That day, I woke up at abouut 7:50 AM and went to breakfast at 8:00
because breakfast was until 8:45. It was a buffet style and there were both Japanese and European type of
food. The food was delicious as you can imagine and as soon as me and Maria (my
room mate) finished eating, we went back to our room. Later on, since we have finished packing last night, Rika and Stella came
to our room and we played some games until it was time for us to leave. We spent a few minutes at the hotel lobby for everyone else to arrive and
we were heading to Hiroshima station. It was only a short walk and we were there.
At the station, we were allowed to go shopping.
I went into a nearby shop and bought some Momijimanjyu and my lunch to eat
in the shinkansen.
It is a famous Hiroshima sweet and it is shapeed like a maple leaf. It is
ofcourse very nice!
I still had some time left so me, Anajli and Maria went to a book store
and chilled for a few minutes. Soon we were on the Shinkansen. Since everyone was tired, most of the people were sleeping. But since we had 4 hours or so to spend, for the last half of the time,
people woke up and we spent our last time of our field study. On the shinkansen, as time passed, I felt a bit sad that this fun time was
almost comming to an end, I was so tired that I felt a bit reliefed that I
was going home and that I can relax. Soon we got to Shinyokohama and we got on the train to Kikuna. On the way a few of us got off and we got on another train to go home. On the train, we talked about this field studies and it was time for me to
get off. I walked home and I was really happy to see my dog! I think that this field study was really fun and we had so many things to
discover about Hioroshima and I think that it was also a good time to get
to know each other better!
I am already looking forward to next year`s field studies!

Yesterday, I was really tired that it was hard for me to wake up this
morning. Also, I remembered that we are going to hike today so I didn't want to get
out of bed.....

Breakfast was nice as usual and I really enjoyed it. About 15 minutes later, we started walking to Mitakidera.
As I have posted before, even though it was not hiking, it made us
extremely tired. We had many steep slopes just to get to the Mitakidera and we had to go up
many steps. But once we got there, it was so beautiful that it made me feel that it
was worth going. we cleaned our hands with the special water which is the first photo and I
did some omikuji. Then we took the train and later on took the tram, the local train. The seats on the tram were comfortable and since I was tired, I felt like
sleeping.......
I think that it was a good experience to ride on the tram because it was
my first time to go to Hiroshima so I didn't know that there were such
small trains that actually ran on the road just like cars!
Then we walked to the Hiroshima station and bought our obento. I bought 3 onigiris and many other people went to their favourite fast
food restaurant, Mac Donalds!

After that, we walked to the mountain called Futabayama to see the peace
monument on the top of the mountain. This was the start of our REAL hike....
I was thinking that this hike wasn't going to be as hard as the WALK to
the Mitakidera, but I was absolutely wrong.
From the start, there were steep steps and every time we turned the coner,
my hope that the stiars will come to an end was smashed into pieces. The stairs were just endless and it was impossible for me to imagine me at
the peace monument. I stoped many, manyh times and my 2 bottle of tea were almost gone.
As Hiroshima was very hot, sweat dripped from my face. I chose this photo of Anjali because it was funny how Anjali became an old
man (ojiichan) as she went up the mountain.

When we were about about half way through, Genki san said that we could
eat our lunch. I was really happy and I immediately sat down. I could stand no more of this hike but by eating my lunch, I gained energy
so I was able to walk up the stairs again. When we got to the top of the mountain, we saw a big silver shaped object. This was the peace monument. The view was fantastic and we saw a panorama of the Hiroshima city and the
blue sky. We had a long rest there and it was funny how Kana and Anjali started
fighting about Anajali's stick.......
They argued like a 5 years old for about 5 minutes and this came to an end
when Anjali got her stick back from Kana. Then we happily ate our snaks and we went down the mountain. Well, it was tyring to go up, but it was it was scary to go down. Then we walked again, to the Japanese garden called Shukkeien. The place was very beautiful and it was what you call JAPANESE!
I chose this picture because I thought that most of these plants were
typicall Japanese plants and so the japanese style brige and the ponds
were just astonishing and at the same time, was relaxing. It was good how there were many chairs to rest.
And it was really funny how Anjali started to scream once she noticed that
the bee that was just about 3 cm from her foot was alive, not dead.
Her voice echoed through the quiet garden and this contrast made me really
laugh!

Today, we woke up 7:30 AM and we had breakfast at 8AM. Breakfast was delicious and there was many things on the plate to eat. At 8:15, Matsubara san, the lady who have experienced the atomic bomb
(Hibakusha) came to our hotel and we listened to her talk. She is 77 years old right now, but she really looks much younger and she
is very energetic and also very kind. When the atomic bomb was dropped at Hiroshima, she was still 12 years old. She told us that within 1km of the the hypo-center, people died
immediately. And since the houses at that time were made out of wood and they were
packed closely together, once one was on fire, the others were soon on
fire. It must have been really terrefying. She said that she actually was looking at the atomic bomb, when it was
dropped by the airplane. And the next moment, she saw a red spark and the next sight she saw was
the whole city burned into ashes. It is just so hard to believe that just one bomb have took away 140
thousand innocent lives. Because of the atomic bomb, ahe lost her father who lived at the edge of
Hiroshima but worked as a voluntery fire fighter at the center of
Hiroshima. Her father died because of the radiation of the atomic bomb which lead him
to cancer. When the atomic bomb was dropped, she told us that she was with her
friends. But after the bomb, she called all her friends but no reply came. And instead what she saw was dead bodies. But luckily, she found one friend who was alive and they both decided to
go to the first-aid center, since she thought that they would be able to
get water. But on the way her friend could no more walk and she died. Later on, she was able to meet her mother and she was very happy. I have been thinking that the effect of atomic bomb just ended then. But she told us that many people got cancer, leukmia and even affected the
next generation. It was also very shocking to hear that because she had scars and burns
from the atomic bomb, she was discriminated by other people since people
thought that if they went near her, they would be radiated aswell.
So she was not able to get any jobs and on the train, no one would sit
next to her. But that time, her mother told her that even if she just stays at home,
she would make no chenge. So she should be doing what she can do. So she started to shre her experiences with younger generations. And she
thinks that it is her responsibility to do so. I really respect her because she said that she have already forgiven the
American people because she knows the fact that not all Americans are bad.
And that there are many kind Americans aswell. I think that it was really hard for her to do that because the Americans
are the people who changed her life completely.
When I was listening to her speech, I could not believe thatsuch thing
could really happen. Her speech was so shocking and I think that we were able to know things
that we would never be able to find even by reading many books. And throughout her speech, I could really feel how much she wanted nuclear
weapons to be abolished and how much she was calling for peace. Also, that our generation needs to use this experience to make a change. After her speech, we went to the peace memorial park where on the way we
realized that we forgot our crane.......
At ethe park the 2 ladies and Matsubarasan explained to us about the
memorials such as the a-bomb dorm. Where a girl who got leukimia wrote on her diary that this should never be
destroyed to tell the world how we should abolish nuclear weapons and to
remember about this tragetic event. I chose this photo because I was really moved by this story since many
people thought that they should destroy it because it will remind them
about the a-bomb. Next we had lunch at the Okonomiyaki restaurant which Matsubara san likes. Okonomiyaki was sooo delicoius that I wanted to go again. 'I had a very fun time talking to Matsubara san since she was so kind and
she was always smiling. I hope that she takes care and I hope to see her again someday. Then we walked again to the museum and learned alot about the a-bomb. I chose this photo because this crane represents Sadako's feeling and how
she worked so hard that it moved people's feelings, all over the world.

Today was a great day!
In the morning, I was worried if I was able to meet everyone else but on
the train, I met Kazu and Kana so I was able to get 10 minutes before
time. When we went on the shinkansen, we had fun playing cards, games and all
sorts of things. It felt like we were having a really long recess since we spent about 3
hours. We also ate loads of snacks!
Most of the people brought sweet, good smelling snacks like candy,
chocolate, gummy and all that. But Anjali brought hard dried squids which
were delicious but made the area smell like squid!!!

When we got to Himeji, we had a walk and went to Himeji castle. The castle was quite big and I got really tired after walking around
because the catle had soo many steps and slopes and stuff so I felt like I
was climbing a small mountain. It was really good how the castle was really beautiful!

After that, we took the shinkansen again to go to Hiroshima.
On that train, I was too tired that I slept. And most of the other people
did........

When we arrived at Hiroshima station, we took the local train and we got a
taxi to go to the hotel!
As I have posted before, the hotel is soooooo beautiful! The bed is really good and I bet that I can sleep well for the rest of the
week. I chose the first phto, the photo of me and kazu and Anjali because I
think that it really shows how we had lots of fun on the shinkansen. And shikansen for me really is something that symbolizes field studies.

The reason why I chose the second photo is because I think that it was
really interesting how Kana kept on stalking(?) people with the super
high-tech camera. And I think that it is really funny!

I am really looking forward to tommorow!