Iwakuni 9/18/2024

OK, sorry for the delay when it comes to posting about Iwakuni. I spent about a week here for work and filled my time with some day trips as well as exploring Iwakuni proper. I have just arrived to Kyoto and figured I should wrap up what I did in Iwakuni. I arrived a day earlier than expected because of typhoon was heading to Okinawa. I’m my last day in Okinawa. It was super rainy, but I still ended up going to a place called Okinawa world, here they have a gigantic cave that you can explore as well as different exhibits to learn more about the culture. It was incredible, but the rain made it clear that I made the right decision by leaving Okinawa a day early. I got to, it was pretty late at night so I figured I would just take it low-key and then spend the day getting the lay of the land. You can use an interesting town, because it’s a lot smaller than a lot of cities I’ve been to and that being said, the inability to speak Japanese I definitely felt here. Luckily, I had my translator app to get me through, but it was so stinking hot that I can only spend so much the day out getting food , seeing different areas and up my work from Okinawa. When the weekend finally came around, I decided to make something myself, and I took a day trip up to Hiroshima and Miyajima. Miyajima is a small island about an hours train ride away from Iwakuni. You take the train, and then take the ferry. I am so thrilled. I decided to make the stop here. One of the big things that Hyland is known for is there Tori that is in the middle of the water. When you go at high tide, it appears that the shrine is in the middle of the water. When you got low tide, you can walk up and stand underneath the shine. I ended up being there during low tide so I didn’t get to see it and it’s full glory, but it was still incredible to see. The island has so much good street food. Especially the oysters. I chow down on so much incredible food and had an awesome morning. The island also has a bunch of wild deer, so you’ll be walking around and deer will come right up to you and eat food out of your hands. You have to be careful with what you have so that they don’t snatch away your food. However, I thought it was pretty cool to have deer walking up and being able to pet them and treat them like they were just giant dogs. I walked to a four-story they have here as well that overlooks Miyajima. With the stunning views in being able to see the water and mountain scapes, it really does put in perspective how gorgeous other portions of the world are. I’m so surprised by the amount of people that don’t put in the effort to explore. There’s so much happening everywhere. After taking the ferry back, I got back on the train and headed up to Hiroshima for the afternoon. I went into the war Memorial peace Museum, which is a exhibition that talks about the Adam bomb being dropped on Hiroshima. It’s one of those places that is devastatingly sad to be, especially when you’re able to see buildings that are still impacted and left out as a, reminder of the dangers of nuclear weapons. The museum doesn’t incredible job of sharing how terrifying nuclear weapons are, well also not making it focused on the United States, causing the problem. Instead, they focus on the idea of how nuclear weapons need to be terminated and that they cannot be something that we have possession over. Anyone. It makes no sense for that kind of devastation to happen again. Hiroshima has a really interesting perspective on the incident, because while there is still devastation from it, they look at it as a reminder that they have set the precedent that this cannot happen again. Someplace had to prove to the world how terrible nuclear weapons are, and now that we know, we cannot repeat this mistake again. Walking around the Hiroshima area, you were able to see many different statues, and memorial set up to remember those who lost their lives during and after the nuclear attack. It was a very emotionally heavy afternoon, but I’m glad that I went and experienced it. The next day, I decided I wanted to see what Iwakuni is really known for. And that is the kinyaytik bridge. This is a arch Bridgeway that goes across the river and leads to a different part of the area. It’s considered one of the most beautiful and unique bridges in all of Japan so I’m glad I got to experience it. Walking over the bridge you can take all the incredible landscapes, but it’s really cool when you get to the other side. There’s big gardens as well as temples that you can explore and a rope way that you’ll take up to the top of the mountain to see the Iwakuni castle. Inside the castle, you’re able to see a little bit of the history of what this building once was. But the most incredible thing is when you get to the top level of the castle. Overlooking the entire city, it was one of the most beautiful views I had seen in Japan this far. I spent a few hours exploring this area and just soaking it all in. It really feels like a bit of an untouched gem that people overlook in Japan. After having a great Sunday exploring, I was spending the next three days working. So nothing too exciting happening there other than a few great dinners as well as getting a bunch of work done. I decided to leave a day early, and hop on a train Wednesday to get up to Kyoto. More on that later… Iwakuni was a blast. Okinawa was phenomenal. But my work is done. Now I get to spend a few days exploring and doing what I do best, getting to embrace, new cultures, meet new people, and have a whole bunch of fun before I fly home on Sunday.