Day two of hotel breakfast, and we’re all discussing what we’ll choose today vs what we had yesterday, and we arrive downstairs to a mostly different buffet! All four soups were different, so none of us got to try the wonton soup (Maylin tried corn soup and I tried miso soup yesterday). Joe grabbed curry over rice, Téa chose a new miso soup, a slice of chocolate bread, a bun, an omelette and okonomiyaki rounds.
After breakfast, we packed up the room and stored our luggage while we went out to explore some more. We walked over towards the A-bomb Dome and the Hiroshima Tower. On our way there, we found the People of Peace monument, I liked it so much I had to take the same picture last time, so I’ve seen it every time I go through my photos.
The next thing we come to, is the Memorial Tower Dedicated to Mobilized Students. There’s a voice that will explain the background for the tower, and the number of children over the age of 12 who sacrificed their schooling to assist with the war efforts. It also mentions the number of children who died when the bomb hit. We saw locals passing by on their way to work, stopping to pay respect, before being on their way again.
Then the A-bomb Dome. The only surviving building in the city centre, as the bomb exploded nearly directly above, so parts of the structure was protected from the blast. It has been preserved since 1966 and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We were aiming for the Hiroshima Tower, which opened at 10am, and seeing as it was only 9.30am, we still had some time to explore. We headed across the road towards the Peace Bell. We explore the vendor market that is still closed at this time in the morning, and then go check out the Peace Bell. There’s another called Bell of Peace, which I remember from last time, but we do not get to that one today.
Then it’s finally time to head back across to the Hiroshima Tower. We purchase our tickets, and head to the 12th floor for the best view of the city:
One of the staff members offered to take our family photo, took a couple closer up, and this one, showing off the unique features of this floor. The scenery you see in the background is a reflection in a wall full of mirrors, with a staircase directly in front.
This building has a couple of different options for travelling up and down between floors. You can take an elevator between the 1st and 12th floor, or you can choose to climb or descend via slope. From the 9th floor you can even take a slide!
On the 9th floor, we learn to fold cranes! We are given one especially designed sheet of origami paper each, and are shown to a set of frames with stamps, and told to stamp the designs in the middle, all five stamps, in order.
There are tables with tablets throughout the room, and we pair up to fold our cranes. The tablets give us the option of watching an instructional video, or to click through a step by step picture series. Maylin and I choose the video, Joe and Téa choose the step by step pictures. Half way through the process, an older couple who are waiting in line to release their cranes into the chute decide Joe and Téa are stuck, and head over to help them (our table was right next to their queue). So essentially, they cheated. Maylin and I did ours completely unassisted!
Then for the fun part: We had to release our cranes down a glass chute, where they would join all the ones before ours, and all the ones after ours, as a collective wish for peace! The room to release the cranes is so narrow, and we’re walking on a glass floor (not my favourite hobby!). There are four little holes in the glass cabinet, and we hold our cranes through the windows, and then release them at the same time. The cranes don’t fly as much as spiral downwards, and softly land on their cousins.
This tradition started 9 years ago, and so far, there are 1.9 million cranes in this “display case”, for lack of a better word. The attendant told us they estimate that it will be able to fit about 2.7 million before they will remove the cranes (to be turned into hand made craft paper) and start filling the space again.
By now it’s time for lunch, and we go on the hunt for some food. The girls jokingly suggest McDonald’s, because of course we walk past one right inside the market street. I veto McDonald’s, but we haven’t actually tried any Japanese burger chains yet, so I succumb to their chants for burgers when we find a chain called Zetteria.
The fun part about Japanese fries is that it comes with a little flavour packet and a paper bag to shake your fries in, to season them evenly! I picked “consommé” flavour, and the other three picked butter and soy sauce (seriously so delicious)!
After lunch, we still have some time before we have to make our way to the train station for our shinkansen (bullet train) ride back to Osaka. We stroll through the market street, and end up letting the girls spend some time in a claw machine store with a couple of 100 yen coins each. Joe points out a pair of very cool headphones, and spends 500 yen trying to get them for me. We are about to walk away disappointed, when…
Joe starts talking to an American man, here on business, with more cash than he needs, and more time than he has cash. He has made a hobby out of playing these machines, and learning each one’s “personality” or strategy. This man, bored out of his mind on his business trips, spends his spare time in claw machine halls, winning toys and gifting them to strangers. It took him three tries, and I got a new pair of headphones! Thank you thank you thank you, stranger man!
Around the corner from the market alley, we smell something good. It’s a mix of delicious smells, actually, with the coal from the bbq stands to the sweet waffle batter of the waffle egg man. We can’t resist, and purchase a bag of waffle eggs for the train. Next, we go back to the hotel to pick up our suitcase, and head to the station and the bullet train back. We have just had lunch, so no bento boxes today. Also, our trip back is only 90 minutes instead of 150 minutes, because today we don’t have to stop at all the stations. I intend to blog on the train, but the onboard wifi is so slow, I soon give up. I manage to get a full hour nap in instead! Both options productive use of my time.
When we get into Osaka and get onto the first of two subways to get home, I nudge Joe and ask every so sweetly what he’s cooking for dinner tonight… Here’s what happened:
Thank goodness for this affordable option, 5 minutes walk from our AirBnb, that we all truly enjoy! And thank you to Hama Sushi for changing up their seasonal menu often enough for there always to be something new and different on the menu, in addition to the classic stuff we have tried, tested and loved before.
So after our long awaited two full nights in real beds in a hotel, with a breakfast buffet to boot, it’s good to be back “home” at our AirBnb. Now the countdown for Thailand is truly on, and I have to make a daily concious decision to not be sad about leaving Japan. I have to focus on being excited for Thailand, otherwise my words and actions will rub off on the kids, and we’ll all be miserable. But we will miss Japan, the culture, the city, the people and the food. Joe and I are promising each other to be back later, maybe just the two of us, or maybe when the kids are old enough to try everything.
At the same time as I am struggling with sadness of our wonderful three months ending and excitement for what’s to come, we also have to soak it all in and enjoy our last 9 days here! Hmmm… I think I need a snack to help me with that… Do you think I’ll find any snacks tomorrow?