Christmas in Japan - part 2

When we got back from the island we joined the Christmas party at our hostel where we got free sushi! We met a lot of really nice people from all over the world. After the party we went to an Irish pub with a group of people from England, Australia, Swizterland, the States, and Japan. Then after the pub we went to a karaoke room and sang for a few hours....it was a great evening and a very different Christmas Eve than I had ever experienced. On Christmas day we went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Not a very Christmasy thing to do but it was really interesting as well as difficult to see the awful effects of an atomic bomb.

That evening we went out again with some of the friends that we had made the night before. We first walked along the Peace Blvd. where there were so many lights set up. It was really pretty.

Our last day in Hiroshima we went on a guided tour of the Peace Park. It is hard to believe that this picture was taken on Dec.26...it kind of looks like spring. The World Frienship Centre gives tours to guests of Hiroshima. It was really interesting to learn more about the history and background behind all of the monuments.

This is a statue of Sadako with a crane. I remember learning about her story when I was in elementary school.
Here is the a-bomb dome which is a popular site in the park. This was one of the few structures that was still half standing after the bomb was dropped.
Hung on many of the monuments in the park were many paper cranes which symbolize peace. This picture was taken at the monument for all of the Korean people that were killed because of the a-bomb. There were many Koreans working in Hiroshima at that time. The word on the paper says "Pyeong Hwa" in Korean which means peace in English.
After the tour we met an a-bomb surviver who shared with us her experiences from that time. I'd like to say more about this...but it will have to wait until another time.