After Hiroshima, we also went to Mijayima, which is an island very close to Hiroshima, which combines temples and nature.
It has the famous torii, which sometimes is in the water…
… and others in the mud.
The island was considered sacred, and normal people couldn’t go to the temple walking, but only on boat. Therefore, they had to go through this gate in the water, so they didn’t step outside the temple.
Apart from that, this island has a very nice mountain with lots of nature that you can either climb, or take a ropeway.
Guess what we chose, in such a hot and warm day…
Now, I can say I have climbed more mountains in Japan than in Spain. ^_^
Monday was a bank holiday in Japan. It was the Respect for the Elderly day (yes, Japan has such a day, isn’t it nice?).
Therefore, I decided to go to Hiroshima, which is in the western side of Japan. We only needed 4 hours to cover a distance of 800 km in the Shinkansen. We went to a couple of places more apart from Hiroshima, but our base was Hiroshima.
The first impression when you arrive to Hiroshima is that it’s just another big japanese city… and that’s impressive. I don’t remember anything that has impacted me more than the Peace Memorial Museum. I can only compare this to the visit to Bergen Belsen during my Erasmus.
As you probably know, the first atomic bomb used with military purposes was dropped in Hiroshima in the First World War. It destroyed the whole city, killed half of the population and the rest were injured.
The Peace Memorial Museum is built very close to the place the A-Bomb exploded, in a memorial park, and has everything related to the A-Bomb. From the way the war started, the life before the war and the bomb, how the decision of using the atomic bomb was done (one of the reasons was just to justify the investment), why they chose Hiroshima, and of course the consequences.
And are countries still considering using nuclear weapons again?
Update: A comment about this last picture I forgot to write at the beginning. That’s a paper crane. It became a symbol of hope, after Sadako, a girl with leukemia after the A-Bomb, started doing 1000 of them. There is a japanese saying that states that the person who does 1000 paper cranes, will have one wish become true. Sadako didn’t manage to finish the task, but her friends did it for her. From that moment all over Japan, paper cranes are done and sent to Hiroshima.
Fushimi Inari is a the sacred mountain of the wealth. It’s been protected by foxes and other animals for centuries.
Nowadays, people and companies from all over Japan come here to build their own toriis for praying the Gods to success in important businesses or similar wealth-oriented desires.
It was great, until I discovered some of the insects living there decided to taste me… I got 15 red dots souvenirs in my leg which lasted for a couple of days. Japanese spiders are not that fun!
I am back. Current status: I have beaten the virus (or that’s what I think), my friends are travelling around Japan (like them), and the news report that prime Minister of Japan has resigned. He has just resisted one month me being in the country… Will it be because of me?
Anyway, let’s focus in more interesting things. A couple of weeks ago, although it was raining, I went to see a festival I had been recommended, the Super Yosakoi. And I enjoyed it a lot. (A lot = more than 5 hours)
It consisted in groups of people with songs combining both traditional and modern Japanese music, one or two singers, beautiful colourful dresses, and a very nice choreography.
Now, I give you the opportunity to see a some videos of these performances.
You can find other videos in Youtube: Video 1 – Video 2 – Video 3
It’s a good flavour of the japanese culture: group identity and karaoke. 🙂
Two nice japanese with the traditional yukata (summer kimono) posing for the gaijin photographer.
It’s really common in summer to see women wearing these beautiful dresses, especially during the weekends. Also men wear their yukatas in the weekends, but in a quite lower number.