Okay, I feel the need to post more of the cool things that happened in Hiroshima, to counteract the bleak way that last post ended.

As we got into the elevator to go to our hotel room, a Japanese family got in with us. The kindergarten-aged girl took one look at us, marched up to me and insistently held out her nametag. We weren't quite sure how to react.

I looked at her nametag, and blurted out the first thing that came to mind: Aa, Minako-chan, hajimemashite! The young girl's face broke out into a huge grin, and she danced back to her equally happy parents.

What else? Let's see. . . I had a Subway club sandwich for the first time in about a year. We often spent time relaxing in a Starbuck's. We found that in Hiroshima there's a much higher chance of running into store clerks, wait staff, etc. who speak a little English. It's been said that Kagoshima is about 10 years behind the rest of the country when it comes to social attitudes and the like, and the greater number of English speakers in Hiroshima seemed to reflect that. Or maybe it's because a FAR greater number of non-Japanese come to Hiroshima than Kagoshima. Hmm.

All in all, it was a good vacation. It was nice to get away from things for a while. A little while, anyway.