Hiroshima Travelogue: Episode 8

In the evening, we are invited to a restaurant. A relatively small part of the restaurant is already prepared for us. The former president of the Hiroshima Peace Museum and members of the MOCT are with us at the restaurant. A colorful dinner set is prepared for us in one corner; most of the stuff is new to us in the dinner except for the potatoes, fish and pasta. I take some of each. As the dinner is over, and as this is a routine in such gatherings, each of the guests introduces himself. After the introductions, Ms. Soya, head of the MOCT delegation, delivers a speech and repeats some parts.

Our lessons with Martin Luther King: Eight students recall a special class

Atlanta (CNN) -- Martin Luther King Jr. taught exactly one class his entire life. It was in 1962 in Atlanta -- a year before he would give his "I Have a Dream" speech in the nation's capital. King had just moved back to his hometown to become co-pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where his father was in the pulpit. The church was such an influential voice, the King family was considered royalty in the city's African-American community.

Hiroshima Travelogue - Episode 7

We get off the train at Hiroshima Station. Awaiting us is a welcoming Japanese delegation at the platform. They hand each one of us a beautiful flower; we happen to care more about the small flower than our luggage. They represent a non-profit organization (called MOCT), and will also be our host at the August-6 fete mounted in Hiroshima to mark the anniversary of the atomic bombardment

Hiroshima Travelogue - Episode 6

A set of pictures get your attention at the newly-built hall of Iran’s embassy. The structure was added to the Iranian embassy’s complex about 11 years earlier. The set comprises three historical shots, two Persian and Japanese captions and a badge; Nasseredin Shah, Masaharu Yoshida and Magoichirō Yokoyama are in the shots, and the badge is the Iranian Order of the Lion and the Sun. The caption reads as follows:

Hiroshima Travelogue - Episode 5

Today, I cruised the streets of Tokyo; the city abounds with long and narrow streets, underpasses, footbridges, cars, discipline. The many locks attached on every lamp post and public telephones and the nuts and bolts used in iron structures are evident of the fact that quakes are on a constant go in the city and, probably, its neighboring towns. Humidity is also considerable. All the essentials of the city are made of iron strictures and rust is born where of iron and humidity are together.

Hiroshima travelogue - Part 4

We leave 'The Center of the Tokyo Raids and Was Damage' after taking several pictures with two symbols placed at the entrance door. Next, we head for Yūshūkan military museum in Tokyo. They drive to a different location. Someone says there is the emperor's house over the river and the long borough we are passing. (What is going on in there? Only God would know.)

Hiroshima Travelogue - Episode 3

It is pleasantly sultry. In the morning we leave for a museum called the “The Center of the Tokyo Raids and Was Damage”. It's a small 3-story building. A polite old woman welcomes us in. We take the steps to the second floor and take a seat. A film is being displayed about the horrific bombing of Tokyo by US forces.

Hiroshima Travelogue- Episode 2

We fly over Isfahan, Shiraz, the Persian Gulf and the United Arab Emirates before we land at Dubai Airport. We arrive at a bright city. The airport is itself a shiny, great, picturesque and colorful city; it has this gigantic metal-glass hall filled with big and small shops, passages and people of all races. We walk about the airport during the few hours we have to wait. The airport is built on what was once a desert and has now turned into the ticket to success for the Emirates as a transit zone.

Hiroshima Travelogue- Episode 1

I still have a few hours. I am writing the "Chronology of Iran's Contemporary History". It’s about the news on November 21, 1925. One of the pieces is about the military attaché of the Japanese government in India; Masaharu Homma. He is moving toward Iran. Iran's ambassador in Baghdad has informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Masaharu Homma has entered the political chronology, and will be granted a free visa.

fire in Anne Arundel, 50 years later

Joseph Ross of Linthicum stands on Dorsey Road in Glen Burnie, the point of origin for a series of brush fires that swept across much of northern Anne Arundel County on April 20, 1963. He is writing an oral history to show the impact of that day on county firefighting. Joseph Ross sits at his computer, opens Google Maps and types in “Dorsey Road.” He clicks the search button.