It’s 6am.
The alarm is ringing, remembering you that another day is going to start.
Your daily routine is going to start, over and over again.
And you are completely fine with that, happy with your normal life, regular job, longtime friends.
It’s 6am.
The alarm is ringing, but this morning something is different: you are not happy anymore, you want more, you need more.
So you use your few savings and book a trip on your own to Japan, your dream.
You deeply fall in love during those incredible 2 weeks and decide you really need to go back, as soon as possible.
So here I am; that’s my story and the reason why I’m here now, helping in this nice hostel, while having the opportunity to explore the area, breathing how living in Japan is, not just as a tourist, and, also, trying to catch some basic knowledge of this fascinating language.
During my first week, I mainly focused on exploring Hiroshima and, to be honest, it did positively surprised me!
It’s a nice and tranquil city, it’s lovely also just to walk around, maybe next to the river, enjoying the green and the Castle with its gardens.
One spot you really cannot miss if you are a japanese-style-garden freak like me: Shukkeien Garden.
It’s a miniaturized representation of many different landscapes, such as hills, lakes and mountains; you can imagine yourself in a traditional ‘600 century kimono, crossing the lake on one of the stunning bridges and climbing up to the top of the mini Mt Fuji, to fill your eyes and soul with the view of the whole garden.
Walking back to the center, it’s pleasant to pass in Honduri Street, the main shopping road, and jump “back to the future”.
And when you start to get tired and feel hungry, grab a cheap and tasty onigiri in Onigiri Nitaya.
After a full sightseeing day, everybody would dream a warm and comfy “Sento”, a japanese public bath.
When I went there, I didn’t know what to expect; it was my first time.
I really felt comfortable, the sento is divided in 2, depending on your gender.
First thing you have to do is taking off your clothes and leaving them in a locker, just before entering in the warm pool room, in which it’s mandatory to accurately wash yourself, before getting in the water.
The water is super hot, at the beginning the feeling that you have is that is even way too hot to stand the temperature, but then your body gets used to it and that’s when the extreme relaxation takes over.
I did spend quite a long time, chilling in the pool, forgetting to be surrounded by other people.
I felt so warm and in peace with the world until the end of the day.
The entrance fee is fair (450¥) and, of course, everything is very clean, like most of the times here in Japan.
Hiroshima is (sadly) well famous for its past and for the role it had in the Second World War: it had been fully destroyed by the Atomic Bomb, that crucial August 8th 1945.
That said, a visit at the Peace Memorial Museum is more than mandatory.
Very touchy, very well done, not pointing the finger on anybody but just showing the cruelty of the war, it really gives you goosebumps.
All the pictures, videos, testimonials of the thousands of people who died on that day.
It’s unbelievable how evil the Human Being can be.
Tears started to fall down on my cheeks, nobody around me could hold the tears either.
Hiroshima is the perfect example of the best way to face a disaster, showing to the World that rising from the ashes and sparkle more than ever is always possible.
What you would expect coming here, would be to breath p
ain and negativity.
You feel stuffed with positivity and hope instead.
We all should come visit this beautiful city of hope and learn an important life lesson from it.
