Day 3-4 - Tokyo-Hiroshima

We had the morning to explore Ginza before leaving for Haneda Airport (which btw is cooler than Narita!) to fly to Hiroshima.



Mel took lots of pics of this Nissan Sportcar (can't remember the exact name =b) at the Nissan showroom. Me, I was just fascincated with observing the clothes of the people observing the car =)



I love this Japanese sweets/snacks shop! All the stuff in it is hand-made by them, and packaged oh-so-beautifully, and fresh! No preservatives used. We got a few treats for our families, and also a small bag of sugared sweet potato slices for ourselves!

Then it was off to the airport and on to Hiroshima!



The view from our hotel, Mitsui Garden Hotel, along Peace Promenade.



Dinner with Doug and John, mel's colleagues from the US. I found out about this pokey little restaurant online, and it was quite easy to find. Okonomiyaki is known as Japanese pancake - comprising of layers of ingredients cooked one after the other and stacked up. It was quite fun to watch our food being cooked so meticulously and then eat it hot off the grill!

FYI, the layers are in this order: pancake mix, shredded lettuce, taoge (wuraishi - which I managed to explain NO NO I DON'T WANT), chickpeas, brown sauce and various spices, strips of bacon, noodles, flip it over, crack egg, move on top of egg, flip again so egg if now on top, more brown sauce and some sort of mayo. mmmmmmm =)

Day 4: mel's first day of meetings, so I was free to explore Hiroshima by myself until evening.



String of colourful paper cranes - you'll find lots of these all over the city at the various landmarks or parks. This was hanging from a tree at the entrance to the Atomic Bomb Memorial Park. the cranes symbolize hope to them.



The T-shaped Aoi Bridge, where the bomb was dropped. It exploded quite high up in the air, before reaching the bridge, so the mushroom cloud that was emitted from its centre was radiated over a really great distance, destroying life and homes in the process.

Just one of the many heart-wrenching facts/stories that I saw in the Museum.



Outside the Museum, I met this Japanese student from Sendai who's on holiday, and we spent a while talking. Quite nice and surreal. Then got another tourist to take our picture in front of the Cenotaph.



The Children's Monument, set up in memory of Sadako, a Japanese girl who was 2 when the bomb hit, and was only diagnosed with leukemia as an after-effect of the radiation when she was 12. Believing that making 1000 paper cranes would make her wish to continue living come true, she made many of the cranes in her last few months, but sadly she passed away in the end. In memory of her dream and hope, many primary school children visit this memorial every year and leave behind beautiful artwork made out of paper cranes.

From the Park, I walked to the grounds of Hiroshima Castle. But I didn't go INTO the castle itself, cos it's supposed to be mostly an exhibition of armour, which I have no interest in =b



The beautiful moat outside the castle. As you can see, the castle is right next to office buildings, right smack in the middle of the city!



I was so excited and happy to see this! My first experience of Cherry Blossoms, or Sakura as they call it.



Up close. =)

Then it was on to Hondori Street, the main shopping street of Hiroshima City. It's quite short - about the distance of Cineleisure to WIsma Atria.



100 yen shop! I love it!!! My best buys were a palette of eyeshadow, a star-shaped cake pan, a brown bag for work, and fizzy soda sweets!



The archway over the whole of Hondori Street



Met up with mel's whole team for dinner (all staying at same hotel) and John felt like "lots of beef" so we found this Korean Charcoal BBQ restaurant. My first time eating charcoal grilled food in a restaurant! On the grill are sweet potato, onions and thin slivers of seasoned beef!



Group picture!