First leg of the trip entailed riding the Shinkansen ("Bullet Train" to us Americans) for about 4 hours in order to get to Hiroshima, here is a picture of one of the Shinkansen.
Everybody's waiting around with anticipation to ride the train which travels at over 200 mph.Video of our Shinkansen arriving at the station.
Our first stop after the 4 hour Shinkansen ride (yes, all in the same day) was the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, only a 10 minute walk from our hotel.
Not including too many pictures from the museum, but I thought this one was interesting. This is a replica of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima.
A picture of the destruction caused by the bomb. That building standing there still stands now and is used as part of the memorial, which is coming up.
View from the museum. Here you can see the actual peace memorial and behind it the building that was left after the bomb.
Now by the building
Group shot of our tour group in front of the building (Meiji Gakuin students, but not our buddies, were also a part of the trip.) Our tour guide (on the right) was in Hiroshima the day after the bomb dropped because he had family there.
Another memorial
What Hiroshima now looks like, quite beautiful.
A group of us on the bridge
This is the eternal flame set up as another memorial. It lines up directly with the main memorial, as well as the building, giving us...
This amazing view
A group of the us UC students in front of the memorial
On to less serious stuff now. Our first night in Hiroshima, all of the students decide to go out and get Okonomiyaki. This is the downtown shopping area of Hiroshima close to where we were, pretty cool.
The middle of a crosswalk is definitely the best place to be taking a picture
Half of the okonomiyaki "table"
And the other half. Soooo delicious!Video of okonomiyaki being made right in front of us. You have to eat it off of that hot surface too, haha. But its damn good.
After filling up our bellies we did some more walking around.
Posing for the camera
Night shot of Hiroshima from one of the rivers.
So with our hotel rooms came these awesome nightgowns. That night they became our drinking gowns.
Playing an awesome Japanese drinking game with about 30 people. Notice how many UC kids are wearing the gown, we started a revolution.
Fun people
The next day we went on a guided tour around Hiroshima, which included 2 museums and a very scary cave. Here is John and Randy making an awesome face on the bus.
One of many awesome views we got while riding around.
At first I didn't like the red lettering on the bus window that got in the way of this picture, but now I find it to be awesome.
The Naval/Submarine museum, which were kind of random.
One section of the museum, the submarine on the right is actually a kamikaze submarine.
Now outside, notice the many naval ships and submarines in the background
Our awesome tour guide (left) and his translator (right).
Picture from an amazing lookout point where we went to have lunch.
Not sure whats going on here, thats a camera in Tim's hand.
Group picture of everyone that was on the trip
A stitched together wide view of the lookout points amazing view. You need to click on the picture to see it in all its glory.
The entrance to the extremely dark and scary cave where people used to have to work. This section of the tour was quite incredible.
Without the flash from my camera, you literally cannot see a single thing in this cave. We brought flash lights with us of course, but at one point we had to turn them all off while the tour guide spoke to us. It was extremely intense.
Randy Nick and Justin making their best cave face
On the way out, wasn't a very happy place.
Finally back to the light, such a relief.
Cool view of a town from the bus ride.
Back at the hotel, this was the view from my and Randy's room.
While doing purikura (those photobooth pictures that are so big in Japan), one of the Meigaku students busts this out, haha.
We got a little obsessed with one of those basketball arcade games.
Yuka and I owned that air hockey tableThis had to have been the coolest air hockey table I have ever seen. It's exactly like normal air hockey, EXCEPT that it automatically shoots out the discs. And by discs I mean multiple discs. All at once. Amazing.
Next day we took a full day trip to this famous island called Miyajima. It is home to that shrine in the middle of the water. This was one of the best days of trip, although every day was really incredible when I think about it. Anyways, to get there you had to take a short ferry ride. This is me with a couple of the Meigaku students on that ferry.
You can't tell, but there is an awesome view behind me Randy and Ken.
Photo taking
Jumping photos can be fun, if done in moderation.
So one our immediate discoveries of Miyajima: there are deer EVERYWHERE. And they are absolutely not scared of humans, as this may demonstrate. It was really cool for a while, until we realized that deer are really dirty and gross and they chase you if you have food.
Maggie with her new best friend.
Walking around
There was almost an endless stream of these shops/restaurants. It was pretty cool.
The first big Torii (those big gates) before the gigantic Torii in the water at Itsukushima Shrine.
And there it is. So cool.
Here is another stitched together wide shot of the Torii. Click on the picture!!! The view was amazing.
Christine getting attacked for her ice cream.
The deer really makes this photo.
Yes, I WAS actually there.
View to the left of the Torii, where the actual Itsukushima Shrine is.
From the shrine. It's actually usually filled with water here, but the tide was on its way out or something. Later in the day it was all the way out and we actually touched the Torii, which you will see.
Cool forest
Wayne and a deer.
On our way to the gondola which would take us to the very top of the mountain.
Not exactly designed for people of my height.
One of the first of our ongoing Boy Band photos. This is one of my favorites, Randy really brings it together.
At a small waterfall area.
Oh, engrish. Sometimes you don't make any sense!
Those are some angry monkeys. Just don't stare into their eyes, you'll see why in a second.
Riding the long gondola ride to the very top of the mountain (Mt. Mise)
View going up from the gondola, it was even crazier than it looks if you could imagine
More amazing engrish signs. And this is why you don't stare in those monkeys' eyes.
Part 2 of 3
Unfortunately, we only got to see one real monkey that day. I tried to stare into its eyes, but to no avail.
View from the lower part of the top of the mountain.
Tim's awkward pose.
Another view
Walking very quickly to the actual very top of the mountain. We only had a limited amount of time before the last gondola went back. Two people actually did miss and had to literally walk down the entire mountain.
Tim exploded his delicious but very sticky ramune drink all over himself.
Finally made it to the very top. It was exhausting, but it was worth it for the view.
This was the way leading to the top.
More monkey poses
Haha.
A cute dog we ran into.
They sold strange shirts on this island.
A shot of the Itsukushima Shrine from the beach in front of it.
The Torii after the tide had gone out.
That's Christine at the bottom. It was massive.
Me Tim and Nick touching the Torii.
So you could actually tell it was us touching it.
Score!
This is actually a full 360 degree stitched together view. Click it! (And yes I know the stitching is nowhere near perfect)
And now to end the Hiroshima part of my trip update. I give you a very large deer we saw on our way out.So those were our three amazing days in Hiroshima. The day after Miyajima we took the Shinkansen to Kyoto (about 2 hours back in the direction towards Totsuka). So stay tuned, Kyoto is coming up next! And don't worry, I took less photos there since we only had 1.25 days there, so the update wont be as large as this one.
