Osaka, Nara, and Hiroshima

May 11-14 

Kyoto to Osaka is a short 30 minute train ride. Walking to our hotel took us through another one of Japan's many long, covered market streets. This one felt much less touristy than Kyoto's. We checked into the smallest hotel room to date, with barely enough space for the bed tucked into one corner and a tiny built-in desk. A note on the wall helpfully suggested we store our luggage under the bed (there was no where else). Our view from the 12th story was of nondescript urban sprawl, but the window opened for some fresh air, which was nice. 

There's not a ton to do in Osaka except eat, so we used it as a base for day trips. Our first day trip was to Nara, a nearby city known for one of the largest cast bronze Buddha statues in the world. Well, it's probably best known for the horde of “tame” deer that occupy the surrounding park and beg for food from the other horde of “tame” schoolchildren, all decked out in full uniform. There were a lot of school kids in Kyoto, but we thought it may have been local. Now that we've been around a bit we've discovered that the kids and their uniforms are everywhere, and they travel in packs. We found the crowds a little overwhelming, and I was still pretty sick so we passed on a few of the museums, instead visiting the large Buddha and then walking around the perimeter of the park and viewing a few other temples and shrines before catching the late afternoon train back to Osaka. The temples were beautiful, if busy, and there were many Japanese people performing religious rituals at the various shrines. Nara tuckered me out, so I decided to put in some dedicated recovery time while Tim went out alone to Hiroshima the next day. 

Tim's comments on Hiroshima: There is a large memorial park built around ground zero of the first atomic bomb, with the ruins of a domed building preserved at one end and monuments to peace spread out towards the museum at the other end. There were again several large groups of schoolchildren being led around. The museum was filled with pictures of the aftermath and the stories of the many civilian victims, many of them kids who died years later from the effects of radiation poisoning. It is definitely an impactful monument. I felt sad, full of regret, maybe a little guilty. My response to the scene reminded me of a conversation I had with some German teenagers about their feelings of guilt over WWII, although my response was probably not so severe as we have justified this violence. 

Atomic Dome that withstood the blast

Around Osaka

Nara

Pictorials of the cutest deer attacks ever.