3 days off work makes a 5 day weekend of adventure in the making!
(September 18th-September 23rd)
I had spent about a year making paper cranes to put on the Children's Peace Memorial. There is a Japanese story about a young girl, Sadako, who got leukemia because of the atomic bomb. She knew of an old Japanese legend that if someone folds a thousand paper cranes than they can make a wish. She folded over a thousand cranes in the hope of getting better but died in the end. After, her classmates and other children from all over Japan raised money to build memorial. Folding cranes for those who are sick has become popular since.
I really had only about 250 done (out of 1000) in the start of August so I spend the month and half before the trip folding like crazy! I finished the cranes about a week before we left and was so excited to make my wish and put the cranes on the memorial.
Here are my my 1000 cranes on the couch. There are 50 cranes on each string-20 in total. (the rainbow ones are my favorite!)
I was all ready to go, excited and eager to sit on the train for 9 hours...
DAY 1: Hiroshima
After my planning Christian and I decided to visit Hiroshima and Kobe. We took the over night train from Niigata to Hiroshima. We left Niigata around 11pm on Friday night and arrived in Hiroshima at 8 am. We both we exhausted but had so much to see!
We started our tour of Hiroshima by going to the a-bomb dome. The dome was a busy center of arts and offices. It became a center, a landmark of the city of Hiroshima. It was one of the few buildings standing after the bomb dropped. The bomb feel about 600 m away from the dome. Since the bomb fell so close to the dome it was considered to fall directly on top of it. Since that happened, the building was able to still stand. The city was going to tear the building down but the people decided to preserve it to remember the horror of nuclear war. The building is preserved to look exactly as it did the day the bomb dropped.
Our first view of the dome after we got off the tram:
And a few around the side:
And a few from the front, looking in:
And a view from across the river:
We crossed the river and went to peace park. The park had many different memorials. There was a peace bell (which we rang), a mound with ashes (all the ashes of unknown victims), the children's memorial, the eternal flame, and the peace museum.
My favorite part of peace park was the children's memorial. I was so excited to put my cranes on the memorial! Me at the memorial!
Behind this memorial were these plastic storage containers to put the cranes in. I was so excited to make my wish and put them in!
Further in the park was this eternal flame. The flame was lite one year after the bomb dropped at the first peace ceremony. The arch covers a container with a list of all the known victims. There is a pool here that contains a prayer for peace in 8 different languages. There is a memorial ceremony here every August 6th.
After we enjoyed listening to a group of high school students practice singing in the park we went to the museum. It was moving and full of amazing information. It was very interesting to see information about the war from the other point of view. It was amazing to see how Hiroshima has dedicated itself into being a city of peace.
After enjoying out time in the peace park we were starving and ready for lunch. We had read up on Hiroshima okonomiyaki, a local delight. Okonomiyaki is also called a Japanese pancake. It has a think layer of batter, cabbage, bean sprouts, green onion, meat (or other filling like shrimp and eel), noodles, and cooked egg on top. We walked to an area called "okonomiyaki village" to find the best in the city. It was AMAZING!!!
After lunch we headed to Hiroshima castle. We were able to walk through a building that was designed like a guard tower (or at least that is my guess). We enjoyed looking at models of the old castle and played the taiko drums!
Across the castle grounds was a rebuilt tower. It is the main tower where the feudal lord lived. It has been made into a museum now. It is 6 stories tall with each floor being dedicated to a different theme: weaponry, Hiroshima history, life in the 40s and more. The 6th floor was a viewing floor and offered a beautiful view of the city!
On the castle grounds was also the emperor's old home. We enjoyed hanging out on his steps!
After this wonderful day of sightseeing on not nearly enough sleep we were exhausted! We found more Hiroshima style okonomiyaki for dinner, picked up some ice cream and the local convince store and head back to the hotel to crash early!
DAY 2: Miyajima
Miyajima is home to one of Japan's most famous sights-the floating tori. Miyajima is a small island just off of Hiroshima city that is easily accessed by a short boat ride. The island was thought to be a holy land and they did not want anyone to die there. In the past, no one was allowed to live there (except maybe priests?) and anyone who wanted to access the shrine must do so via the water. The main shrine was actually more like a giant pier. The tori is only under water during high tide and we were lucky to see it first thing in the morning. It was a beautiful sight...bright sunny sky, blue water, green mountainous back drop...
and me and the tori...
Then we walked to the shrine for another view...
and again, me and the tori...
After walking through the main shrine and viewing the beautiful tori we were ready for a hike up Mount Misen. Along the way we saw beautiful sights of tucked away temples and little waterfalls.
The hike way lovely too. The forest way green and there were 800 steps. Here is Christian waiting for me as I make my way, slowly, behind him (whining too, no doubt).
another picture of the path...
and the breath taking views of Hiroshima bay...
Almost to the top we found a beautiful little shrine tucked away in the woods...(you can make out the orange of the roof in this picture)
The tori on the way in (rock piling was very popular around here...not sure of the significance but it was beautiful)
me + view from the shrine...
In the picture I am stand on top of a giant rock. While looking around, Christian noticed a roof down below. After some climbing around we found another amazing little shrine under the rocks...
Christian is standing on top of the rock (the point at which I am standing in the picture above) and I am now down below on another rock by the shrine, just to give you an idea of the distance.
And this was the little shrine. It was built into the wall of the rocks....
And the view from the rocks...
After enjoying this view we finally decided to push to the top. We finished our hike at 530 meters...the top of Mt. Misen!
The prize winning view from the top...
After our hike back down the mountain we found the tori at low tide. It was surround by small pools of water and mud but we were able to walk all the way up to it. The whole place was crazy crowded.
It was fun to see up close how small we were in comparsion!
We enjoyed some of the local cuisine. Miyajima is known for a broiled eel on rice...yummy! We also sampled the local treats, maple leaf shaped manju (cakes with sweet red bean paste filling). Along the streets we also saw the worlds largest rice spoon! It is 7.7 m long, 2. 7 m wide and weights 2.5 tons!
After this we caught the night boat back to Hiroshima. We walked back to our hotel and stopped at the a-bomb dome to see it lit up!
DAY 3: Kobe
On this morning we hopped onto a shinkansen to head to Kobe. The train ride was about 2 hours long. Kobe is famous for it's amazing beef so we were headed there at 10 am, and already looking forward to dinner!
In Kobe we started our day by going to the aquarium. It had a few great tanks, Japan's first underwater tunnel, giant turtles and dophin shows.
Us in front of the large tank (sorry it's blurry!)
And a dolphin show...
We enjoyed an AMAZING Kobe beef dinner. After dinner we headed up Mt. Rokko on the Rokko cable car to take in the 1000 man dollar ($10,000,000) view. We aren't sure if they are trying to say the view is better than a million dollars or just got confused.
On the cable car...
And the view... (you can see across the bay all the way to Osaka harbor). It was lovely but not sure if it was a 10,000,000 dollar view...
DAY 4: Kyoto/home
On our last day we finished our tour of Kobe by going to the earthquake museum. It was really interesting to learn about how the earthquake affect the people and how the city used it's strength to rebuild.
We then headed to Kyoto to catch our night train back to Niigata. (the train would leave Kyoto and midnight). Since we had a little time in Kyoto we stopped to hike around my favorite shrine- Fushimi-inari taisha. It is famous for having MILLIONS of tori. I LOVE the wish wall (people pay and write their wishes or messages on these wooden boards and hang them on the wall)
and the million of tori on the hike...(I kept thinking memoirs of a geisha when the little girl was running through here...)
As you can see, many were worn and beaten up. I thought the lanterns were also beautiful...
We caught our train home at midnight and made back to Niigata around 9 am on Wednesday morning. (and slept most of Wednesday away!) It was a fantastic silver week!
