The day started by visiting the island of Miyajima about 1/2 hour from Hiroshima, surrounded by oyster farms.   On this island is a famous Shinto shrine of the name Ikshukistima.  At high tide, the shrine appears to float on the water.  We visited at low tide and I waded out to see it close up.  All over the shrine roamed deer.  Considered the messengers of the gods, they are protected and very tame.  The sake barrels are offerings for the gods.  Shinto gods are well taken care of!

On the way to Hiroshima, we encountered a familiar fellow from Kentucky.  Indeed, many of the chains we are familiar with you can find in Japan, including Circle-K, AM/PM, and 7/11.  We grabbed lunch at 7/11 - Japanese food, of course, and it was surprisingly delicious - and the staff was all Japanese.

We next visited the Shukkeien gardens, devastated as can be seen in one of the pictures, when the bomb was dropped.  A panorama at the end of this set of pictures is of the gardens.

Next was the A-Bomb Dome and Peace Park in Hiroshima.  There is a panorama of the city, after the bomb was dropped, is at the end of the set of pictures.  I've included pictures of the exhibit, some of which have very interesting information.  The bombed-out building in many of the pictures is the "A-Bomb Dome."  It is the remnant of a  building barely 180 meters from ground zero (hypocenter).  What survived is about 2/3rds of the original building.  Most everything else was pulverized.  There tree-like metal monument is a peace monument created by survivors and families of survivors in hopes that no further atomic wars will occur.  The remaining pictures are in the museum.

Finally, the last pictures are of a restaurant in Hiroshima.  Kurt, a friend of ours, took his nephew to Japan and Hiroshima four years ago.  He took pictures, but discovered the information given him about the place was not enough to mail prints.  Our mission was to find the restaurant and deliver the photos.  Well, the lady running it was delighted when we found here.  She also cooked us dinner, a specialty called Okanamiyaki, the creation of which you can see below.

Hope you like today's installment.  I took another 500 pictures today, so stay tuned!

All pictures (c) 2007 by Robert S. Blum