Yuujin

We are going to Tokyo tomorrow so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to update next week. Everybody's already packing (so am I) and some are making friendship bracelets in the lounge. I just needed to relax for a little while so I blogged.

There are plans to come back next year (uh-oh), but just by ourselves so we're not bound with schoolwork. And of course by then, we would already have partied all the time back home. It's still a bit ridiculous because that's like a year from now. It's not a bad idea at all, though. I'll definitely miss Hiroshima.

To all the Japanese friends I've met from 広島修道大学, I'll miss you all! 皆さん、楽しかったですよ！アリゾナへ行ったら、一緒に会いましょう！私の家はちょっと小さいですが、大丈夫ですよね。皆さん、ぜんぶいいおもいでよ。じゃ、またね!

To my fellow Sun Devils, 毎週マーコドさんの家にあいましょう！I still owe people lunch and somebody needs to tell me where the hell the inoshishi has gone!!

If I don't update next week, I'll update once I get back home. It's not over yet, folks.

Kaimono!

Why am I doing a post when I have so much crap to do? It's because I would love to share where we go shopping with you. This is probably nothing compared to the ones in Tokyo (which we'll see next week.. wooohoo!). Ok, let's do this fast because it's almost 12am. So...


Toy Store. All the cute stuff that will make you cry.


All three floors are filled with manga and doujinshis.


Final Fantasy figurines! They have all the summons and characters. (I have a photo of Leviathan but I don't want to share.)


A Socks shop? Somebody will be VERY happy to know that these exist here in Japan.


This is actually pretty small compared to the other ones around..


How can you resist???


We just had to do it! Pika~Pika!

Off to studying.

Senbatsuru

If there's one thing that resonates in people's mind all over the world when they hear Hiroshima, it's the dropping of the Atomic Bomb over the heart of the city on August 6, 1945.

While it's a story of tragedy and agony, all that remains now are stories of peace and hope. Just by walking through the park the first time after getting off the bus, I can already feel the history flowing through me. It didn't really help when I saw people crying in front of the A-Bomb Dome, the only structure that was kept by the government and peace organizations around the world as a reminder of this tragedy. The building did not collapse because the bomb was over it, receiving vertical instead of horizontal pressure.



The park is huge, with memorials for different groups of people who have died during the bombing. We walked from the dome through different memorials and then we reached the main hall where the museum is.




The museum is in two parts, the first where they show the history and general information on the bombing. They even have a clock that shows when the last nuclear bomb was dropped, and the last time it was used as a weapon.



The second part is where all the depressing stuff is. I walked in there and people were just crying over pictures of victims, kids with their whole bodies burned, and people who caught the effects of the radiation. I think I just started to feel numb in disbelief.

Then there was Sadako. The girl, who after being exposed to radiation at 2 years old, caught leukemia when she was 12. Determined to live and knowing that folding 1000 cranes will grant her any wish, she started folding her own. There really weren't any paper in the hospital so she would use medicine wrappers or anything she could find.


These are the cranes she folded. Notice how small they are, so small that she began using a needle and thread just to complete it. She completed folding 1000 and more.... but numbers didn't matter, she just wanted to live. On October 25, she passed away.

But now, people from all over the world use it as a symbol of peace. We remember her and hundred thousands of other victims whose lives are forever changed. Including ours.