February 27, 2016 – March 1, 2016
We arrived around midday in Hiroshima. We toured around the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Park. We also attended a meeting featuring a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing. The museum leaves a guestbook that lists the names of previous notable visitors. I saw a long list of government officials and celebrities as visitors. However, to my surprise a US president had not visited the Hiroshima memorial yet. I would assume that if anyone should visit Hiroshima, it should be a US president. Yet, only a few months later, President Obama goes to Japan and takes a trip to Hiroshima. I already admired President Obama, but his actions to acknowledge the darker side of US international policies significantly increased that respect.
This day was the hardest day of the whole trip. Not only was I tired from walking around and feeling a little saddened from hearing stories of Hiroshima, but also I was hungry. Although the program provided us an early lunch on the train, I am the type of person who eats a little every couple of hours. Still, I do enjoy walking around a town. I just wish we did not have to do so on a tour that stopped to talk. I prefer to take in the sites. After dinner, I walked to Hiroshima Castle, which glowed against the dark sky.
I loved the activities planned for Day 5. We first visited Kamotsuru Sake Brewery at Sakagura Dori (aka Sake Storehouse Road) in Higashihiroshima. Kamotsuru Sake produces a gold-leaf sake that the Prime Minister Abe and President Obama shared over a meal. I bought a small bottle of the gold-leaf sake and another type that they brew. After the sake tasting, we had some free time to walk around the town. We visited a few other breweries, checked out the gift shop and came across Kyozenji Temple. We then left Higashihiroshima for Miyajima temple. Miyajima, filled with meandering deer and located on Iksukujima island on the west, attracts visitors of all types who come to see the temple and taste maple desserts. While some may find Miyajima touristy, I enjoyed the hustle of people window-shopping and taking photos of the temple. Miyajima was definitely another highlight of this trip.
We returned to Tokyo and over the last couple of days, we participated in closing group projects. We also visited a couple of museums– The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan), where we saw the “ASIMO by Honda, the world’s most advanced humanoid robot”; and the Edo-Tokyo Museum, where we heard more about about Tokyo’s history. These museums were okay, but I am not too fond of going to museums. I would rather walk around outside, see people going about their days, and experience traveling on that level.