Hiroshima

art made by paper cranes

Warning!! This blog is very sad be prepared.

We went to Hiroshima to learn about its history. 

On August 6th, 1945, at 8:15am, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by the Americans. When the bomb dropped it killed roughly 73000 men, women and children. Another 73,000 died of leukemia and other diseases.

We went to the Peace Park. 

peace park

The Peace Park is a beautiful park filled with flowers , statues , and trees that remind us about the people that died.  In the park there is memorial called "The Peace Flame".  The flame is surrounded by water and will only be put out once nuclear weapons are no more.

Across the river, is the Atomic Bomb Dome. The Atomic Bomb Dome is the only building that survived the bomb in the complete destruction zone.

before the bomb

after the bomb

today

today

Fact: On the day of the bombing, a man forgot some documents and went down to the basement of the Atomic Bomb Dome. When the bomb hit, he was still in the basement looking for the documents.   Everything was destroyed except one part of the dome and the man was still alive! 

We went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. 

It is a museum that tells its visitors about the day of the bombing, about the people that died , the people who survived, the technology behind the bomb, what is being done now to make sure another nuclear bomb doesn't happen. One of the other reasons we went to Hiroshima and visited the museum was to learn more about a girl named, Sadako Sasaki. Sadako Sasaki, was a girl who was 2 when the bomb hit. She survived and loved to run and play. 

Sadako

10 years after the bomb Sadako was diagnosed with leukemia. (Leukemia is a type of cancer.) When she was in the hospital, her friend told her a story about folding 1000 paper cranes. If she folded 1000 cranes she would be able to make a wish and the Gods will give one to her. She started making them unfortunately, she only made 612 paper cranes. On October 25th, 1955, she died from Leukemia. Her classmates raised money to make a statue for her, and finished the cranes for Sadako. We visited the monument for Sadako is called the Children's Peace Memorial. We learned how to make paper cranes and left them for her.  

showing you some of the cranes we made

If you want to know more about Sadako you can read the book about her it is called "Sadako and the 1000 paper cranes."

When we were in Hiroshima, we saw some of the Canadian Rugby team. It was soooo awesome. I will never forget meeting them.  

Canadian Rugby team

We also met up with someone else, my Uncle Mike. He was in Hiroshima with my Dad and his friends for the Rugby World Cup.  We decided to go for Bubble tea.  

Sayonara,

Sammy

Awesome times with Auntie Darcy Part 2

Awesome times with Auntie Darcy

Part 2

My Dad left to go to the Rugby World Cup with my uncle and some
friends! (I wanted to go there but I can't until I am 18)

My auntie Darcy, went to go drive a go cart in downtown Osaka. 

Sadly, I couldn’t drive a go cart because am not 16  and I don’t have a driver's license. My aunt decided to dress up as... drum roll please... Cookie Monster :) :) :) My Mom, Nate and I went on a tuk tuk (yep another one like the one we went on in Portugal) This time, the tuk tuk had lights and music. We followed my aunt all over the city.  The drive was around 1 hour and 30 minutes.

We went to Mino Falls. 

It took us 1 hour and 30 minutes to just get to the station, mostly because Mom and Auntie Darcy got lost. When we got to the falls it was pretty. The water was clean so clean you could see the fish and freshwater crabs in it. 

I got ice cream not "fish sticks".

When we walked back down the hill we stopped at an insect museum it was cool there was rhinoceros beetles, stick bugs , butterflies and much more. It was cool. My favourite insect was the rhinoceros beetles.

We went to the Namba Yasaka shrine.

The Namba Yasaka shrine is a small shrine with a big lion head  The Namba Yasaka shrine lion is big and green its teeth were yellow and there was a room inside its mouth. It was glassed off so we could not go in but i thought it was cool.


We went to the rugby fan zone.

We went to see Italy vs Namibia at a fan zone. A fan zone is a place where people that couldn’t get tickets to the game come to this big outdoor area and watch the game on a big screen.

In the middle of half time we got poured on :( but we didn’t go. We waited until the rain stopped and watch Italy win the game. Yea!!!

We went to Wakayama shirahama

Wakayama shirahama is a beach just 2 hours away from Osaka but it took us 3 hours because Mom got us off at the wrong stop.

When we got there our hotel was very fancy and nice. We had a traditional Japanese room.  It had tables that were low to the ground where you sat on the floor. It also didn't have beds, it had mats.  

We explored the hotel and the beach. We made a "Sandman".

The next morning,  we went to the beach. It was fun and the water was warm!! 

We also tried on traditional Japanese pyjamas.  

When we got back to Osaka, we went back to Dotonbori before Auntie Darcy left.  We played Mario Kart.  We also went on the big Ferris wheel. It was awesome.  Thanks for coming to Japan with us Auntie Darcy. We miss you.

getting on the ferris wheel for the second time...this time at night so we could see all of the lights

I will write again soon,
Sammy