There is a mountain on an island near Hiroshima reachable via tram or a hike that provides a wonderful view of the entire coast line. We decided to take the gondola up and hike down to maximize our time. I can’t even count the number of times we saw Japanese wearing inappropriate footwear/clothing and here was no exception. Who wears heels, a frilly dress, and a fox mask on a mountain hike?

This was the last day we were spending with the others we met up with on the trip. For dinner we had a local speciality: a Japanese kind of taco salad if one replaced the taco shell with noodles and added octopus cake. The Hawaiian themed restaurant had been organically transformed over the years into a place were people just show up and play guitar.

Ground zero at Hiroshima is now a peace park with various memorials devoted to the bombing and fallout. One of the few buildings whose outer structure survived the incident still stands exactly as it did at that time including ruble and metal
twisted from the extreme heat of the small sun created by the bomb. Particularly moving sights include the memorial building and museum.

The memorial starts visitors off on a slow spiraling walk down and around the outside of the main hall. Once inside a 360 degree scene constructed from small tiles depicts the entire area after the blast as viewed from the epicenter. In the middle of the room lies a fountain styled as a clock, hands frozen at 8:15. A shaft of light from a skylight above illuminates this fountain devoted to the multitudes who died waiting for a drink. The acoustics of the place caused every sound to reverberate with a perfect echo making guests feel small and lending to the feeling that you are locked in a small and intimate womb.

The museum serves as a time capsule for relics from and related to the bombing as well as survivor accounts. Multiple watches stand frozen at 8:15, tattered school clothing, desiccated school lunch boxes, and rubble once recognizable as roof tiles and glass bottles are preserved in glass cases. For me, the most moving exhibit was a set of placards on which are transcribed every letter sent by mayors of Hiroshima to world governments protesting nuclear tests. There are four walls of these, the most recent four entries being addressed to President Obama.

Many school groups were visiting the day we were there. Most of the younger ones had worksheets with questions related to the exhibits. Where do school groups in the US go on field trips?