March 9 - March 12 HIROSHIMA

The A-Bomb Dome - one of the only structures left standing near the hypocentre of the atomic detonation

I'm going to undersell Hiroshima horribly with this post - however, we have been twice before so this time hung out with Berin, Nic and Oscar rather than seeing any of the sites.

I will say that seeing the A-Bomb Dome, Peace Park and the two museums is a life changing experience and a unique place in the world.

Hiroshima itself is charming, it is a river city with great parks, shopping and restaurants.

Berin and Nic (and now Oscar) have been living here for several years. I have known Berin since I was 9 and Nic from my early 20's and we both love them dearly. Berin is a fluent speaker of Japanese and a lot of our travels and experiences in this country would not have been possible without him. Thanks mate!

On a sombre note, we were on the train into Tokyo for the first 7.3 earthquake, and we missed the larger 8.9 quake by a day. Hiroshima is well south of Tokyo and the subsequent Tsunami, so we were perfectly safe - but still....