July 11th Journal - Shared by Kelsey Greer

It’s hard to believe we’ve only been in Japan for 24 hours! In this time, we have experienced a Japanese cabbage pancake filled with pork, squid, beef, and shrimp: okonomi-yaki; melon soda; a sweet milk drink: Calpis; the covered walkways of downtown Osaka; Japanese fashion; the strong Japanese coffee: kohii; the dedicated pursuit of peace in the city of Hiroshima; learned how to make paper cranes; the bullet train: shinkansen; the importance of fans in the hot, humid weather; udon and soba noodles; ridden the ferry to the sacred island of Miyajima; seen Otorii, the sacred gate; worn yukata, the traditional Japanese robe; walked around Miyajima in our wooden clogs: geta; experienced a traditional Japanese dinner while sitting in a tatami room; taken a refreshing soak in the public baths; and slept on a futon in our tatami rooms.
In Hiroshima, we saw the epicenter where the “Little Boy” atomic bomb was dropped 64 years ago. We also saw Peace Park where the A-Bomb Dome still stood. We saw the Children’s Peace Memorial commemorating Sadako Sasaki and rang the bell for peace. We saw millions of paper cranes placed to make a strong statement of the commitment to peace. We even added our own paper cranes. We saw the Eternal Flame of Peace, the Peace Gates with the word “peace” inscribed in 49 different languages, and the Centotaph with the names of people who died because of the A-Bomb, over 250,000. We saw a video about the day the Atomic Bomb was dropped and a museum with hundreds of artifacts illustrating the destructiveness of the bomb. This whole experience was humbling and inspiring. I was amazed at Japan’s dedication to the eradication of nuclear warheads. The pursuit for peace comes with hard work with over 539 letters written to different people around the world by the mayors of Hiroshima. I know there are seven more people in the United States dedicated to the pursuit of peace.
That afternoon, we took a ferry to the sacred island of Miyajima, where only 2,000 people live. From there, we went to the Miyajima Seaside Ryokan to experience a traditional Japanese hotel. Upon arriving, we took our shoes off and stepped into slippers to wear inside the hotel. We also donned our yukata, the Japanese style robes, and wooden flipflops, geta, and walked around the island at night. We saw the Otorii gate lit up and beautiful. Then, we enjoyed a Japanese-style dinner started with “gochisosamadesita” and “itadakimasu”. We sat on our knees, and our feet fell asleep. Sarah’s favorite dish was the spicy octopus; Tess’s was the eel-egg dish: nabe; Rylan’s was also the eel-egg dish; Molly’s was the tempura; Shii’s was the somen noodles; Jim’s was the raw seabream fish; and mine was the eel. Every one of us tasted each dish with our chopsticks and sipped hot green tea. Afterwards, Rylan educated us in the art of Tae Kwan Do, using Shii as his punching bag. It was a very cultural experience.
After our long day filled with sight-seeing, the boys went to the public baths, while the girls went to bed on the futon pallets placed on the tatami mats. As we fell asleep, clad in our yukata, we mulled over our amazing first day in Japan.

~Kelsey Greer~