Hiroshima
We stayed up in the mountains above Hiroshima for three days last week. We got a lift down to sea level each day (twice to the centre of Hiroshima, once to the pier for the Miyajima ferry). It's a lovely area, with quite a high population density in the valleys. There is a house or two every few hundred yards, interspersed with tiny paddy fields and vegetable plots in terraces, and everything is framed by steep, heavily wooded mountains. Our hosts had a young family who got on well with our kids, and the rather long drives were made interesting by Tomu telling us this, that or the other, for example about the footprints of bears spotted on the route his kids take to school..!
We set off the day after we arrived in Japan, still jet lagged and arrived in poor weather - we were warned the flight might not be able to land and we may get returned to Tokyo. Fortunately it was clear enough when we arrived and we made it to the ground. Our airbnb host collected us from the airport, but it was another 90 minutes before we reached their home and by that time it was dark, wet and cold. They prepared us a meal before we crashed for the night.
The next day, we fulfilled the promise to Akira that was the original reason we were going to Hiroshima - we visited Hiroshima Peace Park and the atom bomb museum. It is a harrowing visit, but it is important to remember what the smallest, crappest, rushed design of atomic bomb was capable of. The story is told with lots of personal memorabilia like burned shoes and crushed lunch boxes, donated by the families of victims who never found anything else of their loved ones. There is also the stone steps of a bank, burned white with a slightly darker shadow where a human, vaporised by the explosion had been sitting, awaiting opening time. President Obama visited Hiroshima last year, the first American president to do so since the bombing. He joined his voice with the people of Hiroshima and all over the world in a call to at least work towards nuclear disarmament. I shudder to think what Trump would make of a visit to the place. After all, Hiroshima is now a vibrant city; in the post truth era, one who decided to believe that atomic bombs are a good idea could latch on to that. Never mind that while the Hiroshima bomb levelled the centre of one city, modern bombs could level Glasgow and Edinburgh and everything in between at the same time.
A change of pace in the evening, when we visited an onsen (Japanese bath) close to our host's house. It's fun to walk into an onsen, as a long haired foreigner, and see the Japanese guys do a double take as they wonder if a woman just wandered in through the wrong door. Fortunately since everyone's completely naked, their confusion doesn't last long. It's still a strange environment, and of course being the only guy in a family of girls, I have to go alone. There seem to be lots of signs telling you to do (or not do) this or that, and I can't read any of them. I just have to hang about watching what other people are doing (but without actually watching... you shouldn't really watch people in the onsen...). But even so, I sat in an electric chair without realising. Weird thing, I never knew what was going on until I looked and saw the electrodes under the water, zapping me every half second. I'm not sure what good that's supposed to being doing, but I'm fairly confident it isn't a traditional part of the onsen!
The next day we visited Miyajima, popularly known in Japan as one of the three most beautiful islands in the country. The weather was not particularly kind; we stayed largely dry but it was overcast the entire day. The day was short too, so we limited ourselves to visiting the shrine and temple, and eating the local produce, instead of making the short hike to the top of the island. Diashou-in temple is particular is beautiful and fun, a masterclass in how Buddhists can monetise the granting of good luck by lighting candles, incense, ringing bells, pouring water over statues of the gods, clacking beads and throwing clay balls into a lucky pot. It all seemed a bit like Disneyland to me, but then, I like Disneyland too.
On the third day we visited Hiroshima Shiro (castle). A Japanese tower block is modern on the outside, but with (quite likely) traditional Japanese rooms inside, complete with tatami matting and sliding screens (shoji). Hiroshima castle is sort of an inside out version. It looks traditional on the outside, but inside it's clearly constructed of concrete and metal. The original was destroyed by the a-bomb, and the current castle is a replica built in the 50s, housing a museum. Adjacent to the castle (within the inner moat) was a huge single storey palace. There is a model in the castle museum. It was all tatami rooms and shoji in a maze of corridors and courtyards. It must have been amazing.
After the castle we went to the world's most rubbish Japanese theatre and onsen, out in the suburbs of Hiroshima, because Hotaka (Seiko's sister) is an actress and professionally interested, and she'd love us to love her art... but on the basis of what we saw, not much chance we'll be going back!
The flight back to Tokyo gave great views of Fuji-san, all the way to the sea, with Tokyo in the background, which gave a brilliant sense of scale. Then we also we flew almost directly over Ooshima, the (much smaller) volcano on an island that we're planning to visit later in the holiday - we could see right down the crater from the window of the plane. Then we swung in a huge arc round Tokyo bay to land at Haneda on a runway on reclaimed land. The most outstanding views from a flight I've ever seen.
We set off the day after we arrived in Japan, still jet lagged and arrived in poor weather - we were warned the flight might not be able to land and we may get returned to Tokyo. Fortunately it was clear enough when we arrived and we made it to the ground. Our airbnb host collected us from the airport, but it was another 90 minutes before we reached their home and by that time it was dark, wet and cold. They prepared us a meal before we crashed for the night.
The next day, we fulfilled the promise to Akira that was the original reason we were going to Hiroshima - we visited Hiroshima Peace Park and the atom bomb museum. It is a harrowing visit, but it is important to remember what the smallest, crappest, rushed design of atomic bomb was capable of. The story is told with lots of personal memorabilia like burned shoes and crushed lunch boxes, donated by the families of victims who never found anything else of their loved ones. There is also the stone steps of a bank, burned white with a slightly darker shadow where a human, vaporised by the explosion had been sitting, awaiting opening time. President Obama visited Hiroshima last year, the first American president to do so since the bombing. He joined his voice with the people of Hiroshima and all over the world in a call to at least work towards nuclear disarmament. I shudder to think what Trump would make of a visit to the place. After all, Hiroshima is now a vibrant city; in the post truth era, one who decided to believe that atomic bombs are a good idea could latch on to that. Never mind that while the Hiroshima bomb levelled the centre of one city, modern bombs could level Glasgow and Edinburgh and everything in between at the same time.
A change of pace in the evening, when we visited an onsen (Japanese bath) close to our host's house. It's fun to walk into an onsen, as a long haired foreigner, and see the Japanese guys do a double take as they wonder if a woman just wandered in through the wrong door. Fortunately since everyone's completely naked, their confusion doesn't last long. It's still a strange environment, and of course being the only guy in a family of girls, I have to go alone. There seem to be lots of signs telling you to do (or not do) this or that, and I can't read any of them. I just have to hang about watching what other people are doing (but without actually watching... you shouldn't really watch people in the onsen...). But even so, I sat in an electric chair without realising. Weird thing, I never knew what was going on until I looked and saw the electrodes under the water, zapping me every half second. I'm not sure what good that's supposed to being doing, but I'm fairly confident it isn't a traditional part of the onsen!
On the third day we visited Hiroshima Shiro (castle). A Japanese tower block is modern on the outside, but with (quite likely) traditional Japanese rooms inside, complete with tatami matting and sliding screens (shoji). Hiroshima castle is sort of an inside out version. It looks traditional on the outside, but inside it's clearly constructed of concrete and metal. The original was destroyed by the a-bomb, and the current castle is a replica built in the 50s, housing a museum. Adjacent to the castle (within the inner moat) was a huge single storey palace. There is a model in the castle museum. It was all tatami rooms and shoji in a maze of corridors and courtyards. It must have been amazing.
After the castle we went to the world's most rubbish Japanese theatre and onsen, out in the suburbs of Hiroshima, because Hotaka (Seiko's sister) is an actress and professionally interested, and she'd love us to love her art... but on the basis of what we saw, not much chance we'll be going back!
The flight back to Tokyo gave great views of Fuji-san, all the way to the sea, with Tokyo in the background, which gave a brilliant sense of scale. Then we also we flew almost directly over Ooshima, the (much smaller) volcano on an island that we're planning to visit later in the holiday - we could see right down the crater from the window of the plane. Then we swung in a huge arc round Tokyo bay to land at Haneda on a runway on reclaimed land. The most outstanding views from a flight I've ever seen.
posted by Tony @ 22:46
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