Roving Japan

Hiroshima Photoset

Since we plan on spending another night in Hiroshima, we got to leave our heavy packs in the room for the day. I detached the removable top compartment and wore it as a hip pack, while Risa just had to carry the camera.

Our first stop was the huge “Peace Park” complex in the center of town. As we got close, the first thing we came across was the “Gembaku Dome” or A-Bomb Dome. This was pretty impressive, although I must say that it was less impressive than I had originally thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a harsh reminder of the horrors of the bomb… but the memorial has had so much restoration work done to it, that it no longer looks like something that was actually there. All the exposed steel has been painted, and all the cracks and dings in the walls have been filled with special material. The entire structure is also being supported by a massive steel skeleton. The result is that up close, it looks almost fake to me.

Risa doesn’t agree with my view. She thinks that the dome is very impressive. She didn’t mind the restoration work. For her the dome was very impactful and heartbreaking. She also liked the flowers that surround the dome because they kind of soften the harshness of the past. In her view the single most impressive thing we saw all day was the dome, and everyone should make the trip to see it.

After the dome, we went across the river to the main park area. This big park has like 20 different monuments. After a while, I got a little numb of all the “peace” monuments. “Peace Cairn” “Peace Clock Tower” “Peace Bell” (which we rang) “Stone Lantern of Peace” “Peace Fountain” “Figure of the Merciful Goddess Kannon of Peace” “Statue of Peace” “The Gates of Peace” “Peace Memorial Mailbox” and more!

The only monument that really had a big impact on me was the “Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound”. At first it just looks like a hemisphere of grass with a little stone lantern on top. But then you read the plaque where it says, “The vault lies under the mound and contains the ashes of roughly 70,000 victims.” That by itself has more impact than any number of various sculptures with “Peace” in the title.

After the park area, we went to the meat and potatoes of the memorial area… the museum. The museum starts you off with less intense stuff. History of Hiroshima as a military city, then some of the history of the bomb and the US decision to bomb Hiroshima. There is a large miniature of the city before and after the blast, and then upstairs is a time line of the reconstruction. The west end of the museum is more intense. It has the photos of the burn victims, kids clothing, some finger nails and skin samples, and a lot of recovered debris.

All in all, the museum is pretty sad, but much of the content you have probably seen in history books. I didn’t see a photo of a burn victim that I hadn’t seen before, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Nothing can really prepare you for seeing some little boys fingernails and skin sample that his mother kept to show the boys father who was away fighting the war however.

After the depressing morning at the A-bomb memorial area, we went north to the Castle. Along the way, however, we were side tracked when I heard a very loud evil sounding laugh. Then the sounds of someone screaming and possibly dying. We had to go see what was happening. It was a huge festival with a live Power Rangers show happening on the main stage! It was awesome! Sword fighting, a bad guy sounding evil, and a lot of classic Power Ranger arm gesturing. I was thoroughly entertained, and the show did a great job of lifting our spirits back up to pre-memorial levels. We also got a snow cone!

The castle itself was destroyed in the blast, but they rebuilt the main tower and it’s now a history museum. The highlights of the museum were the samurai armor I got the wear, and the kimono Risa put on. I think a lot of the Japanese people thought it was funny to see the white guy putting on the samurai gear. I loved it.

We have decided to make an audible for tomorrow. Instead of heading straight to Kagoshima, we are going to spend at least 1 day at Miyajima. There is a camp ground on the island for $3/day, so we will finally get to use our tent!

Photo Note: I added a photoset for Himeji Castle.

Himeji Photoset

We left Komae around 6:30 on the local train to Machida. We had thought that leaving at 6:30 would put us ahead of morning rush hour, but we were wrong. The train from Machida to Yokohama was one of those trains you see on TV. People cramming themselves into the train car anyway they can. It was a lot of effort to keep from knocking someone over with my pack.

After the rush hour train, we transfered to a shinkansen. The shinkansen is AMAZING. I loved it. Inside, its basically nothing but business class seats. Wide, plenty of leg room, and really comfortable. I turned on my iPhone GPS app and clocked our speed at around 134mph. I wish America had some of these. I hate flying, but riding on a train is no problem.

We made it to Nagoya in about an hour and a half, where we just hopped off one shinkansen and got on another. In the 5 minutes we had to wait, Risa and I both noticed how Nagoya “looks just like Tokyo”, which was unfortunate. I was hoping for a little more character.

We eventually got to Himeji after another hour or so, and from the train station we walked north to the castle.

The castle was probably one of the coolest things i’ve ever seen. I love history and I’m kind of a military buff, so this met all 2 of my requirements to be cool.

It was fun to picture the defending armies patrolling the walls, or the attacking army trying to figure out how to get to the main tower. The formidable walls of Himeji castle are famous for all the archer holes and hidden compartments where defenders could hide until the enemy was close by.

Unfortunately, the formidable defenses of modern day Himeji castle could not defend against an onslaught of high school kids who had come to see the castle on a field trip. There weren’t many “regular” tourists, so when the kids showed up, it was like a storm. It got super loud, kids running around everywhere, security guards running around after them… then they were gone. maybe 20minutes, and the kids had gotten bored enough to move on. Pretty strange. I felt bad for the security guard in the top room of the tower. I told him “Ganbatte!” (good luck!) he seemed to appreciate it.

After the castle, we wandered back to the station, and left for Hiroshima. We got here around 6, found our hotel (cheaper than any of the Hostels in town!), and then went out to eat at a local Okonomiyaki place.

Tomorrow we are going to go explore the A-Bomb memorial area.

Just got on the train heading south to Nagoya. When we get there, we will transfer to another Shinkansen and leave for Himeji.

We are ready to leave!

My Alien Registration is finished, I’m in the national healthcare system, and we finally got our cell phone. The only thing left to do is make a reservation at a hostel in Hiroshima.

Ideally, we would probably leave friday, but since Golden Week is starting this weekend, we are going to try to beat the hoards of people by leaving early.

Initially our thought was to spend an entire day in Himeji, then sleep at a hostel or even camp. But after researching the local accommodations and camping options, it seems like Himeji isn’t the best place to stay. They don’t really have cheap hostels or places to camp. So, the new plan is to leave Tokyo around 6am, get to Himeji around 9 or 10, spend the afternoon at the castle, then get back on the train and head to Hiroshima for the night. We are planning on spending at least 1 full day in Hiroshima before leaving for Kagoshima.

Our end goal, is to get to Yakushima island before Saturday. If we can get there on Thursday or Friday, we should be able to get started on the island hike before the Golden Week crowds. *Fingers Crossed*

As promised, here are some shots of our new family stamp (Hanko). I can’t show the mark itself, since the Japanese use these things like signatures and I don’t want someone running around signing me up for credit cards. But basically the stamp uses Katakana to spell out “SA-N-DAA-ZU”

Hanko Workshop

This is the storefront to the little workshop where our family stamp was made.

Hanko Work Area

Here is the little work area that the old man uses when he makes a new stamp.

Example Stamps

We picked the size that you can see in the top left corner.

The Hanko Maker

This is the old man who made our stamp (which is he holding). He was an interesting guy. Very political. He tried to convince me to vote for some politician in the next election. I don’t think he realized that I can’t vote in Japan… oh well. Nice guy. Good stamp maker.

In case you missed the updated photo on the left, it’s true. We got an iPhone.

I’m typing this entry using only one finger, so I am glad this isn’t our main blogging machine. However, the iPhone has too many useful apps for us to pass on the chance to get it.