Visiting the Peace Park in Hiroshima

On Wednesday, November 21, we woke up to a beautiful day. While I got dressed, Maki and the boys had breakfast with Alex and Christine at Cafe Danmark, a coffee and danish place at the JR station. After breakfast, we all met up with Maki's parents and boarded the streetcar to visit the Peace Park in Hiroshima. The Peace Park is a beautiful and moving memorial to the 200,000 people who died when the US dropped an atomic bomb over the city, to the tens of thousands more who suffered from various illness, and to the idea of the world hopefully never witnessing the use of another atomic bomb again.

 

Here's a view of the a-bomb dome, which became famous because the structure and dome remained relatively intact during the explosion.  Turns out the bomb was dropped almost directly above the Hiroshima Prefecture Hall, which somehow saved the building from total incineration.

Here's Maki and his dad in front of the a-bomb dome.

 From the dome, we crossed a little river on foot to get to the Peace Park.

 

 Here's a cute photo of CJ goofing off

 

Here's a view of the reflecting pool in the peace park.

Visitors are encouraged to donate origami cranes, which are a sign of peace. Local artists then create sculptures from the cranes. This artwork is made entirely of paper cranes!

Another sculpture/monument at the peace park.

There was a small plaza with this sculpture in the middle and origami sculptures (I think they change all the time) encased on the glass booths.

The peace park was definitely worth the visit.

Checking in at the Hotel Granvia + First Meal in Hiroshima

We got to Hiroshima in the late afternoon so we checked into our hotel, the Hotel Granvia. Maki and I found this hotel through the American Express website and chose it because it was close to the JR station. Turns out this hotel is connected to the JR station, which turned out to be super convenient. The hotel was also quite nice, with a beautiful lobby and decent-sized rooms. Maki, CJ, MJ and I still had to take 2 rooms but they were pretty, clean and non-smoking.

 The Granvia had a pretty lobby that was decorated for the holidays.

Fodors.com recommended the restaurants and food court at Hiroshima station so we went wandering. We had plenty of options, including a food court on the ground floor and several floors of restaurants. We chose an okonomiyaki place where we watched the cook make our food while we sat on bar stools.  Okonomiyaki, or Japanese pancake, is sort of a cross between a pancake and a frittata. You pour an egg batter on a griddle, then you add vegetables, meat and sauce. It's quite yummy!

Taking the Train to Hiroshima

On Tuesday, November 20, around mid-day, we checked out of the ryokan, picked up lunch at a local sushi restaurant, got some extra cash and took a cab to the train station.

We took a local train to Kyoto, then a shinkansen to Hiroshima.

Me, Alex, CJ, MJ (in stroller) and Maki in front of Ryokan Hakushikaso

MJ and Alex at the train station 

Maki holding the big box of sushi that we picked up for lunch. Note the beautiful wrapping. Japan is the land of beautiful wrapping. 

Nara is known for pressed sushi wrapped in persimmon leaves. 

Here's me holding a piece of saba (mackerel) sushi 

Alex, CJ and Christine enjoying lunch on the train. It's common for people to bring bento on the train and enjoy their food while traveling. There are even carts that come around where you can buy food, candy, water, bottled tea and coffee.

 Christine, CJ, Maki and Alex at the Kyoto train station

More Photos from Nara

Nara was such a beautiful place. I tell Maki that the Japanese excel at creating beautiful spaces. Even more, they are terrific at creating places where there are moving views from every angle. Check out these photos from one of the other temples in Nara Park.

The Deer of Nara

We had read about the deer of Nara prior to the trip. The deer are a national treasure and are not be harmed or scared. But we were still surprised to find the deer swarming the park, as tame as could be, even aggressive about approaching humans for food.

During our walk on our first night, Maki bought a sweet potato and CJ enjoyed feeding the skin and flesh to the deer. We also bought deer crackers that look to be made of rice that they seemed to really love.

We saw many does, a few bucks and a number of fawns. Many of the males had their horns clipped, presumably to keep them from fighting each other. We spotted one deer fight between two males and noticed that the males were considerably dirtier than the does.

Here's me and CJ feeding the deer sweet potatoes. 

CJ got swarmed by deer once they realized he had food. 

The deer got a little aggressive with CJ and he had to run away!

Hmmm... this camera strap looks interesting. 

We taught MJ to pet the deer nicely. At one point, he was petting a deer on the tush, the deer's butt would wiggle and MJ would shriek with laughter.

Todai-iji Temple and the Big Buddha

We ended up visiting Nara Park three times. When we arrived on Sunday afternoon, we took a quick walk to the park before dinner. We didn't see much because it was getting dark but we did see the big gate and a bunch of deer.

On Monday, we spent the day at the Park. We saw the big gate, the Todai-iji Temple, the daibutsuden that houses the big buddha, the big buddha and several other minor (but no less beautiful) temples. We had a yummy soba lunch at the park, after which Maki and I went back to the ryokan so MJ could nap while CJ peeled offed with his grandparents and visited more temples.

On Tuesday, we visited Nara Park again, this time with Alex and Christine who arrived around 9pm on Monday night.  We were incredibly lucky with the weather The sun was out, the sky was blue and it was sweater or light coat temperatures.

Here's the family in front of the big gate, with one of the ever present deer. 

Check out the blue sky. It was a gorgeous, perfect day! 

The daibutsuden that houses the big buddha 

 The large buddha is framed by other buddhas

Mj got to ring the gong.

CJ, Christine and I in front of the gate.

MJ just loved riding on Uncle Alex's shoulders.

Alex and MJ inside the gate. When crossing the gate, you are not supposed to step on the threshold. 

We donated 1000 yen to buy a tile for the daibutsuden roof. We got to the write a message.

Traveling with Family

If you know me and Maki, you know that we love traveling with family and friends. How else do we get to spend so much time with the people we love the most?

On this trip, Maki's parents are joining us. In fact, they arrived in Tokyo a week earlier and met us in Tokyo station the night we arrived. Maki's cousin Hiroko joined us for one night in Nara. And my brother Alex and his girlfriend Christine arrived 2 days later and joined us in Nara.

I have to give Alex and Christine a lot of credit for getting to Nara on their own. From Tokyo station, they had to exchange their rail passes, get their tickets for the Narita Express, get their tickets for the shinkansen to Kyoto and train to Nara, get their cell phone - and do it all without knowing any Japanese.

Alex and Christine arrived in Nara on Monday night, so they got to spend one night at the ryokan and see the Todai-iji Temple complex on Tuesday before we left for Hiroshima. I love that I get to spend over a week with my brother, just hanging, not talking about work, seeing great sights, enjoying yummy food, and getting to know his girlfriend a little better. The boys just adore Uncle Alex so it's a double bonus.

We see Maki's parents quite a bit now that they live in VA. MJ loves Grandma Linda but he adores Grandpa Tak. It was a treat to spend time with Hiroko. She works for an organization that brings ballet and opera companies from around the world to Japan. Her English is impeccable, she's absolutely gorgeous and she is unbelievably sweet.