day 153, Hiroshima

When I arrived it was pretty cold as was before 7, so I put on my trackies and got the tram to my hostel. I found it easily enough and though I read that the door was locked till 9 it were open, no-one around so I dumped my bag in a cupboard and crashed on a makeshift bed of cushions in the common room. I got woken up by a Japanese cleaner so thought I better let them know who I was, couldn’t check in till 3 though took a shower and changed and headed off to the memorial park which was just round the corner. I walked round the park reading all the information, past the A-Dome  (a building which was the target for the bomb, it exploded just under 600m above the dome and yet it was one of the few buildings to remain standing), the cenotaph and several memorial statues. As the day went on more and more schoolchildren came, with teachers leading them round the different sites where they would then sing a song/play the recorder then move onto the next one. After walking round the park I headed off to get some lunch from the supermarket and ate it by a river, it was a glorious day so read my book and had a kip by the bank. When the sun had gone down I headed into the memorial museum which was very interesting and informative, it included the history of Hiroshima before the atomic bomb was dropped, background information of the history atomic warfare and the decisions that made it happen, the actual event, the direct aftermath, the ongoing aftermath, the rebuilding process, the health effect, then Hiroshima’s role in the protest for nuclear disarm armament. The museum was very well laid out and sourcefully rich, and after leaving I walked round the park re-evaluating everything. Back at the hostel I met an aussie woman called Lauren and had dinner together. Japanese food, as nice as it is, is lacking in fruit and vegetables, sorry that’s not strictly fair, Japanese fast food which I can afford is lacking in fruit and veg, so we went to the supermarket, picked up loads of veggies and lauren did a stir fry and it was divine, I could feel my body being happier already. Spent the evening chatting away to a brazillian couple then finished ‘a certain justic’ and bed.