Today we trekked to Hiroshima. The train ride takes about 2 hours from Kyoto. As experienced trainriders, we now went to the correct cars and got good seats :) It was raining when we left Kyoto and I was worried that it would be bad weather in Hiroshima because we were going to an outdoor shrine first that was supposed to be one of the most beautiful sites in the country, but being on the water wouldnt look so good if the weather was bad. Luckily, as the train sped through the countryside, the weather got better and better. We landed in Hiroshima with sunny, blue skies.

To get to Miyajima (the island where the shrine is), we took a subway to a ferry (all covered under our unlimited JR train pass). The ferry ride was a short 10 minutes, but gave us beautiful views of Hiroshima and the shrine. When we got to the island, there were tons of wild deer floating around (food for 200 yen which we did not buy) and you could approach and pet them. At one point, two deer were head butting and fighting, which was really funny to see! After that we walked down to the shrine, which is absolutely beautiful. Its bright red and tall, and if you come during high tide, it looks like its floating in the water.

Then we walked through the shrine complex and exited near a temple that was being used. The video of it can be seen here (dont know what they were doing though):


After that we went back to the main area of Hiroshima to see the Peace Park and Museum. When we exited the station for the museum, we asked the guard for directions. A woman nearby helped us with the english/japanese, but it seemed like the guard didnt know! It was odd because hundreds of thousands of tourists do this all the time, and he didnt know how to get there? We decided to figure it out for ourselves, and found the tram right in front of the station went there.
Anyway, first we saw the atom bomb dome -- one of the few surviving structures from the atom bomb. It was really spooky to see the building -- most of it blown to bits but the basic structure still there. Pieces of metal were just hanging off as is. It was a somber way to start before visiting the museum.

The museum itself was very informative. The entire museum stressed peace and nuclear disarmament. It shows the city before and after, and gives stories of those who died and those who survived. Its incredibly sad. It was also wierd to see it from Japanese perspective, as we always learnt it through the american eyes. It wasnt that any details were different, it was just that we learnt it was important to end the war, and the horrors of what happened are not stressed as much. I dont know if I am making myself clear, (because I dont think America is insensitive to what happened), but it was just different.

After the museum, it was snowing, so we went back to Kyoto. Usually we take direct trains, but this time we had to transfer, and it went very smoothly. We are now native train-takers :)