Konitchiwa from Hirsohima!

Day 9 - 13/10/09 - Osaka & Hiroshima (Japan)

After breakfast, we checked out of our hotel and made our way to a local travel agent and booked our ferry trip for Friday (to arrive in China on Sunday). We are hoping this is all booked correctly as we cannot read the Japanese and the agents could not speak much English. It all looks to be ok from what we can tell.

We then caught the subway back to Shin-Osaka and then a bullet train to Hiroshima. Once there, it was just 15 min walk to our last hotel in Japan (Chisun hotel). Our room is about the size of a large matchbox! It will get us used to living in a small space before the 2 nights on the ferry later in the week.

Once we had rested for a short while, we walked the the river and enjoyed a nice lunch before checking out the underground shopping (didn't find anything to buy however). The rest of the day was spent playing cards, going out to dinner and watching some crazy game show on tv which we are still trying to figure out!

Day 10 - 14/10/09 - Hiroshima (Japan)

Today we enjoyed a sleep in before going for a stroll down the street to find some brunch. It was then a short walk to Hiroshima Castle, which had a lot of people doing work for a festival that was coming up in the next few days. The Castle itself was the most beautiful Castle we have seen over here so far. There was a group of rather loud school kids running around while we were in there which were a little distracting.

On our way to visit the A-Bomb Dome, we walked past a paper crane exhibition and decided to wander in for a quick look. Little did we know that we were about to see over 13 million paper cranes spread out across the 5 rooms. It was so amazing when you think it all started with one little girl (Sadako Sasaki) making a crane in the hope of peace. We sat down for about an hour making cranes (once we figured out the instructions!) - the time flew by!

We decided that althought we could sit there all day making cranes, it was time to see the A-Bomb Dome and Memorial Park. Once we arrived at the A-Bomb Dome, Jess was approached by 3 young school girls who were completing a survey on the atomic bomb. Erica was also approached by them, and they gave us both paper crane and had a photo with us which they are going to send us a copy of.

The A-Bomb Dome and Memorial Park were very sad to see, but was also something that anyone who visits Hiroshima should see.

Take care - Jess & Scotty