Family Trip
2003 to Japan
DAY 8: Hiroshima Tour
|
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| Osaka Subway |
Mark awoke early this
morning. He wanted to get some Osaka Railfanning in before the trip to
Hiroshima. He grabbed an umbrella and was off by 6:00am. Mark rode a
portion of all 7 subway lines in Osaka, grabbing a couple of photos
from each line.
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| Hankai
Tramway |
He also went to Tennoji to see the throat of that busy
JR station, plus see the terminal of one of the Hankai Tramway Lines.
Another stop was to Ebisucho to see the terminal of the other Hankai
Tramline. All this was accomplished and returned to the hotel at about
9am.
We all went down to the
Hotel lobby to have a free continental breakfast. It was a nice setup.
By 10:00am we were off to Hiroshima. We walked to the Awaza station on
the Chuo Line. We transferred at Hommachi for the Midosuji Line to
Shin Osaka. We got seat reservations on the next RailStar to
Hiroshima.
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| Railstar
Shinkansen |
Even though Hiroshima
is almost as far away as Tokyo, we get there much quicker. The reason
is that we are on the Sanyo Shinkansen line which was built after the
Tokaido Line. Therefore it was built to permit much higher speeds.
This is where the trains really strut their stuff. 90 minutes later we
were at Hiroshima!
The Tourist office at
the train station was closed for lunch, so we had lunch at McDonald's.
It was busy for lunch. A young man with a portable computer took our
order. I tried to order for the 3 of us, but he got confused and made
3 separate orders. Then we walked to the cashier. I tried to give her
all three order numbers to pay at once, but I could tell this was a
big problem. I wound up paying for our three orders separately, a real
pain with change.
After lunch we paid a
visit to the now open tourist office. There was a bloke from the UK in
front of use making hotel arrangements. Apparently he was staying in
Japan for 3-months to just roam the country with just his backpack!
After her left we got the maps and information we needed to tour the
city.
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| A-Bomb Dome |
We walked out of the
station to the Streetcar terminal. We purchased 3 day passes to make
it easy to get around the city. The Hiroshima Streetcar system is a
great way to get around this city! We boarded a very crowded #6 car.
In about 15 minutes we jumped off a the A-Bomb Dome stop. We walked
around the "dome" which was a industry office before the
war. It is preserved in it after bomb condition as a memorial to never
let this atrocity ever happen again.
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| Memorial |
From there we walked
through the Peace Park. We walked by the flame that will remain lit
until all atomic weapons have been eradicated from the earth. The next
stop was the Cenotaph which list all the dead as the result of the
Bomb. Each year more names are added as more victims succumb to cancer
and such from the nuclear fallout. Through the Cenotaph the Flame and
the Dome are framed, a very sobering sight.
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| Model showing
a leveled Hiroshima |
Next stop was the Peace
Museum. Admission to the museum is very cheap at just 50 Yen/person.
The English audio headsets were only 300 Yen rental. All 3 of us used
the headsets. The museum is a very inspiring, sobering, stomach wrenching
at times. BUT, it is very necessary to go through this. We know that wars are very bad, but use of nuclear and its immediate and
long term effects on humans and wildlife in general is just plain
wrong. Maybe dropping this bomb was necessary to end WWII in the
Pacific, but with what has been learned from the aftermath, may no
country ever use this sort of weapon ever again.
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| Hiroshima
Streetcar |
After going through the
museum we rested from the severe emotions felt in the museum. Then it
was time to move on. We decided that we need to do a little more
shopping. We walked down Peace Blvd to catch a Streetcar and Chuden-Mae
stop. It took about 10 minutes before a sleek new and long tram showed
up, but it was still crowded. We took it two stops to Kayicho. We went
to the Sogo Department Store and purchased gifts for people. We then
stopped in a ice cream shop and had great desserts.
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| Hiroshima
Astram |
Mark then disappeared
for a while to get more photos of the Streetcars as well as the
Astram, light Metro line that operates underground right next to the
department store. Cyn and Richard did some more shopping.
At 5:30 we met up
again. Cyn still wanted to get a few more items for family members. We
hoped on another tram heading toward the train station. We jumped off
a few stops down in front of more Department stores. The first store
we tried had nothing, the second store had what she wanted! We got
back on the streetcar and headed back to the train station. We got
tickets to a 7:45 train to Osaka. We had some time to kill so we took
Richard to a Pachinko Parlor. He had never been to one before. We put
1000 Yen in the machine and let him play. About 15 minutes later all
his marbles were gone, but he had a lot fun.
We walked back to the
station, got a light meal from a convenience store and boarded our train
to Shin-Osaka. Once at Osaka, Mark got tickets for our journey to the
airport for tomorrow. Then it was off to the Midosuji Subway Line for
the quick trip to Hommachi station and 10 minute walk to the Hotel
which we arrived at about 10:30pm.
Mark went through
everything and got 95% of everything packed and ready to go home the
next day. Then we all crashed asleep!
Total walking today 8
miles, Mark a little over 10 miles.
Continue to
Day
9A
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