Our Trip to Hiroshima and Miyajima

On Sunday we went to Hiroshima and its neighboring island, Miyajima. We had an amazing trip, even though it was really sad to see the Peace Museum, which takes you through the events of the war, the dropping of the A-Bomb, and everything its victims suffered, not only at the time, but years later. What's left of the building dubbed the "A-Bomb Dome," one of the few buildings in Hiroshima that was made of concrete (most were made from wood), has been left standing and is preserved as a tribute to those who lost their lives, many of them children, and also as a reminder of our desperate need for peace. The museum remains very neutral in its views on what happened, and urges all parties (including Japan) to accept responsibility for the terrible atrocities committed before, during and after the war. Hiroshima seems to be big on advocating peace and the complete disarmament of all nuclear weapons. Seeing what the city looked like before and after the A-Bomb (aside from a few trees and buildings, it was practically leveled), and knowing the current state of our world and that we are now in possession of weapons at least 200 times more powerful than the ones used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it's scary to think about what sort of devastation will occur if such a thing is used again.

Miyajima is a pretty little island. We took a ferry over to it and walked around a few of its temples, tried some local treats, and saw the famous "Gate of Japan" or "floating gate," which was built out into the water. When the tide comes up, the bottom of the gate is submerged and so it appears to be floating. Despite it being Golden Week here, which means that everyone and their mother and grandmother and great grandmother are out and about, we had a really nice time. There was a huge festival going on in Hiroshima, and there was plenty to do and see. We took some beautiful and interesting photos. See below!

In the morning, waiting at the bus stop, tired from having to get up at 4am

My first trip on the Shinkansen, Japan's bullet train

The A-Bomb Dome

You can see the damage (cracks) from the impact of the bomb on the walls of the building

A statue for peace where people pray and can make little offerings

Another A-Bomb memorial

One of the many cranes made by children outside the museum - A tribute to Sadako, who was two years old at the time of the blast. She died 10 years later from Leukemia caused by exposure to radiation. Sadako had folded over 1,000 tiny paper cranes while she was in the hospital in hopes that it would help cure her illness.

Urging peace for the sake of the children

A statue of a mother trying to save her children after the blast

An insane sea of people at the festival

A very mild example of some of the weird outfits here

Part of Hiroshima Castle

Another part of Hiroshima Castle, with a museum inside

A view from the top of the castle, you can see a Hiroshima Carp baseball game going on

More from the top - everything is so lush and green!

People lined up for a Koda Kumi concert - many were dressed in ridiculous outfits and wearing leopard print towels draped across their bodies, which has something to do with her new album

The ferry ride to Miyajima

When we first walked onto the island

A popular Japanese Tanuki statue - someone put a cigarette in his mouth

Andrew trying some "rolled" fish on a stick

A really neat pagoda

The deer on Miyajima roam freely with the people




The "Gate of Japan" when the tide was out

After the tide came in

Hiroshima-yaki - it might look gross, but it's delicious!

Our Engagement Day

At the end of March, a couple days after I got back from America, Andrew asked me to marry him. I've been meaning to do a blog about it for a while, but have been so busy with work and everything. It was such a beautiful day and the most perfect, romantic proposal in Yamadaike Park as the cherry blossom trees were beginning to bloom. We plan to have the wedding May of 2009 in Colorado. :)

This was right after

The spot where he proposed

A view of the gazebo from across the lake

One of my favorite spots to sit by the lake

We're so happy!

My Trip to Busan, South Korea

Right after I got back from my trip to Colorado, I found out that my company was supposed to have mailed me the certificate of eligibility for my work visa while I was still IN America. For whatever reason the Japanese immigration wouldn't let me obtain the visa inside the country. Luckily, they said I could go to Korea to get it, but I was still a bit irked about having to do more traveling while already jet lagged. My company was very apologetic and said they would pay for my airline ticket, which was nice, and actually, I ended up really enjoying the trip. Busan has a different feel than Seoul, although I like them both. Koreans generally seem to be much more open and boisterous than Japanese. When I went to Seoul in December, everyone was helpful and friendly to me, but Busan was even friendlier and more laid back. The hostel I stayed at, "Zen Backpackers" was amazing. The owner, June, was incredibly helpful and the hostel, more like an apartment, was clean and had a comfortable, cool atmosphere. I walked a lot around the city and through some crazy open markets with all kinds of strange food I had never seen before. They are really big on seafood in Busan, and along many of the streets there are restaurants with huge fish tanks on the sides and all sorts of big, creepy, sometimes disgusting looking fish and fish-like creatures swimming around. I did sit down to a really delicious Korean set-meal (kimchi, rice, soup, and other fermented vegetables) while I was there. The lady assured me it was only fish and vegetables, and most of it was pretty tasty, so I'll try not to think about what sort of "fish" was in it. I met two very nice people at the hostel and we went out together one night: Karen, a Korean-American from New York who speaks fluent English and Korean, had been traveling around doing a tour of Asia, and Mathias, from Denmark, is living in Shanghai getting his PhD. Being at the hostel reminded me of backpacking Europe and how cool it is to meet up with so many different people with different experiences and perspectives. We all had a really good time checking out a couple local Korean bars and having Karen there to translate was awesome! Before I had to head back to the airport I was even able to make a trip out to the ocean, which always makes me really happy.

Here are some of my photos:

So many crazy buildings...

Papa Smurf!

The sun was so bright it was hard to keep my eyes open

On the roof of the hostel

Zen Backpackers' living room

Karen, Mathias and me with some intoxicated Korean men

Karen and Mathias