Japan Experiences
Hiroshima

Almost ten years ago I was able to visit Hiroshima. This photo shows the Gov't building that was at "Ground Zero" during the atom bomb drop in WWII. This building remained upright, but the rest of the city was leveled. Hiroshima today is a large vibrant city. If you ever go there you must visit the memorial museum. It is a very sobering experience. 

On a lighter note, here is another fun story. I had went to Hiroshima with 2 co-workers. We had chartered a plane from Oita to Hiroshima and had arranged for taking the train back. After walking around Hiroshima and seeing the sights we stopped at a donut shop. I had been keeping track of where we were. It then came time to head back to the train station. One of the guys we'll call PK was sure we needed to go one way, on the other hand I said we needed to go this way. I pulled out the map and showed him where we were. He didn't believe it. However my other companion said that he wasn't going to disagree with me, since I'm Rand McNally. So we went my direction, and we got there. But somebody had mis-read the time. 

We had arranged for a taxi to pick us up at the train station our hotel in Oita. We had to take a certain Shinkansen and local train to catch the taxi. We went to the ticket window to purchase tickets. The ticket agent yelled at us saying that we had no time, train was arriving in 2 minutes and would quickly leave. He said to run to track X. So the 3 of us flew across the station, I don't even remember going thru the wicket. We got to the platform just as the train stopped and jumped on. We rode in the non-reserve section and paid our fare when we arrived at Kokura to transfer to the local train. What a rush!

See more photos from our Hiroshima 2003 trip, Day 8

Back to Top