Our first stop was at Genbaku Dome, otherwise known as the Atomic-bomb site. This entire area was listed as one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites. This was the back view of the building, the only building preserved to remind people of the the unfortunate day in history. The day nuclear age started.
The signboard explaining the origins of the building, in Japanese.
The first world heritage sign i came across for the trip. The logo is a distinctive one that all world heritage sites will have.
It was extremely hard to smile for pictures that day. The settings of the environment were so solemn and serious.
Another view of the remains of this building
View of the dome from across the river
Children's Peace Monument..
where a golden crane resided. The crane was representative symbol for world peace.. coz a gal by the name of Sadako Sazaki was 2 years old when the bomb erupted. Few years on, radiation from the a-bomb took effect, and when she was fighting against radiation-related leukemia, she folded paper cranes, hoping that it would fulfill her wish of a cure one day. Unfortunately, the day didn't arrive, but her legacy lives on..
The Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victim, engraved with "Let all the souls here rest in peace; For we shall not repeat the evil"... U can see the Dome from the centre of the cenotaph..
And this was the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.. where the past, present and future were discussed.. the grass plains by the side are used(still used now) to hold commemoration ceremonies during its anniversary annually..
A day that most history students would be familiar with..
A watch that was displayed in the museum.. 8:15..
The picture of the dome, with the surroundings still in ruins..
One of the heart wrenching messages in the museum..
A picture of Hiroshima, approx 3 hours after the bomb erupted..
the caption by the side, was one that moved me deeply.. (pardon me for the blurry image, but hopefully still legible)
There were 2 models of hiroshima, showing the contrast of the place before bombing..
and after..
Frightening isn't it? This was the only picture i took of the victims.. out of respect to them.. who are probably now.. resting in peace.
Hibakusha is the term given to those who were affected by(and survived) the bombing.
The impact of the bomb was devastating..
another watch that recorded the significant time..
This was a stone slab that was preserved in the museum. According to the boards there.. a person was actually sitting on the steps when the bomb erupted.. The heat rays(said to reach 5000 degrees celsius at some point of time) from the bomb had whitened the stone, while the area that the person was sitting on.. the original color of the stone slabs remained. What happened to the person? Scary..
One of the 'side-effects' of the bomb.. deformed nails..
The view of the museum, from the other side.
The museum visit was probably one of the highlights of our trip, coz it was a place where almost everyone can identify with. There were narrations of the whole bombing process, from the selection of Hiroshima as the first bombing site(it was chosen becoz it had no prisoners of war camp), the decision to bomb without warning, the group of planes that followed behind the A-bomb plane to take videos of the explosion, the huge mushroom clouds that overcasted the skies for hours, the black, acidic rain that followed, the casualties, the melted properties, the people who suffered years later, the letters that mayors of Hiroshima sent yearly to oppose nuclear weapons research, the impact of radioactivity to humans, the resilience of the bomb survivors..After the very solemn tour, we took a bus back to Hiroshima station, to have our lunch. There was this exhibition on Okinawa(沖縄) delicacies. We had a quick lunch at one of the shops..
This was a display window of a bakery beside the station. With such beautiful cakes, who isn't dessert lover?
Shops that were commonly seen IN mrt stations.. erm.. why were the trains in Japan still so clean despite having no restrictions on consuming food in trains? nor were they afraid of 'terrorists' in train stations, with the rubbish bins everywhere on the platform..
an udon shop, also inside the train station..
We took the train to Miyajima(宮島
Using the JR pass, we took JR ferry(another first) to Miyajima, an island near to Hiroshima. This was the first view of Otorii gate, which meant.. 'big torii gate'.
As much as it looked small in this picture, it's actually... HUGE! Probably the biggest in Japan!
We finally set our foot on the island, after a short ferry ride.
Deers, one of the symbols of Miyajima. Blame balex for being too slow.. but luckily fred caught this shot of me with the deer..
Another close range shot with the 2 'dating' deers..
This was the production of Momiji manju, otherwise known as Maple leaf puffs(??). Probably u've seen them in Singapore before, those finger snacks filled with red bean paste, chocholate, cheese, etc..(for Singapore u have kaya in them).
It has become an automated process for this shop..
Quite sad isnt it? With all the automated food processing taking place, the food has lost the human touch.. Tasted 'so-so' for us..
another symbol of Miyajima, the 'rice spoon'. Not sure if they were the ones who invented this rice spoon though..
The famous Otorii gate.. See how small humans have become as compared to the majestic gate?
the strong sunshine made photo-taking difficult..
Itsukushima Shinto Shrine, the second World Heritage site for our day/trip. One of the earliest Shinto shrines in Japan.
It was unfortunately low-tide at the time that we went. On the high-tide times, it would appear that the shine, together with the Otorii gate, are 'floating' in the sea..
Another pose with the famous gate..
We then trekked (trekking is perhaps the most interesting yet tiring activity that packaged tours dun provide) up the roads on the island, to a place called 'Maple tree garden'.
a beautiful river in the garden..
Balex n i posing with the maple trees.. Noticed that I had been the one with lotsa variety in poses? I was then labelled as a 'poser' :X
The green maple leaves..
and the more famous red ones..
The 5-storied pagoda on Miyajima.. All Pagodas were by the way, not for entry.
The landscape of miyajima behind me..
We came across a 'stray' deer as we were walking down..
A board indicating Itsukushima Shrine as a World Heritage(WH) site..
Miyajima is by the way, one of the 3 most 'scenic spots' in Japan.
We had the luxury of watching sunset by the seaside of Miyajima..
And the final look at the Otorii gate, as we left the place by JR ferry.. The winds were strong on the ferry, n i was shivering as the winds blew against my face..
Tryin to milk the most out of our JR pass, we travelled to Iwakuni(岩国
This was an interesting sign on the train asking for commuters to be more considerate (click on image to read)
Shokudo(食堂
The meals that balex n fred took.. 
And the one I had..was a set meal.. the appetiser, on the top right of the picture, was steamed pumpkins.. very nice!
The famous Kintai-kyo bridge, which we didn't have a chance to visit during this trip..
Visited 2 WH sites in a day. Although the first part of the day was a sad one, but it isn't one that i will want to forget, for it formed an important part of history. Was the bombing justified? Don't think it's for me to judge, but since it has already happened, may it spell the end of war, and i wish for world peace, at least for the period i'm alive. War is never good.
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