I will warn you now: This is a very somber post.

I don’t remember the first time I went to Hiroshima. But there are other times I do remember. I remember going there and taking a brisk walk from the train station to Peace Park. On the way we would buy Bento boxes for lunch, since we knew we’d be hungry. We would normally buy them in the shopping area below the train station there. I’m sure it’s all changed by now, but there were many many stores where you could buy a variety of food.

After packing our lunches in our backpacks, we might stop at the convenience store outside the train station and stop to get some drinks. I would normally buy Calpis, which actually did taste very good and did a decent job of keeping me hydrated, despite the name.

As we would walk towards Peace Park, we’d carry on casual conversation about the train ride from Iwakuni, or we would laugh a little at the Engrish which we would see just about everywhere.

Once we arrived at Peace Park, which if you did not already know, was ground zero when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, we would go out in the middle of the field of grass and unpack our lunch. There’s something quite peaceful about peace park, with all the pigeons, and a variety of people wandering around.

There were many days like this. Sometimes they left me feeling a bit melancholy. Other times I was very chipper. All in all, Peace Park and the Hiroshima museum would always leave you just a little bit speechless. I thought I’d speak more about the museum, but I think I’ll just leave it simply at this: You have to see it to understand.

The Children’s Peace Monument is located in Peace Park, with thousands, more likely millions of paper cranes around it. Anyone can donate paper cranes. I’ve walked around the monument and saw a set of cranes that came all the way from a 2nd grade school classroom in Chicago, Illinois.

Peace Park was a Really good place to hang out, and just enjoy living. I Really do have some great memories of hanging out with friends sitting in the field in front of the memorial museum. Do you guys remember?

Have you been to Peace Park in Hiroshima? Feel free to tell us of your first experience there.

[tags]Hiroshima, Peace Memorial Park, memories, calpis, bento[/tags]