and then they go home, apparently the chance of a girl going home with them is only if she wants to, it is basically just a date, no pressure, and a chat with a pretty girl. We sat down and ordered Japanese spirits and tea, which was very tasty, and a girl that knew Mina's brother well kept our cups full, drank along with us and we tried to make small talk without sharing a language. After a time Mina and I were both tired so we headed off (in his car) back to his house, where he had offered to let us stay, and Mina drove us back. He stayed late to have fun in the bar. We rolled into his house and I fell straight into bed in the spare room. His house was huge, two floors, 3 bedrooms, a huge shower/wetroom and even a small garden. It was beautiful, clean and very modern, although you could tell he was currently between girlfriends, he has two PS3s, one for his bedroom and one for the lounge, a Wii, a PSP or two, a Nintendo DS, 2 TVs, and so many gadgets, besides the techno toilets so common here (warming, Bidet, music, false flush sounds and all) his bath had no taps, only a remote control, it fills the tub for you automatically to whatever depth and temperature you want, then at a button press drains away again, so cool!
Anyway I had a quick look around and then got to bed, more exploring tomorrow!
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