In addition to going to Hiroshima and Miyajim, on the last day I went to the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force Museum in Kure. This museum talked about the history of submarines and other marine weapons in Japan. At the end, we got to walk through a real submarine that was used in World War II. It was amazing to see all the machinery and the actual beds that sailors slept in and to look through the periscope.
While in Hiroshima, I finished reading a book called Born A Crime by comedian Trevor Noah. He was born to a black mother and a white father in South Africa, when it was illegal for a white person and a black person to start a family. The book has a lot of great lessons about how to make friends with people who may look or act differently from you.
While in Hiroshima, I spent every night in a hostel, which is like a hotel where you share your room with others. One night, some friends and I played table tennis in the lounge of the hostel. It was a lot of fun, and even though I kept losing, I improved a lot.
While walking through the torii gate in Miyajima during low tide, I kept seeing coins on the sand. There were coins as small as 1 yen (1 cent) and as large as 100 yen ($1). I wondered how the water could have washed up so many coins. As I neared the torii gate, I understood. People stick coins to the torii gate for good luck. When high tide comes, it washes all the coins away. If someone had picked up all the coins, they would have been rich!
