To be honest, it's going to be difficult to recount all the little details of this day because I'm typing it out 3 days after the fact. But I'll do my best!
Today was an interesting trip to a less-traveled spot called Okunojima Island, an island intentionally left off maps during the war as it was used to secretly produce poison gas. The drive there by bus was great because it went through a decent amount of countryside with random really nice houses sprinkled across hilly parts. There were fewer-to-no electrical wires in these areas, so that's when you know it's rural.
We had to take a ferry over to the island, allowing us a gorgeous view of the island and surrounding city/nature combo. I definitely enjoyed getting there, though the ride should have been longer. I like riding on boats. The weather was just superb once the humidity started going down by the water. The first thing we noticed about the island: It is FILLED with bunnies! They used to be used to test the potency of the poison gas, but then once the island was shut down, they were all removed. They later decided to turn the island into a resort-of-sorts and chose to bring bunnies back into the mix. All the children visiting certainly didn't mind, I'm sure. We had a great time feeding and chasing after them with our cameras. We took a bus to the museum and heard from one of the museum curators what life was like on the island, as well as the damage it caused. Some of the pictures there were rather graphic, making even me a bit squeamish. We had our translator lady graciously help with the lecture, but her skills were proven when she attempted to translate a DVD that was played later on in real-time. So jealous. The museum had many artifacts like gas masks and suits. It was no surprise that the workers frequently got sick and died from working there, given how unprotected they were by that suit.
The rest of the island was explored throughout the day, leading us through some really pretty areas. There was a hike up a hill that was nothing less than Spider Country. The spiders here are NASTY-huge and scary colors (gold and black, green and black). Their webs are giant and can be found anywhere. Apparently they aren't venomous, but they do have a tendency to bite pretty hard. So watching out for those suckers is very important. The amount of random, worn down, unused tennis courts on the island really surprised me. I wonder if it's just that no one's got the money to clear them out or if they're just for show. It was interesting to compare the atrocity of the A-bomb to the damage Japan did to others using outlawed poison gas that isn't supposed to exist. I heard that the Japanese don't really know about their country using poison gas either, which really surprised me. Truly, no matter where you come from, human beings can be terrible and will find new, more painful or efficient means of killing each other.
Thankfully, we got to eat some delicious ice cream in between the heavy, passionate talks about poison gas and the bomb/hot air balloons constructed on the island to send to the US during the war. It was quite interesting since I had only just heard about the hot air balloon bombs having happened a couple months ago, and that was through a Batman-related comic book. I wasn't aware these bombs were sent to the US, nor was I aware how ineffective they were. Very few actually reached their targets. And many even exploded while being constructed, killing innocent Japanese girls that were put to work on them in the 40s.
The ferry on the way home was cool because it was big enough to carry multiple cars too. I dunno, maybe it's just the novelty that amuses me, but I thought it was kind of neat. The bus ride home was a nice time to relax and try to see if we could hold our breaths every time we passed through a tunnel. On the only one that was actually a challenge, I was the last man standing! My prideeee, it swelled.
We went out to eat at a really neat place across the street from the hotel that sold tsukemen, a type of cold noodle dish that you dip into a sauce mixture of varying degrees of heat. On a scale of 1-30, I tried a 9, which is just under the "medium" setting, and my lips were definitely tingling. I mean, I'm a wimp when it comes to spicy, but the others in the group were feeling the heat at level 6, so I guess I must not be too bad? I could only imagine what Jason and Frisco dealt with at level 25. I heard they cried when they left the building xD
Afterwards, our group split off from the others and went back to the hotel. We sat in Anastasia and Fione's room and talked for a good long while with How to Train Your Dragon playing in the background. It was nice actually, and I feel like we get along really well, our group. I felt comfortable talking and not totally weird like I sometimes do in groups of people. A pleasant change. Good way to end the night.
Pictures coming soon! Stick around for the next two posts to finish off the Hiroshima trip!
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