Hiroshima

The 21st and 22nd of December, I travelled by the Shinkensan trains to Hiroshima and back and forth to my friend's in Osaka.
The first day it was rainy and the second day it was cold but not raining.
The first day was interesting as I went to see many of the famous sites in Hiroshima such as Hiroshima castle which is located in the middle of town and saw where the office base was for the military at Hiroshima castle.








Photos of Hiroshima Castle and the remaining part of the Military base

It was very depressing to see the Atomic Bomb Dome and the various museums in the Peace Memorial Gardens based on people's　actual accounts of the events. Some of the museum were called, The Museum for the A-bomb victims, the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall and Museum and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. For the people that know about the little girl named Saddako - the girl that made the 1000 canes to try to get better, I was very fortuate to see one of the memorials in her honour.




Photo of the A-bomb dome before it was blown up



Photo of the A-bomb dome after it was blown up





Photos of peace

Around the Peace Memorial Gardens there were a lot of remains to never use a Nuclear weapon again.







Photos of memorials


Never again!!!! The symbols of peace without nuclear war



Photos of children's cranes made into pictures at the momument for the children and the momument.





Photos of what happens to a normal object when hit by a nuclear bomb, if it survives.




Photo of the counter of when the last time a nuclear bomb was made

After visiting the historical sites that are now UNESCO Sites. I headed back to Osaka after having a traditional Hiroshima meal of food that looks like pizza but does not taste quite that way.


The next day, I headed back to Hiroshima and went and visited the Madza Museum. It was a great tour and I got to see the up coming car that uses Hyogen. For all the Madza drivers out there, unfortuately it will not be available for sometime as there are only about 3 plants in Japan that create this car at the moment and it will not be in mass production for awhile.
While at the plant we went to the museum and saw the old cars that Madza made, then we went to the actual plant where the car are being made and then to another show room that displayed cars of the future.





Photo of the car that will run on Hyogen


After that I took a local JR rail train out to Miyajima-guchi station and went and took the JR ferry across to the island that is famous for the shine that sits in the water. It was beautiful and I happen to be there at sunset so it was really nice.




The JR ferry to Miyajima




The sunset in the habour







Photos of the O-torri Gate

Osaka

Osaka today

I ended up in Namba at the Saibashisuji Shopping Arcade



Photo Saibashisuji Shopping Arcade


This location is in the center of Osaka, it has a history of 380 years and dates all the way back to Edo Period. It is one of Japan's leading commercial arcades, today.
It is 580 meters, from Nagahori Dori at the north end to Soemoncho Dori at the south end. It has about 180 shops and restaurants. It welcomes over 50,000 visitors a day on weekdays and over 100 000 visitors a day on the weekends and holidays.

I also came across Dotonbori which is named after Yasui Doton who constructed this canal from a river, Dotonbori was originally built for river transportation. Once there were many theaters like Broadway in New York, and restaurants and cafe were built to accommodate people coming to the theaters. Although some theaters have closed down, countless restaurants remaining in the area are traces of the old time.




Photo of Dotonbori

Also I came across the Kabuzi-za theatre in Osaka that was having their annual light up show!!!




Photo of the theatre


Later as I was walking around Inano - where I am staying I saw this unique bird in the river that runs between the houses.





Photo of the bird

Tokyo to Osaka

The trains that took me around the country are called the Shinkansen Bullet Trains.











Photos of the Shinkansen Bullet Trains from various parts of Japan to Tokyo or from Tokyo to various parts of Japan.

Akita to Tokyo

After taking the Sinkensen train from Akita to Tokyo, that took a little under 4 hours, I arrived in Tokyo. The first thing I did was went to the accommodation that I booked to stay in, in Tokyo. It was called the
capsule hotel..








Photos of the Capsules

After checking in about 5 in the evening, I walked around the area in Tokyo called Akihabara which is famous for its electronic appliances and devices throughout the world.







Photos of Akihabara

After spending a evening there, I transfer to my next hotel which was suppose to be a traditional Japanese hotel/house but it ended up not being the case. I was a little disappointed. However on a positive note, I met a South Korea girl and we went around the city for two days together. It was great. We went to the famous Kabuzi-za theatre and saw a show, then went to Nissan car show and saw they new line of cars, went to the Sony Building, and went to Tokyo Tower.

At the Kabuzi-za theatre we saw the following show - here is the details

NA MO TAKASHI HOMARE NO ISHIKIRI (Stone-cutting Kajiwara)
The Taira general Kajiwara (Tomijuro) is asked to test the sharpness of a sword by slicing two live human beings in half. He deliberately makes the sword fail the test to keep the sword, a priceless heirloom belonging to the enemy Genji clan, from falling into the hands of his Taira clan. A miracle convinced Kajiwara to change sides. Kajiwara finally demonstrates the true power of the sword by cutting a large stone basin in two. Tomijuro'son Takanosuke plays a retainer Takahei which is an especially added role for this month's performance.









Photos of the Outside and inside of the Kabuzi-za theatre.





Photos of the new Nissan cars



Photos of Christmas decorations outside the Sony building




Photos of the new electric goodies at the Sony Building





Photos of Tokyo Tower - which is celebrating its 50 anniversity.

That evening we went to Roppingo Hills which was the famous Red Light distict but is now a modern day residental distict.





Photos of Roppingo Hills

The next day we went out to Tokyo Bay and then spend the evening at Tokyo Bay and went through several buildings based on future cars and went to the harbour front at night.












Photos of the future cars - some drive themselves and stear themselves and are fuel effient.




Photo of Tokyo Bay

Much later that evening we went to an Onsen.



Photos of Ko and I at the Onsen