Hiroshima (広島市)

Today we tried to see whether we could glow green. Hiroshima doesn't quite seem to have that effect on people anymore. It does however still have a pretty strong effect on making it feel daunting to be standing at the test site of something that still continues to threaten the planet. Memories also come back about the Napalm usage in Vietnam, and the other site I visited in Nagasaki.

Luckily, to cheer us back up, they also have a Manga library. I couldn't even find the English section before I had decided that I need this at home too. I could lose so many hours in a place like this. Unfortunately, by the time we gathered up the courage to ask for the English section, it was three minutes before closing time.

On the way down, we ran into three white cats. We kept on hoping that they would huddle close enough to get all three in the picture, but to no avail. Eventually Washinoko decided he needed a picture with one of the cats, at which point he got swarmed. The thought of whether I see Washinoko again crossed my mind as he was prodded and sniffed. But in the end we got all the cute fluff balls together.

We quickly found a Tofu restaurant recommended by our guide, where we got a bit sceptical whether this was actually a restaurant after walking through the front door. I mean, it was nice, Tatami mats, traditional looking building. But initially it looked like something closer to a hotel than a place to eat. After waiting, we are brought through a complicated set of corridors (still all Tatami) to a low table with two seats (still surrounded with Tatami). A few minutes later and we got the menu giving us the choice between the $60 meal per person or the $85 meal. As students, and as people who don't eat fish, we finally realised that we really should have done some more homework. We tried to kindly, worm our way out, which just made them try to find something more accommodating. In the end, we felt terrible for wasting their time, as we basically had to sneak out to escape. With money and a different taste in food, it would have been a great experience. But in the end we went to the opposite extreme of finding a single person Ramen shop and enjoying that instead.

The green bunny which joined us in Korea (and who still doesn't have a name) made friends with someone on tram as we started to head home. On the (second last) Shinkansen home we realised that our seats were actually directly behind each other as opposed to next to each other (I guess airlines aren't the only ones who like messing with us like that), but we had someone actively offering to trade seats with us to remedy this. And I currently get to watch the scenery whizz by at 270km/h. Tomorrow our accommodation changes again, with a new set of things to explore.

(Have another picture from yesterday)