Today I left Tokyo for 2 weeks of research and traveling. First stop: Hiroshima for the 65th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb.
I met up with friends Michael and Waew Dao, and we visited Hiroshima Peace Park and its various museums and memorials. I arrived too late for the big speeches and protests that mark the hour of the detonation, 8:15am, but there was still plenty to see and do. Feeling the enormity of the devastation was pretty overwhelming. It was better to walk around the park and see the memorial to Sadako surrounded by thousands of peace cranes, and the preparations for the lantern floating. We made our own and put them in the river, watching thousands of lanterns float by until sunset.
We ended the day at Okonomi-mura for the Hiroshima specialty of okonomiyaki, delicious batter and cabbage cakes with egg, bean sprouts, soba, and sauce. Delicious, especially when washed down with a cold beer!
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| A view of the Peace Park |
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| The Atomic Bomb Dome |
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| Just a few of the thousands of peace cranes |
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| Putting my lantern in the river |
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| Lanterns |
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| Our chefs were glued to the yakyuu (baseball) game on TV: the Hiroshima Carp against the Tokyo Giants |
2 comments:
I wondered if you might get a chance to get to Hiroshima on the anniversary.
Dave Barry, a humor columnist, lived in Japan for a year or so and wrote a hilarious book about it. He did include a non-hilarious chapter on his visit to Hiroshima.
Finally, Go Carp! And, how are the Nippon-Ham Fighters doing? My all-time favorite baseball team name.
I did not know about the Ham Fighters until now. Those crazy northerners! I'm going to try and catch a Swallows game later this month...
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