Our travels Video and Pics Cycling Walking About us News Part 6 : Hiroshima Monday 10 september At the second floor of hotel New Hiroden we enjoy a very luxurious breakfast. The first thing we vist today is the Peace Park. In the second worldwar the first atombomb was dropped on Hiroshima by the americans. One building, the A-bomb dome, is still standing like it was just after the blast, it is a monument for peace. At the other side of the river you will find the Peace Park. A park filled with monuments for peace. On this spot used to be a livingarea which was destroyed by the bomb. In the museum one can see the entire story. The museum makes a deep impression and is not a thing to cheer you up. Since the bomb Hiroshima and its people are busy with world peace. In the park there is also a childrens monument for peace. This monument is decicated to the memory of Sadako Sasaki. Sadako lived in Hiroshima when the bomb fell. She was only two kilometers of the epic centre but was not wounded, at least it didnīt show. A few years later Sadako develloped leukemia as a result of the radiation. Sadako refused to believe she was not going to be better. In the hospital she started to make origami cranes. The crane is a symbol of a long and healthy life. She believed that if she made 1000 cranes she would be cured. But Sadako died after making approx. 600 cranes at the age of twelve. Classmates of Sadako started a campagne to built a childrens monument for peace. The action spreaded throughout Japan, and on 5 mei 1958 the monument was completed. The statue is a girl with a crane reaching for the sky. Since then people from all over the world bring cranes to the monument and hope for peace. Our group also made these origami cranes. And now we are bringing the 520 cranes which we made into strings to the monument, our hope for world peace and hapiness. We did register at the museum and got a thank you letter of the mayor of Hiroshima when we came home. More about the cranes for peace and Hiroshima or Sadako : 1000 cranes club Want to make an origami crane? Here is how to do it. We wandered around the Peace Park a bit more and made pictures of the eternal flame for instance, this flame is kept burning untill the last atombomb is gone. Time for something completely different. At the Mazda factory we joined a english tour. The Mazda complex is very very big. It takes us ten minutes to get to the essembly hall from the reception by bus. And all this ten minutes we are on Mazda territory. They even have their own bridge over the river. Fist we visit the museum where they show us how a Mazda model is designed. The museum is a small multimedia show. Some old models are shown there too. Next we visit the assembly hall. From above we can watch how they make a car. Workers run from one point to the next and we know for sure this job is too much for us. After this they show us some future models. It was an exiting tour through a japanese factory. In the bus, on our way back to the receptionbuilding, someone offers the guide a dropje. She is very scared, a sweet that is black! But as we all take one, she tries it too. Her face is getting red, and all she can say is :" Interesting....and you all like this?" The taste of a salt sweet will not easily leave her mind. Back in the city we go to the roof of a departmentstore to have a drink. It is getting clowded and the wind picks up. But the forcast told us the typhone (nr 16) is heading north and wonīt affect us. After dinner it is time for karaoke again. For 2000 Yen one can try to sing and drinks are free. Well that is going to be a party! Tuesday 11 September Breakfast in the hotel again. The buffet was good yesterday. Our luggage is stored at the reception of the hotel and we leave for a tour to Miyajima island. This is a island close to the coast of Hiroshima. It is famous for the red Torii that stands in the middle of the water. But we arrive at low tide and we can walk up to the torii. And the sun didnīt do the red paint good, it is bleached into a cheap pink. A bit of a disappointment. We decide to go and have a look at the rest of the island. After a short walk through the woods we arrive at a ropeway. This brings us to the highest point of the island, the view is magnificant. All over we see small island dotted in the sea. A sign tells us the monkeys that live on this mountain have left into the woods to get some food. Just as we board the ropeway on our way down we see them coming back. Down in the village we go on souvenir hunt. The entire village is full of souvenirshops and we didnīt buy a t-shirt in Japan yet. Because this a tourist spot they have some bigger sizes on sale. So we buy some nice shirts with slogans like: "ichi ban" (nr 1), and "i work to much". In the mean time the waterlevel roose and the Torii is no longer on dry land. Tom and Bart have to try to get to it. This to the amusement of the japanese who say to eachother : gaijin, gaijin ! (foreigners!) But the water is much deeper then they thought and they donīt get to the torii. But wet pants are a souvenir. Just enough time left to drink a coffee with a large piece of cake before we get back to Hiroshima. We get our lugguage and take the train to Kumamoto. A ten minute tram ride brings us to our hotel Tokyu Inn. It is seven oīclock, after a quick freshenup it is time for dinner. In a small street close to the hotel we find a restaurant were Antoinette, Bart, Klaas, Rob, Tom and me have dinner. One can order all kind of small dishes. So we try a lot of different things. After dinner i felt a bit tired and leave to go to bed. The rest is having a last drink. In our room i decide to catch the last news on tv. A wrong choice. Live are pictures of the assault on the WTC in New York. And as the english is very bad it takes me several miutes to understand what is happening. After the towers collapse the sleep wonīt catch on........ Part 1 : Tokyo Part 2 : Japanese Alps Part 3 : Kyoto Part 4 : Koyasan Part 5 : Osaka Part 7 : Aso vulcano Part 8 : Nagasaki Our travels Video and Pics Cycling Walking About us News