Peace Memorial Park

image, a photo by Southworth Sailor on Flickr.

Our all inclusive stay at the temple included not only dinner and breakfast but also participation in the morning prayer service and fire ceremony. At 6:30 we were ushered into the temple to kneel on tatami mats and witness the chanting and rituals of Buddhism. The ceremony lasted about 30 minutes which included lots of chanting, gonging and bowing. The fire burning ceremony was in a different building with more chanting and the building of a fire to burn sticks that contained prayers. Another beautiful meal was elegantly presented to us in our 'dining room'. The morning and early afternoon were spent traveling to Hiroshima. We still marveled at the speed and comfort of the Shinkansen (bullet train). We quickly found our hostel which was not far from the train station. The Hiroshima Peace Park is an impressive memorial to a horrific casualty of nuclear war. The iconic A-Bomb Dome is the visual focus of the park which also holds several other memorials and a museum. One of my favorite is Sadako and the thousand cranes. The museum was very informative and it was interesting to get a Japanese perspective of WWII and why it ended. We enjoyed the evening walking the streets of the lively city and eating a bangohan dinner prepared on a teppan grill. Back at the hostel we had the opportunity to connect with people from Bulgaria, Sweden and Austria.