Team Juloa: Adventures in Mainland: Part 4, Hiroshima

At last, the final part of our trip to mainland Japan: Hiroshima! We traveled to Hiroshima by bullet train, which was something we always wanted to do. It was pretty awesome! I thought that it felt extremely smooth and the trip was definitely quicker than I expected.

Hiroshima was not at all what I expected. It was a thriving, modern, beautiful big city. The foliage continued to add beautiful colors among the city buildings and waterways lined several of the streets.

We took the the city trolley (yes, one more train!) to our first stop. It was crowded but very easy to navigate. I love this picture that Sara took on the trolley.

The first stop was a sobering site: the A-bomb dome. This building "survived" the atomic bomb blast and still stands today as a reminder of the loss and devastation that Hiroshima experienced in 1945.

This statue marks where the bomb exploded about 600 meters above the ground. The interesting part of this memorial is that it's right up against a building, with more buildings beside it. You could easily walk by and not realize you passed this historic site.

We spent the next several hours learning about the devastation caused by the atomic bomb in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. I have to admit that it was a little strange to be there. But, seeing the destruction and hearing the true stories of survivors made the past more real to me. It is an excellent museum, filled with tons of artifacts and information.

This a view of the A-bomb dome and eternal flame near the entrance of the museum.

Outside the museum, thousands of paper cranes represent prayers for peace and the memory of Sadako Sasaki. Sadako Sasaki developed leukemia as a result of her exposure to the bomb blast. In the hospital she worked tirelessly to make 1,000 paper cranes. There is a Japanese legend that says that if you fold 1,000 paper cranes, you will be granted a wish. Sadako never made it to 1,000 by the time she died, but her friends folded enough so that she was buried with 1,000 paper cranes. There is a children's book that tells her story: Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.

After our sobering visit, we still had time to visit one more historic landmark in Hiroshima. We decided to check out Hiroshima Castle. This castle dates back to about 1590, but was destroyed in the bombing of Hiroshima. Reconstructed to look as it originally did, the castle now serves as a museum and we were fortunate enough to visit it before it closed for the day.

We got some beautiful views of Hiroshima at night from the top of the castle.

For dinner we went downtown and decided to go with something totally un-Japanese. We found a local Irish Pub and settled down for some much needed food. Little did we realize this pub had something special. It was only after one of the guys used the restroom that we were enlightened to the secret that this pub held. Check this out:

Yes, you are seeing that right. The urinals look out into the street. Here's the picture of the outside of the pub where the urinals look out into the street.

Besides the crazy urinals, the food was yummy. I had traditional shepherd's pie. Mmmmm...

Since Thanksgiving had just passed days ago, they still offered their Thanksgiving-themed shots and we had to try them. Those were also yummy.

After our delicious dinner at the weird-urinal-Irish-pub-in-Hiroshima, we decided to walk back to the hotel. As we walked we took in the sights of downtown. Look what we found - Big Echo - 7 floors of karaoke!

We are goofballs, but having a good time in downtown Hiroshima.

Sara and I tried to blend in, but I think our coats are giving us away in this window ad.

We turned the corner, only to find....a lighted winter wonderland! How fun!

Peace, baby!

Our gang!

It was soon afterward that we realized we had walked in the complete OPPOSITE direction of our hotel and it wasn't getting any warmer. So, after a warm taxi ride back to our place, we decided to have a celebratory drink to toast our adventures.

But, first a dance with the mechanical Santa.