Silly me, I forgot to mention our 2nd day in Hiroshima! After our first fun filled night in Hiroshima we had a more depressing view of Hiroshima. We started off by visiting the A-bomb dome, which was a building thats still standing (with a little help) after the atomic bomb was dropped nearly directly over top of it. They kept the building there, despite its delapitation, to remind the world of the destruction that took place there many years ago. We then strolled through the peace park and visited various statues and reminders of the atrocities that took place. Most of them were in memory of all the innocent children and older folks that died in the attack. After working through most of the park it was time to go to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museam. In it was a timeline of all the events that took place in Japan before, during, and after that fatefull day. They started off by saying how there was many battles being faught between Japan and China. After that was resolved Japan became active in World War 2. Hirshima was a mobilized military town which housed many soldiers and military personell. They also mention that Hiroshima was the prime target because there were no allied priosoners of war on site. Once the bomb was dropped it had destroyed most of the city centre. There were many pictures and miniature models showing the path of destruction left behind by the bomb. It was very depressing, but that was only the begining. After the introduction there were ruins brought back into the museum. Metal girders warped by the heat, burned clothing, melted glass bottles and roof shingles. They even had a stone staircase that was charred by the atomic rays, but left a shadow where a lady was sitting on the bank steps, waiting for the bank to open during the time of the explosion. This was all very emotional, and it could have done without the wax sculptures of 2 kids and a woman walking through the rubble with their skin melting off their arms. They then showed the effects of radiation on the human body (short and long term) and revealed to us how many of the countries today still have stockpiles of atomic weapons. It was really scary actually. In the end, the museum never justified Japan`s involvement in the war, but rather show the effects of the kind of destruction atomic weapons can produce and are trying to show all the people that we shouldn`t let this happen again.

After the museum we were pretty bummed out to do anything fun, so we then decided to get the hell outta there and hopped on a train to Fukuoka.
We all know what went down in Fukuoka and Nagasaki.

Right now its day #2 in Sapporo. 2 days ago we took a real long train(s) ride to Sapporo from Fukuoka. The train ride was fun for the most part. During the longer train we enjoyed ourselves by sitting on a couch in the train watching black sheep (not the chris farley movie) on my ipod, dined in a fancy traincar and then had a nice sleep on a bunkbed. It was a real fun experience and I would love to do it again.
The next morning we awoke in Sapporo and were releived to enjoy some nice fall weather. My first impression of Sapporo was great. Nice weather (in comparison) wide streets and not too many people (in comparison). We stuck our bags in a locker, took a change of clothes out, and then made our way to the Sapporo Brewry Museum. Along the way, we stumbled by our new favourite Japanese chain store, Hobby off / Book off (no Hard off there). There was lots of fun junk to buy, but I had to restrain myself and only walk away with a Power glove for my new (very used) famicom system, and a copy of Super Mario Bros 3. when we got to the Sapporo Brewry Museum were greated by very friendly staff and the enterance was free! yippie! We made up our own explainitory captions, since there was no english, and then we came to the first bar. 400 yen for 3 glasses of various Sapporo beer products, with cheese! It was quite delicious, and very cold. After finding out how cheap of drunks we were, we continued through the museum and came by a 2nd bar, only one exhibit away too. We then drank a bit more cheap and tasty beer. Then we staggered into a Sega arcade, played some games and walked through the mall. Tired as hell, we then went to our internet cafe where we stayed the night and barely got any sleep at all.

Day 2 (today). We woke up kinda, and emmiditly headed for the mountains. Finding our way there was rather difficult as all the english we came across in Japan had suddenly dissapeared. After some minor difficulties, we found a bus to the mountains where we enjoyed some onsen bathing in the outdoors. It was really, really relaxing. After a few baths we headed further into the mountains, up a cable car and ate some almost delicous lamb dish which we cooked ourselves. Had in not been damp outside, we would have have been able to enjoy a beautiful view of the mountain covered with trees in their fall colours. Instead, we ate inside and then viewed the mountains afterwards. It was quite grand. Quite. I can try to explain how nice it was, but that would just be paifully boring to read. Pictures to come within a few weeks.

Tomorrow were off on another long trip, 4 trains and 12 hours later, to Nagoya. I will look forward to finding out if my package made it back to me or not.

chumbawumba
avi