Hanging Out in Hiroshima

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The third stop on our tour of Japan is Hirshima. We arrived yesterday after another very comfortable and lightning fast ride on the bullet train (God bless that Japan Rail Pass we bought in the UK, it has saved us an absolute fortune!). Our Hotel is the Hotel Flex - all the hotels have odd names over here it seems - which is close to the train station and only a 15-20 minute stroll to the main drag. It's another small but comfortable room but this time we have a lovely view over the river - the first time we've had anything other than a wall to look at through our bedroom window!

Hiroshima is different again to Tokyo and Kyoto. It's hard to describe the vibe here - kind of more hip-hop than glam as was the case in the other 2 cities. There is a big covered shopiing and entertainment district here too but there seems to be very little here that's quirky or out of the ordinary. Here the teenagers hang out in groups outside shops in the evening which is something we haven't seem anywhere else yet. It's a chilled out place but seems to lack any identity, probably down to the sad history synonymous with Hirshima today.

We paid a visit this morning to the infamous A-Bomb Dome, which was one of the few buildings left standing when the world's first atomic bomb to be used against people was detonated here. It's a poignant reminder of how incredibly powerful the blast must have been. Later we went to the musuem and saw photos and paintings recounting the horrors of that event. Despite the very sad tales on record, there was very little in the way of fact about what really came to pass and why. We had heard from our friend Junko that the Japanese government is reluctant to let people know exactly what happened back then and this was evident in the fact that the museum displays and the leaflets available to read told two completely different stories. I guess it is something we'll need to read up on when we finish travelling as there's probably too much censorship on the matter here to get any genuine facts. I am disappointed about it as it is a part of the second world war that I really wanted to know more about.

I hope you liked the last batch of photos I managed to upload yesterday. I'm hoping to get another load on tomorrow, time permitting. See you all then! By the way, we're both still checking our emails regularly so feel free to drop us a line any time! Byee!!

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