13/10/09Day 8 - Osaka & HiroshimaThis morning we booked our ferry to China for later in the week and then caught the Shinkansen (bullet train) from Osaka to Hiroshima. Dad said he reckoned I could fly almost as fast as the bullet train but Mum said that I'm not old enough to fly that fast yet.Hiroshima is much smaller than anywhere else we have visited and Dad said the size of our hotel room matches! It is hardly bigger than a shoe box and it is like playin...

12/10/09Day 7 - OsakaToday we headed to Osaka, and stayed in the nicest hotel yet. The room was a little strange as there was a window from the bathroom into the main room, it had venetian blinds. I thought it was funny. After checking in we walked the streets of Osaka and found a Comedy & Performing Arts Museum. They really looked after us and we wondered if they don't get many tourists there. We were lucky to meet a nice lady who spoke some English (she...

Sadako and the Paper Cranes From the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum - Special Exbition on Sadako and the Paper Cranes Sadako Sasaki was born to the Sasaki family on January 7, 1943. The family owned a barbershop, and she was the first daughter. Japan was at war at the time, and soon after her birth her father was drafted into the army. Her mother managed the barbershop. On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Sadako was exposed at home wit...

12/10/09 Day 7 - Osaka Today we headed to Osaka, and stayed in the nicest hotel yet. The room was a little strange as there was a window from the bathroom into the main room, it had venetian blinds. I thought it was funny. After checking in we walked the streets of Osaka and found a Comedy & Performing Arts Museum. We lucky to meet a nice lady who spoke some English (she went to Australia when she was in yr11 on exchange and stayed in Morwell - Gippsland)...

11/10/09 Day 6 - Kyoto by bicycle Dad decided that the best way to view Kyoto and visit all the places Mum wanted to see was by bike - much to Mum's delight. We found a place that rented bikes for ¥300 ($5) for the day. We rode 4km to Kinkakuji Temple (The Golden Pavilion) imagine a three storey building with the top 2 floors covered in gold leaf. It glistened in the sun. I asked Mum when we could move in, as I told her it matched my scales. Dad let us have a...