I’ve got one more day on my ticket to use before September 10th, so I’ll have to think about a day-trip somewhere close.

Today I slept in and piddled around the house a bit. School starts again tomorrow, but I’m hoping there won’t be too much to do on the first day of classes…

I wandered around and took yet more pictures of the island. Here’s one of a future samurai, or maybe fisherman, not quite sure:

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Today was the 61st anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. I decided that since this is my last year, I should attend the memorial ceremonies in the morning. My first year, I’d just gotten here and hadn’t even visited Hiroshima yet — I think I watched the event on TV. Last year was the big 60th anniversary. It was obviously going to be a bit too big an event for my taste, so I decided to do the night-time lantern ceremony (where candle lanterns with messages written on them are floated down the river). It was quite pretty and moving. But I hadn’t attended the main memorial in the morning yet, so I got up early this morning to catch the 6:48 train into the city.

Even getting up that early was cutting things a bit close. The ceremony was to start at 8:00, I arrived at Peace Park at 8:15, just as the bell was tolling the time of the bomb blast. Most people stopped to observe a minute of silence, so I stood there reflecting on it, within sight of the A-Bomb Dome. I then made my way over to the area that the ceremony was taking place. As expected, it was very crowded but I managed to find a spot in the back with a good view (at least via 10x zoom). I’d missed the laying of the wreaths, but had arrived in time to catch Prime Minister Koizumi’s speech. One of the other speeches was delivered for UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who obviously couldn’t attend because he is currently busy trying to make peace. Anyways, I think this is the first time I’ve seen a world leader type person like this.
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This afternoon had a little change of pace, there was a shamisen and flute concert at the culture center. The shamisen is a traditional Japanese instrument, a bit like a banjo. Check out the Wikipedia link for some audio and video files. I’ve seen it played occasionally, it seems to be having a bit of a revival. Sometimes I see young guys playing it along Hondori in Hiroshima at night instead of the guitar.

Anyways, it was pretty good. The two guys played for about an hour and a half, with a bit of chatter mixed in. The audience was mostly seniors, but a class of the oldest kindergarten students attended the first half. So they mixed in some children’s songs along with the more traditional ones. They even did the opening theme to My Neighbor Totoro, to which the kids sang along. Really cute! (^o^)

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So instead I’ll probably try to take some day trips or stuff like that. Haven’t really decided where yet, just have to see. Actually I should probably spend the entire time cleaning house. ^_^;; I do have a couple plans for this weekend: tomorrow I’ll go see some fireworks in Hiroshima and Sunday I’m going to a work party at a beer garden in Hiroshima.

Anyways it definitely messed up the train schedule, probably throwing it at least an hour off. I had to ask my supervisor to drive me to Koda JHS as a result.