Japan.It's Bloomin marvellous.

[drron]

Now the reason for the siting of the new temple.From the centre of the shrine through the tori gate to the new temole is a straight line-

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[drron]

Whilst we were at the shrine a Shinto wedding was taking place=

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A maiden leads the bride and groom in-

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And the families face off-

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The joys of being with a group.We must leave now.

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[Febs]

I saw Sakura / cherry blossoms for the first time recently. Wasn't in Japan though. See if you can guess where I was... ;-)

 

[drron]

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[drron]

Well febs there is a race going on presumably a marathon.Boston and Shanghai have been run recently and it sure don't look like Boston so ? shanghai.On this trip we did go to Korea in the middle of cherry blossom celebrations and they did have a marathon-looked nothing like that pic.

But back to the TR and we are now allowed to walk back to the zodiac landing site independently-

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[Febs]

Well febs there is a race going on presumably a marathon.Boston and Shanghai have been run recently and it sure don't look like Boston so ? shanghai.On this trip we did go to Korea in the middle of cherry blossom celebrations and they did have a marathon-looked nothing like that pic.

Korea, but not the one you're thinking of (the flag gives it away, and the monstrous still-unfinished pyramid hotel).

Anyway, just thought I'd share as I had no idea there'd be cherry blossoms in North Korea! Back to your TR (which is making me want to re-visit Japan again properly - not the 36hrs I have coming up there in a few weeks!)

Great pics.

Cheers,
Febs.

 

[amaroo]

Just caught up - beautiful!

 

[RB]

Also just caught up and again your report is a fantastic read and the photos are magnificent-are you still using a Sony camera?

 

[drron]

Thanks RB.Yes still using my Sonys.HX400 and the TX30 for the pocket so mostly used for food shots.

We went back through the shopping streets.Most of this was not here 32 years ago and certainly was much quieter.Some of the delicacies-

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I did try an oyster cake but I think any oyster was left out.We had our peach icecreams in cones not bread.This poor fellow looked bored and should have been asleep-

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Futons being aired but probably not ironed!

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Now back on the zodiacs-

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[drron]

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Back on board and time for lunch.As we ate the ship steamed to Hiroshima.It was then off to the Peace Park.It certainly has changed over the last 32 years.

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[drron]

The mound covers the unidentified remains of the victims-

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But amongst this is still beauty and the Japanese were having their hanami celebrations here-

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And the iconic symbol of the Hiroshima bomb-

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And this was the main difference from 32 years ago.Then we were able to walk through the dome and a lot of the displays were there.But apparently some were taking stones or chips of bricks so now it is fenced off.So never delay travel if you can help it.

 

[drron]

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They didn't need this sign 32 years ago-

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Roses not yet in season and of course one obvious variety-

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[drron]

The Children's memorial-

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That is another building that survived the blast.A fellow survived as he was in the basement.It was not far from the epicentre.Our local guide is from Hiroshima.Her parents house was very close to this building and our guide was in utero the day the bomb was dropped.Fortunately her parents were on a train back from Kyoto that day.The train was stopped some distance from the city.Her parents though walked back and were at their house site the following day.Nothing was left so they went to the grandmother's house some 40Km away.

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It is pointed out that this is not an eternal flame as it is to be extinguished the day there are no more nuclear weapons.

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Another difference was that police were everywhere.That may be because John Kerry was due in 5 days time.

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[drron]

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A school visit or maybe rehearsals-

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And now to the museum with the clock showing days since the last bomb was dropped in anger and the days since last nuclear test-

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The display is much more dramatic and confronting than it was in 1984 with first many photos of the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima-

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[drron]

More photos of the aftermath.I have left out the more confronting-

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A model showing buildings that survived-

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From the centre of the museum to the atomic dome-

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Now this is Japan's memorial to it's dead and is to be respected.It also serves the purpose of educating the world on why nuclear weapons should not be used.However it has also become much more confronting and with dubious use of figures.It used to present the figures for deaths in the Hiroshima attack as 70-145,000.It now says 145,000 killed.In fact going to the original reports it was 70,000 killed and 145,000 total casualties ie counting the wounded as well.No one will know the precise figure as children were being progressively evacuated from the city and no one knows how many Korean workers(slave labourers) were in the city.
The Korean story reflects badly on the Japanese as it was only in 1999 that the Korean memorial was moved inside the Peace Park.
Now to end with more beauty-

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[drron]

Another thing I take from both Hiroshima and Nagasaki is the way both have bounced back.Originally the experts believed nothing would grow here for 75 years but it is a thriving city with quite wonderful trees.As well there are examples of trees that survived the bomb blast and are still alive today-

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Time for a bit of light relief and more beauty-

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[drron]

So for the last of Hiroshima-

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This building ove the road from the Peace Park and in line with the museum and the Atomic Dome to me is a reflection of that dome.

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So back on the bus to the ship.We passed a line of surviving warehouses.The bus had tinted windows unfortunately-

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[drron]

We cruised overnight to Uwajima.Awoke as we were approaching-

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Once again a welcome but with a couple of fierce fellows-

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Didn't seem to worry mrsdrron though-

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Today we went different ways with mrsdrron going to a pearl farm-

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From her pictures I don't think the pearls were big enough.

 

[drron]

I was off to Uwajima castle but first a visit to Tensha-en gardens.Originally the private gardens of the Date clan.

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The garden is known for it's wisteria and irises but we are a little early.

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[drron]

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