Our last day in Osaka arrived and we sadly looked forward to our last full day in Japan before returning home and ending this month long vacation to some of the most wonderful places on Earth. For our last day we had something special planned, something we viewed as a "must" for our trip to Japan: A visit to Peace Park in Hiroshima, Japan. I can't tell you when it happened, or exactly why it happened, but one of the things I've always wanted to do (and I set a goal for myself to do it) was ring the Peace Bell in Peach Park. Hiroshima was the scene of one of worst nightmares man could ever imagine, the likes of which I hope this world never sees again. In the flash of a light thousands died and millions suffered. That suffering continued for years and, for some, it continues even today. Because of what happened at Hiroshima that one August morning the world and its people will never be the same again. I sincerely hope that the belief we, the Americans who dropped the bomb, had that dropping such a catastrophic bomb would end the war sooner and save countless lives on all sides was a correct one. Ringing the Peace Bell for Anne and I would be our vote, our little voice, for world peace among nations and all mankind. We had looked forward to this day for a very long time and it had finally arrived.
We awoke early and did our final packing in preparation for leaving. Kako would drive us to the train station where we would catch the Shinkaseen bullet train to Hiroshima. We were in for somewhat of a surprise though. During the night it had snowed and there was several inches of snow on the ground and streets. We made it to the train station in time for our train only to find that it was delayed. We waited patiently and worried that it might affect our trip. Hiroshima was a full 200+ miles in the opposite direction from Tokyo and we had to make it back to Tokyo that night for our flight home the next day.
After a short time there was an announcement concerning our train over the PA in Japanese of course. Thank goodness Kako was with us and translated the bad news immediately for us. Our train to Hiroshima had been canceled due to the inclement weather with downed trees and lines between Osaka and Hiroshima. Anne's and my heart fell right to the floor with that news. We had come so far and were in sight of our goal only to have it snatched away by some stupid snow storm. We were both devastated and disappointed. Coming to grips with the situation and figuring there was nothing we could do we changed our Hiroshima tickets for tickets to Tokyo. We tried to console ourselves by thinking that we'd have most of the day sightseeing in Tokyo, but that didn't help eliminate the great disappointment we felt.
Once again we found ourselves waiting by the tracks for the train bound for Tokyo to arrive when another announcement came over the PA. Again, we were thankful that Kako was there to interpret. This announcement brought good news. The trains to Hiroshima were running again and one would be along in a short time. We quickly changed our tickets back to Hiroshima and we both felt a great burdened lift from our shoulders. At this point we knew one thing: We would get to Hiroshima and we would ring the Peace Bell. I really didn't care if we couldn't make it back to Tokyo that night or not and missed our flight home. There's always another flight, but there may never be a chance to ring the Peace Bell again. The train arrived and we were finally on our way to Hiroshima.
Arriving in Hiroshima we stowed our luggage and took a cab to Peace Park. |
