From the shinkansen window, I finally got a good shot of Mt. Fuji. 

Ryo's and my conversation eventually wavered to starry skies. Then Ryo mentioned that the view of stars from his neighborhood had been really good. While in America I've only seen a really starry sky once. After talking with Ryo about Japan's starry sky, it made me want to see it. Even if only once. Because of this, I came up with the crazy idea of going to Hiroshima. I mentioned the idea to mom. And decided on my own that's we go. Mom made the comment that it'd be cool if Ryo went, and I presented the proposal to him. He took it surprisingly well.

"What?? Now?? My heart's not prepared for this!" 

He told me to wait 15 minutes while he thought it over.
Fifteen minutes later, he called back and did a lot of rambling about the fact he'd been thinking about it. So I said: "So you're coming?"
And he said: "I guess I am."

They got on the subject of Ryou-san's hometown, Hiroshima. I had wanted to go to Hiroshima after we left Osaka, but two days without sleep had gotten the better of us. Still, we wanted to go...

I'm not sure which of us brought it up, but somehow we ended up deciding to go this afternoon. It was decided that we would take the shinkansen to Shin-Osaka eki where Ryou-san would meet up with us for the trip the rest of the way to Hiroshima. We cleaned up our breakfast mess, hung the laundry to dry, and headed out.

The guys at Yadoya thought we were crazy. We were leaving Japan when? Tomorrow? And we were really planning to go all the way to Hiroshima this afternoon? They just couldn't believe it. One of the guys said I was crazy. I agreed with him. ^-^ 

We headed to the station, but when we got to the platform, we had to head back to Yadoya again to get something we forgot. 
The guys in Yadoya laughed their heads off and thought we were even more crazy then... It ate up more time, and we had to run to catch the next train. We barely caught it and almost went on the wrong train.

We got to Hiroshima at about 6:00pm. Ryou-san took the time to call a couple family members, then we took a street car to the Hiroshima Peace Park. Since Ryou-san knew the city, he was our guide.

When we arrived at Hiroshima, it was very different from Ryo's stories.
In the last couple years, Hiroshima had gone more modernized, and there were buildings everywhere. He stood for a moment, with the look of a lost puppy. Then he noticed something in the corner that was familiar and perked up. He took us to a mini-densha. (Japanese equivalent of a trolley.)
And we headed to a park that I will never forget... 

Sadness... Suddenly, many people just disappeared. Many more were mortally wounded or scarred...

In the monuments, I saw sadness, and anger, and even a little hope... At the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims, is a box with the names of all the people who were killed as a result of the A-bomb, regardless of nationality. Next to it is a stone that reads, "yasuraka ni nemutte kudasai, ayamachi wa kurikae shimasenu kara."  (In English: Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil.) Rather than a desire for vengeance, out of the ashes came a desire for peace.

We didn't see any of the rumoured 'shadows,'
but we did cross the re-make of the bridge that had been full of them. (Though of course, the re-make didn't have any of them...)

We wandered and saw a monument in a lake.
After seeing pictures of it on the internet during the day, it almost seemed more significant at night.
The lights around it shone, illuminating it. 
A shining, sorrowful beacon in the middle of the lake.

By the time we got there the museum was already closed. Next time we go to Japan, I'd like to spend more time touring Hiroshima, maybe a couple days.

At the Atomic Dome
The building was somehow very forlorn.
It had a feel of "Un-touchable"

Everywhere around the house, Ryou-san's mother had craft items she had made. She is very talented! She had a bunch of realistic looking flower displays that she had made using a modeling dough. She gave me this little doll pin that's made from the same substance. Cute, eh. ^-^

After that we just went for a walk and explored. Next to a river was a small playground that we stopped at. So there we were at around midnight, swinging on the swing set. (heehee) It had been quite a while, but I still enjoyed the feel of the air rushing by. ^-^

Ryou-san got out his guitar and began his "first solo street concert". There in the night air, I fully was able to enjoy Ryou-san's performance. Before, I had heard him sing rock with a band, but I find that I like his "acoustic" singing even more.

During Ryo's concert one of the most common sounds was the ringing of  Keitai. He had called his home while we were on the way here to let them know he'd be here, and they were calling over and over trying to get him to come home. 

Soon, it was getting later - and colder, a reminder that we were traveling in the middle of winter. Eleanor, especially, was freezing... so we picked up our stuff and headed to a nearby conbini for some hot juice drinks, while we decided where we would go for the night. We headed for a manga cafe but just as we got there, Ryou-san's mother called and convinced him to take us to their home. 

We rode a taxi there. It was the first time I'd ever been in a Japanese taxi. It's quite interesting. The seats had white lacey covers and the drivers wear white gloves. Even the normal taxis had the same level of service you'd expect from limo driver in the USA. Unfortunately, they also have the same amount of price. Just the short ride from downtown to the suburbs cost the equivalent of over $60! Ryou-san paid it... we never could have. Sorry, Ryou-san.

Ryou-san's mother is very nice. She doted over us making sure we were well warmed up, giving us warm milk and rice crackers. She had set up a guest room for us. We talked for a while, then she encouraged us to get some sleep. Eleanor and Ryou-san decided they wanted to stay up all night talking, but I was sleepy. The futon set in the guest room was very comfortable, so I gave in to it and slept.
peace