Hiroshima

I think the last week was one of the best I’ve spent here in Japan. I loved the first week when we were on the Honshu trip and there have been some other good times but the trip to Hiroshima was great. I have slowly come to the realization that I am not a big fan of Sapporo, the city I am based in. The weather is horrible (it is nearly mid June and I am still wearing a hoodie around from time to time…ridiculous) for starters and there is not much to do in terms of sightseeing etc. because its not part of original Japan. Those two reasons plus a cold vibe given off by the residents here don’t really make me warm inside some of the time. Hiroshima was totally different. Even though it was cloudy while were there (and it poured of Friday night so our going out plans got squashed) it was nice to be in a t-shirt and a marina and still sweat. The people also seemed nicer, we saw a whole bunch of schoolchildren at the places we visited and they would say hello to us (one of them even offered us some food) and we had a nice conversation with a lady and her students. Even on the trams and walking around people usually smiled back if we smiled at them. I guess they are more used to seeing foreigners since it seems to be a big tourist destination.

Anyway our trip started Wednesday morning. We took a bus to the airport and then two flights to Hiroshima, stopping over in Tokyo, then another bus from this airport to the hotel area. This ride was really beautiful. It’s a mountainous region but the towns were in the valley. And I don’t mean it was a big valley, it was like a mountain range all around and the towns were just squished in between the mountains. Think of it like an alleyway of mountains on either side and in the alley are houses etc. Except the alleyway is curvy and green and it is wider in some places and narrower in some places. Hard to describe but maybe the picture above will give a little idea (it was raining on the way back to the airport so that’s what’s on the glass). We basically took it easy Wednesday evening since we got in around 3.30 and we just walked around the area a little bit.

Thursday morning we got up, had breakfast and then headed to the Peace Memorial Park- basically a big park with memorials, etc. remembering the A-bomb of 1945. When we got there, there were a few groups of schoolchildren (I guess a lot of schools do class trips here because there was just group after group all day) at the main entrance which is the remnants of a building from the time. It was pretty much the only thing left standing in the area after the bomb was dropped and they decided to keep it that way. It was interesting because obviously there are all these 9 or 10 year old Japanese children learning about what happened and a bunch of Westerners (which I’m pretty sure they automatically assume to be American) come in. And of course we weren’t the only Westerners there throughout the day. But the signage around the beginning area seemed a little propagandaish (now a word). It kept dropping lines like “…peace loving people” and making it seem like Japan didn’t do anything to warrant a bomb being dropped on them (yes, the use of nuclear was way over the top but that’s not what I’m discussing right now). Anyway, it got better and more historical later.

I would say I’m pretty interested in History, which is probably why I like seeing all the shrines and stuff, especially WW1, WW2 stuff so this day was really interesting for me because it kind of threw a different angle to the WW2 thing. Of course most History books on this stuff etc. are written from a Western point of view and the stuff that I have studied has barely glossed over the War on this side of the World (even in American History they focus mainly on the battle as it went down in Europe). So it was really good for me to get this look at things. Turns out Hiroshima was a military base, had been for a while, which was one of the main reasons it was selected. There were memorials for children and other memorials but the big attraction was the Peace Museum which was on the grounds. This is where we got most of the background, etc. information and it even had clothing or other stuff worn or used by people who had died and some of their stories. Or it had pieces of buildings destroyed or misshapen from the blast. It was just overall interesting and we spent four or five hours in the park as whole with about 3 or so being spent in the museum. It was some heavy stuff to see, especially when they had life size figures representing people who were affected by the bomb with their skin seemingly dripping off them as it melted away and pictures of how badly people were burnt up etc.

After this we went to look at the hypocenter- the place the bomb actually exploded over- which was a block away. The bomb actually didn’t land where they wanted it to land- instead it went off over a hospital. Makes the story even worse doesn’t it? And basically right next to this was a shopping arcade which we walked through. I like those areas a lot, there was huge one in Kyoto that I loved and this one was good too. And it led straight to the entertainment district so that was an added bonus. We stopped in this one store that had Bob playing and some Jamaican stuff. The owners seemed pretty reggae influenced and there was an ad in there for a reggae club that I asked them about but the party was going on the night after we left so I didn’t pursue anymore.

Friday we went to Miyajima (not Iwo Jima where that famous picture of the American flag being put up is from, I kept mixing them up at first). We had to take a ferry to get to the island which contains one of the most famous scenes in Japan (alongside Fuji) which is the shrine entrance in the sea. I’ve added pictures of these things before. They are basically entrances to the domain of the gods. The whole island itself is believed to be inhabited by the gods so that is why the entrance is in the sea. It’s also interesting because when the tide gets real low you can walk up and touch it but when the tide is up you can’t do that. It’s a mountainous island and some famous Buddhist monk came here and lived there some long time ago (apparently he lit a flame that stayed lit for hundreds of years too- to each his own). There was a ropeway that we thought took us to the top of the mountain, but we were mistaken. It took us up pretty high and gave us a good view of the island and the surrounding islands. It was a cloudy day so the view wasn’t as exquisite as it would have been on a clear day but there were a bunch of islands dotted around in close proximity. But we had to walk up the hill path for about a kilometer to get up to the top. It was a trek to say the least, but it felt good to sweat a little.

There were supposed to be monkeys up there but I guess they sensed the greatness that is me coming so they decided to stay in and not show their faces. It was pretty disappointing, especially since there were all these signs on the way up warning about monkeys. I’m going to post them right after this because the translation to English is absolutely hilarious. The signs make little to no sense in English. The downfall of direct translation I guess.

There were also a few temples, etc. on the island. There was a nature path that was pretty scenic too. For some reason people actually live there too. It’s a real small island but there were houses and schools around and they even had cars which I thought was a waste of money unless you ran one of the shops there and needed to transport goods or something along those lines. There were also a lot of shops, many of them holding my coveted katana. But alas, so close yet so far. I couldn’t take them on the plane so I would have to send them and I wasn’t sure I would have enough to cover that. So that’s on hold again and I’ll just have to wait for Jason to come back from Pennsylvania so he can show me where to get that in Sapporo. This put a huge damper on the day for me but it was still fun. We spent about 3 or 4 hours on the island then headed back on the hour and a half trip to Hiroshima to eat some okinomiyaki (I mentioned this in the food post). It’s famous in Hiroshima and Osaka, but the two are totally different so we were instructed to take this in. Then we planned to go to a bar in the entertainment district later but it was pouring when we decided to go so we stayed in. John and I went out around 11 but by this time the city (like all the rest of them in Japan, except Tokyo) seemed pretty dead. It didn’t help that we didn’t really know where to go. Public transport ends at 12 everywhere (even in Tokyo) so that’s why everybody starts heading home around 11.30 unless they want to pay millions for a taxi ride.

Saturday morning we checked out and went to Hiroshima castle. The least exciting of the days but there was a display of all kinds of katanas and samurai armor from centuries ago so it was a little interesting. And the view from the top of the castle was pretty good looking out over Hiroshima. It was weird because here is this old castle, surrounded by its moat, just chilling in the middle of a city, surrounded by high rises and all these modern buildings. Nice juxtaposition. The castle was actually destroyed in the bomb blast but it was rebuilt to look like the original but serves as more of a museum type thing. Along with the above mentioned displays there was stuff about the history of Hiroshima and its rulers, the history of castles and other stuff. We basically wasted the rest of the day away waiting to go to the airport because for some reason our flight didn’t leave until 6.15.

The flight was just a normal flight until…we saw Fuji. Imagine the last moments of sunset: the sky is just tinged orange at the bottom, darker as you go farther up. Your plane is making its descent into Tokyo and you see the lights of the city. You look out to the left and see a huge mountain silhouetted against the horizon. Not very far away but the top is covered by clouds and the descending darkness. But you can still make out one of the most famous mountains in the world. It was breathtakingly beautiful. And I didn’t take a picture because that would have just come out bad. If I was hanging outside the plane then I would have but it was pointless to take one I felt.

All in all it was a good trip and good experience to have and I was pretty tired at the end of it. Now for another week of school as the countdown to return west continues.

Bless