07/09/2019
After work on Thursday night, I went to Osaka station to buy a shinkansen ticket to meet Emily and Nora in Hiroshima. The train ride was about an hour and a half, which is a lot better than the 8-hour bus ride that I could have taken! As I was getting off the train, I realized that I didn’t have my wallet. I started panicking, checking my backpack and duffle bag. I ran back on the train to check for it and couldn’t find it, so I got off before the train started moving again. I checked both bags again and couldn’t find it. I was in tears on the platform because I had a ton of money in my wallet, along with my IC card and residence card. A nice Japanese lady approached me trying to help and I told her I lost my wallet, so she kindly directed me to a station employee who instructed me to go to the information desk. On the way, I realized it was probably right under the arm rest and I didn’t see it on the way out. After a couple minutes, I was finally able to find the information desk. Luckily it was mostly meant for tourists, so both ladies could speak English. She called the conductor and he found it!! Unfortunately, it was on the last train for the night, so I couldn’t get it until morning. I had already called Emily and her mom, and they rushed to the station to pick me up. Within 10 minutes we arrived at the hotel. The view from our room was gorgeous!
After dropping my bags off in the room, we went to family mart and bought sandwiches and ice cream! We ate, showered, and went to bed because we had to be at the station by 9 am so that I could get a lost and found slip to get my wallet back.
We woke up around 6:45 am on Friday morning so that we could eat breakfast before heading to Hiroshima station. It was great because I was able to eat fruit TWO WEEKS IN A ROW! After breakfast, we took a taxi to the station, arriving around 8:40. I retrieved my lost and found ticket and Emily, Nora, and I went to get tickets to Hakata station, which is where my wallet was at. Hakata station is actually in Fukuoka City, Kyushu, which is the southern most of Japan’s main islands. It was about an hour train ride by shinkansen, but I got my wallet back, so it was worth it! While we were in Fukuoka, we decided to try to see some of the famous attractions in the area. First, we went to a giant wooden buddha. I’m not super into seeing buddha’s and temples at this point in my Japanese life, but I know Emily and her mom would enjoy seeing it (as they were unable to see the one near Mt. Fuji and in Nara). It was pretty neat, but I think I like the one in Nara better. It was a very nice piece of art, as the buddha was fairly tall. I am always confused because all the buddhas look different, but historically they should all be the same person.
After seeing the buddha, we took the bus to Fukuoka tower, which is the THIRD highest tower in Japan. The tallest two are in Tokyo and we did go to the highest one (Tokyo Skytree) BUT the view was so bad we couldn’t see anything. Luckily, the weather was beautiful in Fukuoka so we were able to enjoy the seaside and city views. At the bottom of the tower, there was a few small food vendors, so I bought chocolate Taiyaki (fish shaped cake, which filling). It has a waffle outside, with chocolate filling, but usually has custard or red bean filling. It is really yummy! Emily got some grilled chicken and we also shared dango, which is like sweet dumplings on a stick. Nora tried a churro for the first time, not realizing they aren’t originally from Japan. She loved it so much, it was so cute. There wasn’t much else that we were interested in Kyushu, so we decided to head back to Hiroshima.
Once we arrived back in Hiroshima, we went to Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima island. It is one of the most famous shrines in Japan because it is built in the water! To get to the shrine, we had to take a 10 minute ferry ride. We ran into some deer on the island. Unlike Nara, they encourage you NOT to feed them. I think they were pretty hungry though because they kept trying to eat people’s shirts. The tide must have been really low because the entire shrine was actually out of the water, so we could walk right up to it! It was still so beautiful; the whole island was. We walked around a little longer, and I bought some Momiji manju, which is a sweet in the shape of a leaf, unique to Hiroshima. It is kinda like a small maple leaf shaped cake filled with red bean paste, or matcha flavor (green tea), or chocolate and many other flavors. Naturally, I tried the chocolate one and it was DELICIOUS!! Once it started nearing dark, we started back toward our hotel. We went to Saizeriya again for dinner, which was honestly really good because we were so hungry.
On Saturday, we slept in a little bit, waking up around 8:00 am. We went down to breakfast and walked to the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Museum. It was scorching hot, around 93 degrees and humid! It took us about 3 hours to go through the museum. It was honestly really sad. It mostly covered the impact of the atomic bomb on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It had clothes from children that died from the radiation. It also had a shadow of someone who was vaporized on the steps of a bank. It’s crazy to think about how hot it got, people were on fire, glass fused together, and it had to have been a truly terrible thing to live through. The people of Japan are strong advocates of banning nuclear weapons totally. I don’t blame them after seeing the damage and impact it had on the people there. Hiroshima is a beautiful city, surrounded by mountains. It was strategically picked for the atomic bomb because it was a military city, but also the mountains would concentrate the radiation so that the rest of Japan would not be impacted. There were also a lot of drawings from children that lived through the bombing. They all looked so sad and terrifying, usually depicting bodies floating down the river, or children crying out for water, seeing their parents on fire, and many other awful things. It was definitely a sobering experience and made you see the true capacity of destruction that nuclear weapons have. The museum didn’t mention any other part of the war (they did describe the Manhattan project and the history of Hiroshima), but they never discussed their role in the war. Overall, it was really well done and achieved their goal of showing the devastation that the use of nuclear weapons has.
Once we finished going through the museum, we walked around the memorial park. They have several different monuments; 8 in total I think. We first visited the monument for children that perished from the impacts of the atomic bomb. It was originally made in honor of Sadako. She was a 12-year-old Japanese girl that died from leukemia that was believed to be resultant of radiation and other things from the atomic bomb. She believed that if she folded one thousand paper cranes, a wish of hers would be granted. She died, just two cranes short (that her friends were bringing to her in the hospital as she took her last breath). It was really a sad story, but her friends all agreed to build a monument for her and the children that died in result of the atomic bomb. Afterwards, we headed to the A-bomb dome monument.
On the way, we stopped and took pictures in front of a fountain and I briefly talked to a Japanese man because he was asking where I was from and suggested some things for us to see in Hiroshima. He lived there his whole life but said he would like to visit America very much. The atomic bomb dome was one of the few buildings that was still standing after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, which is honestly surprising because it was relatively close to the hypocenter (where the bomb was dropped, although it was 600 meter in the air when it was detonated).
After seeing this monument, we decided to go see Hiroshima Castle. We stopped in a gift shop along the way and Emily bought a keychain because she collects them from all over the world. It took us about 30 minutes to walk to the castle. We pretty much just walked up to it and took pictures and went back to the hotel. We didn’t go in because most castles like it just have a history of the castle (regarding if samurais or shoguns used it). It also had to rebuilt after the war, so it wasn’t the original castle, but some of the ruins were still there. We were officially exhausted from the heat, so we went back to the hotel and took a nap. We wanted to go swimming, but you are required to wear a one piece and swim cap almost everywhere in Japan so we didn’t go. For dinner, I found an American restaurant that was soooooooo good. We actually almost couldn’t eat there because the owner had a private party, but luckily we were able to eat before the party started. I had tex-mex for the first time in MONTHS and was so happy. Emily and Nora both got burgers and loved them. After dinner, we briefly went shopping and stopped by the hotel restaurant for dessert. It was so good! We went to bed pretty early so that we could get up in the morning to go back to Osaka.
On Sunday morning, we woke up around 6:45 and went down to breakfast. We checked out of the hotel around 9 am and went to Hiroshima Station. We tried to get shinkansen tickets but had to wait about an hour before we could get a train that Emily and Nora could ride with their JR Rail Passes. When we arrived in Osaka, we dropped Emily and Nora’s suitcases at their hotel and went to the Osaka Aquarium! It is really famous in Japan, so we thought we would check it out before Emily and Nora returned the USA on Monday. I really enjoyed it! It was basically a downward spiral. You kept going lower and seeing different views of the tanks. They had two whale sharks which were HUGE and really cool to see. They also had a great barrier reef that was really pretty. I always imagined it being more brightly colorful, but maybe coral isn’t natural like I thought… maybe Nemo ruined that for me. At the end, you could pet sharks and sting rays like you can in Cincinnati, which was really cool. One shark kept going around in a circle, so everyone could keep petting him, he was loving it. The sting rays are probably the smoothest thing I have ever felt! I convinced the Joneses to try okonomiyaki (Emily got grilled noodles instead), but I think that Nora really enjoyed it! Emily and I also got super delicious crepes and Nora had some mint chocolate chip ice cream before we started back towards the main Osaka area. I took them to Don Quixote so that they could buy some unique kit-kats for people in the USA to try. I also bought some for my friends to try when I get back. Around 5 pm, I took them back to the hotel and headed home. I was really sad to see them go, but I will follow them soon (5 weeks)!!
Monday was Terry’s last day at work. It was really sad for me. I started crying a little when he gave his last speech. He is my best friend here in Japan, I talked to him everyday and we would hang out and get coffee at work, becoming pretty close. Denny, Terry, and I all went to dinner together for his last night in Japan. Traditionally, we always go to Saizeriya together, so we decided to go one more time. Afterwards, I went with Terry to the pharmacy, so he could buy a skin product for his sisters that is really popular here (couldn’t tell you what it was, but many beauty products are famous here). I gave him a bunch of American candy, oreos, candy bars, and some mac and cheese because he genuinely liked it and wanted to share it with his friends and family. He gave me a postcard with a letter he wrote, and some Taiwanese candy and tea. I am so lucky to have such a great friend. He came to say goodbye on Tuesday before his flight, and I really hope that I can make it to Taiwan to visit him someday. He is truly a great friend and Japan won’t be the same without him. I am very thankful that God gave me this opportunity and such a great friend to learn and spend time with!
