Kyoto and Hiroshima
Today we are in Hiroshima and the Peace Memorial and museum were very moving. We spent about 3 hours in the museum which was sobering and gave a fair and interesting account of the events that led up to the atomic bomb being dropped. The ruins of the only surviving building in the city center has been left as it was after the bomb (the building on the left):
On a lighter note, we enjoyed our time in Kyoto, even managing to see some real geishas. There is a geisha district called Gion where we went to dinner and whenever a geisha walks down the street masses of tourists take pictures of them like paparazzi. One of the guys in our group was so aggressive that he knocked me over and almost pushed one of the geishas in front of a car. My photo didn’t come out too bad considering. Then we went to a sushi bar for some of the best sushi I think I`ve ever had. Later we went to a small karaoke bar which was like somebody`s living room. We sang in groups which was better than when I frightened the young Japanese girl on the ferry with my rendition of the B52s Love Shack. I can still visualize her staring at me in disbelief with her mouth hanging open.
They are really into the Pachinko parlours here and we had to go in just to experience the insanity. We wanted to play but couldn’t figure out what to do with the steel balls. Today was the first sunny day we`ve had since Beijing.
Gary-I think China and Japan are my favorite part of your trip so far. I tried to leave a comment when you were in China but I don’t think it went thru. Can’t wait to hear some stories from this part of the trip, two places I have always dreamt about visiting. Thanks for the glimpse into this part of the world. Donna
Donna McKenna
July 2, 2008 at 4:37 pm