Media Cafe

So, I'm at a media cafe in Hiroshima, which is totally like a net cafe on steroids. For about $25, I've got a private cube, a computer, and a tv, and a sofa that lays down for 9 hours. Like a hostel, but more private and a cheaper. Not a bad way to spend the night, but it still feels vaguely sketch. But $25? Can't argue with that.

On the other hand, the computer and keyboard is in Japanese. I navigated most of it by memorization of having used XP for so long... I downloaded and installed an English version of Firefox, which helps.

Anyways, to bed; I'll tell ya'll about Hiroshima tomorrow. (It was.. wow).

Japan, Days 8 and 9 (Horoshima, Miyajima)

Thursday

We took off early in the morning for Hiroshima on the shinkansen, and arrived some 90 minutes later. We filed out of the station, and caught a streetcar (!) out to Peace Park, which is acres upon acres of monuments and fountains and parkland.

Our first stop was the A-Bomb Dome, which is the skeletal remains of a building that managed to stay up a couple hundred meters from the hypocenter of the A-Bomb. They preserve it in that condition as a reminder. It's designated a UNESCO world heritage site.

We also saw the childrens monument (which has an interesting story regarding paper cranes) and the eternal flame (which will only be extinguished when all nuclear weapons are dismantled).

The most powerful part of the trip was the Peace Museum, which is depressing, eye-opening, and informative all at once. It shows Hiroshima pre-war, and post-war, and artifacts that were affected by the bomb (fused sand, teacups, burned clothes, etc., stories of survivors, non-survivors, effects of the bomb and radiation.

One of the most poignant artifacts was a watch, shattered and stopped at 8:15 am.... There's a picture of it at the wikipedia page currently. (The bomb exploded at 8:15 am, Aug 6, 1945.)

After having been thoroughly depressed there, we attempted to raise our spirits with Hiroshima style okonomiyaki, an irish pub, and karaoke, with moderate success.

As an alternative to hotels and hostels, we slept in a media cafe (net cafe on steroids) where we had a private cube with a computer, tv, and couch. Not the best accomodations in the world, but it cost $25 and was more private than a hostel... We only had 9 hours though.

Friday

We hopped out by 9 am, and broke our fast at Starbucks, before heading down to the peace park to get the river cruise to Miyajima, but the next sailing wasn't for two hours.

We ended up in an computer shop (4 floors!!) and went to the post office to do some mailing.

The river cruise was nice, and we ended up at Miyajima a little later, where we went to see the "Floating Shrine", also a UNESCO heritage site.

I saw there was a "ropeway" somewhere, which was a gondola which took us up Mount Misen. At the top, there were incredible views, and scores of monkeys. Just lying about. Inches from the people. They were SOOOOOOOOOOooooo cute. Oh, and Miyajima has deer too. The deer here are also sooo cute.

We rushed back down the mountain, onto the ferry, down the train line, and onto the Shinkansen, to hurry back to Osaka to relax for a bit.

I'm off to Tokyo tomorrow!