Libby and Heather put up our 1,000 cranes! Good Job! |
Hiroshima Peace park in rain |
By Libby and Mac
Libby: Today we went to the Hiroshima Peace Park. They have preserved the ruins of what was one of Hiroshima's most treasured buildings before the bomb was dropped; today it stands as a place of World Cultural Heritage, a burnt-out skeleton and a reminder of the horrors of the first atomic bomb detonation in human history. There is also a monument to Sadako, a girl who died of leukemia contracted as a result of the bomb. In her memory, people from around the world fold semba-tsuru, one thousand paper cranes, and leave them at this memorial as an expression of their wish for world peace. We hung up our semba-tsuru there which almost everyone in our class had contributed to making. At the museum in the park, exhibits explain the events leading up to the A-bomb and its gruesome aftermath, including tattered clothes from victims and walls embedded with the glass shards that had gone flying after the explosion. Perhaps the most memorable were the wounded wax figures who stood the rubble, a terrifying mock-up of the first moments after the bomb exploded.
Mac: Today we went to the island of Miyajima, the home of Miyajima shrine. We took a boat to the island and then when through the main shrine. The thing that Miyajima shrine is famous for, is its large gateway arch in the bay. It is located in the middle of a beach in front of the shrine so that at low tide you may walk under it but at high tide it is in the water.
Behind the main temple and up a hill is a collection of smaller shrines [Daisho-in temple]. One was a collection of small statues, one for each shrine in Japan. After we made our way back to Hiroshima where we ate okonomiyaki, a dish made with cabbage, noodles, bacon, egg, and anything else you want. It was pretty good.