Hiroshima photos day two

As I was photographing the dome, a small cricket landed on my shoulder, a nice reminder that life is now back in a place that was so completely destroyed...

Exploring Hiroshima and on to Nagoya

The downtown area of Hiroshima was calling, and our train was booked for the evening so we knew we had to get out and make the most of the time we had, and so we jumped up, grabbed our cameras and headed out! The first place we went for was peacepark, a huge open park built very near to ground zero for the bomb. We arrived and found the A-Bomb Dome, an industrial hall / meeting room that, due to being almost directly underneath the blast, was one of the only buildings left standing in Hiroshima. The blast pankcaked the floors but since it was side on to the walls the pressure was equal both sides and they stayed standing. Nearby was a small statue of a child from before the war, the surface on top had been blasted smooth but the original texture of the stone in some places, under the chin for example, was still rough, this really brought home just how close it had been to the blast, and just how hot it was.. 

We walked over the bridge through this beautiful park, built in place of dense housing that was there before the bomb, and down past a series of statues, donated or in memory of certain groups, one being to the children affected, and as I walked past, a family came with a very old  woman in a wheelchair, who must have been alive during the war, paying her respects and taking a picture in the garden, very touching.

Further down was a casket containing the name of every known victim, and a large museum about the a-bomb. It was a very moving experience, and in some places very vivid with pictures of the dead and dying, a step with a shadow left of some person sat there when the bomb went off, and many other heartbreaking scenes and stories of people who were caught up in the blast. This also included a lot of information about the war in general, and the lead up, interestingly the focus was not ever on America as being at fault, the included talks of it's strategic importance and was more focused on ending nuclear war than blaming the Alies for the part they played in the war. We read about the number of dead being 70,000+, more than Nagasaki, in part due to Nakasaki's hills which offered a little protection for some, and saw a huge wall with a letter sent to every country asking for nuclear disarmament.

It was a very sad and emotional visit, but well worth it.

After the museum and in a very contemplative mood we went to visit the cities old castle, it was a lovely castle, but not on the same scale as Osaka or Okinawa, the central tower however was beautiful peaking over the trees.

 

We then found a traditional garden, built back to the design of hundreds of years ago, and although small, containing many different beautiful and unique scenes, it was very cleverly done and well thought out. It included a small pagoda that I lay down in, and promptly fell asleep for half an hour, oops, feeling well rested we walked around the small lake and took lots of pictures.

 

After that we were both pretty tired, however we had a train to catch! So back to the hotel for our bags, then back to the station and onto the bullet train, we got Nagoya and changed onto a small local train for another 45minutes journey to a small village where Mina's brother lives. We got off the train at a dark station in the middle of nowhere, the platform was empty, and it was very very Japanese, it was awesome!

Mina's brother arrived a little late, and he was a great guy, he packed our things away and then took us for some food in a local place he liked, we sat on the floor and ate some tasty Japanese food, and although he didn't speak much English, and I didn't speak much Japanese, we bonded over a mutual understanding of beer.

After a couple of beers he asked if I had ever been to a hostess bar, I said (through Mina's translation) that I hadn't (and in truth had no idea what a hostess bar was), he was surprised but said nearby was his favourite, and he would show us.

We paid and walked out, walked 5 doors down and into another bar, the 'hostess bar'. It was tiny, 15 meters long, 3 meters wide, with a sofa at the end, a bar down one side and a row of stools along the bar. The bar was quite full with most seats taken by single Japanese men and Japanese girls working as 'hosts'. The girls were very well dressed in cocktail dresses, hair all done and with lots of makeup, and the guys would sit, and the girls would sit and drink with them, and talk, and keep them company, and the guys could talk with a nice girl with no pressure, and that is all that happened. The guys talk, and then they go home, apparently the chance of a girl going home with them is only if she wants to, it is basically just a date, no pressure, and a chat with a pretty girl. We sat down and ordered Japanese spirits and tea, which was very tasty, and a girl that knew Mina's brother well kept our cups full, drank along with us and we tried to make small talk without sharing a language. After a time Mina and I were both tired so we headed off (in his car) back to his house, where he had offered to let us stay, and Mina drove us back. He stayed late to have fun in the bar. We rolled into his house and I fell straight into bed in the spare room. His house was huge, two floors, 3 bedrooms, a huge shower/wetroom and even a small garden. It was beautiful, clean and very modern, although you could tell he was currently between girlfriends, he has two PS3s, one for his bedroom and one for the lounge, a Wii, a PSP or two, a Nintendo DS, 2 TVs, and so many gadgets, besides the techno toilets so common here (warming, Bidet, music, false flush sounds and all) his bath had no taps, only a remote control, it fills the tub for you automatically to whatever depth and temperature you want, then at a button press drains away again, so cool!

Anyway I had a quick look around and then got to bed, more exploring tomorrow!

Hiroshima Photos Day one

23rd, onto Hiroshima!

Our time in Osaka was done, and although I would have loved another day  in Kyoto, or maybe a few more days, the schedule didn't allow and so it was onwards for a 2 day one night stopover (although in the wrong direction for our next destination) in Hiroshima, they had a one night hotel and train deal that Mina found and so we booked that each and off we went! The bullet train was great, shooting along at a couple of hundred kilometers and hour and we were soon in the very new looking city of Hiroshima.

We checked in and dropped off our bags and since we had left early, headed out to explore! The famous shrine we had heard about from Hiatt was near Hiroshima and so the first day we got the train for an hour or so over to the ferry and then took the ferry out to the island where this Shrine was located. It was a beautiful island with tame deer wandering around and lovely trees and scenery and we walked down to the shrine, took some pictures of it at high tide standing 50 meters out into the sea and then walked around the attached temple.

It was relaxing and not too busy that day, and we climbed up the hill behind the temple a bit and explored a few of the smaller temples up there, one especially lovely with hundreds of statues and with some afternoon lighting I got some very nice pictures.

One of the temples was especially beautiful, with rooms of lanterns, wonderfully lit statues and so many other things that made some lovely pictures, and under the temple, and corridor snaking 50m back and forth under the floor of the temple building, intentionally completely unlit and pitch black. Complete and total darkness, then you are left to walk through this maze by touch, until floating in the blackness are a series of small metal engravings of budda (or a similar deity), lit by the tiniest light but you can just make them out in the total darkness. Very cool and a little unsettling, but very beautiful too, and a nice respite from the outside heat!

After exploring and climbing around the temples we headed back to the dock and found that the arch that had been standing in the middle of the bay had been left behind by the tide and was now standing in a quickly drying sandy bay, and people were walking out and around and under the shrine.
We took off our shoes and walked out through the rock pools to the shrine, touching its wooden pillars was very interesting, and after a few more pictures we went back to the ferry port and headed back to the mainland.

It had been a long day and so we were happy to sit down on the train and rest a while, we woke up to see a sign with our station outside the window, we grabbed out things and dived off as the door alarm buzzed and walked back to the hotel.

We checked in and went to our rooms, showered and then got some dinner.

Meditating in a Kyoto Zen garden...

21st Kobe day trip

One thing I really wanted to do during my time in Japan was to eat Kobe beef, it has been built up and built up so much that I really wanted to see if it could live up to its reputation, and there is only one place to eat Kobe beef… Kobe!

Since Kobe is only an hours journey from Osaka by train we headed out there for the day.  When Mina's sister heard however she wanted to go there too to meet some friends and so they drove us in the end, which was lovely of them! We got out of the car in Kobe and found it was Hot, Seriously HOT, but a nice place. We found a shopping arcade and wandered along that for a while buying a few things, I bought a new backpack I saw which looked nice and a few other things, including a not great looking, but essential, sunhat!

We then wandered to the port and there is a memorial there to the earthquake they had a decade or two ago. They had left a huge section of the old dock as a garden and not fixed the giant slab of concrete that had cracked and dropped like paper, complete with lampposts and port fittings still attached, amazing the sheer power of the quake. However it was too hot for sitting in the garden so we walked back up to the city center and found a lovely second floor restaurant to have some Kobe beef. It was about £25 a head, and although it wasn't the super super one, well known for its marble like fat all the way through it was still an amazing piece of steak. It melted in your mouth and the taste was just fantastic. Well worth it as an occasional treat.

After that we walked around Kobe center some more, finding the hotel district and a lovely coffee shop there in an old European style with a great cup of coffee, although you really had to pay for it. I've also developed a real taste for their local coffee, everyone from 7-11 to their own brand coffee shops Japanese people make a fantastic cup of coffee!

 

After we got the train back to Osaka and Mina's sister and her husband picked us up and wanted to show us Osaka castle, we drove over there and then they dropped us off and walked through this huge old castle grounds to a central tower. Alas the original tower was lost in a fire, as large wooden structures before lightening rods were prone to, however they had rebuilt one from pictures and it was huge! We climbed up inside (well, took the lift) and had a lovely view all around of Osaka city. We didn't realize however that Mina's sister was waiting for us on the otherside, so after taking entirely too long looking around we hurried through the carpark and back to the car.

Since the next day Mina's sister and husband were busy they wanted to take me for a meal before I left so asked what I wanted, and I told them I still hadn't had proper sushi in Japan, and so they promised to help me fix that!

They took me to a place near their house that was quite up market and specialized in sushi Osaka style, which is to say huge piece of fish/squid/octopus and tiny portions of rice underneath, the fish was nearly the size of my hand in some cases and still had to be eaten in one mouthful!

The sushi was great, sitting on mats on the floor around a low table and drinking Japanese beer with Mina's brother in law, a good chance to relax and enjoy the best sushi I had tasted!

Adventures in the countryside with Hiatt

Hiatt has a car and offered to drive us out of the big city and out to see some of the beautiful Japanese countryside. It is apparently difficult to get out without a car and so it would be a rare chance for me to see small town Japan, so I took it gladly, I also liked Hiatt, his friendly relaxed style was very easy to get on with.

He had offered to meet us in the early morning at 10, and I got up and was ready with time to spare… certain other people however still hadn't emerged at 10, despite calls and texts asking if we were still going!

Eventually we all met up and drove out of the city  into the mountains, and they were stunning. Tall mountains with pristine rivers and traditional styled houses making up tiny villages, they have managed to modernise without loosing that sense of old Japan, the roads have cars but still feel Japanese, it was really great to see.

We drove for about an hour before we had to stop for some food at a service station and it was, without a doubt, the best service station I have ever been to in my life. It was clean, so clean, friendly, the food was tasty, not overly priced, and it looked down a valley and was surrounded by trees, wonderful!

The food was ordered, as is traditional in japan, at a vending machine,  you put in the money and buy a ticket (it knows if they are out of stock), and then you take the ticket to the counter where they cook it fresh and then call you back to pick up your food a few minutes later. I had a great curry for a great price and wished more English service stations were like that!

We got back in the car and drove another hour to a small village next to a great bay. It turns out there are 'three beautiful scenic spots' in Japan, and this was one of them. It is a sandbar that stretches across the side of a bar with a cable car at either end to allow you to climb the mountains and take it all in. It was also Hiatt's final one of the three, with the other two being a famous shrine near Hiroshima and another place way north of Tokyo. I stored the Shrine for later recall…

We walked around the village before walking up the beach a ways and then took the cable car up the mountain to get a view across. The cable car was just individual chairs with no seatbelts up the side of the steep hill which was fun and since we were a little late, in fact one of the last rides up in the late afternoon by that point, it meant the top was almost deserted, we took lots of pictures and walked along a metal highwalk for a view right across the bay.

We took lots of cool pictures and had a good time before getting the actual last ride back down again.

As we came down I saw an old style Japanese train, similar to the 80s anime series, going past, and that was cool, managed to get a picture too which was great!

Hiatt then said he had heard there were some houses on the other side of the bay that were right on the lake, a traditional sort of house that instead of a drive for cars each house had a space to park your boat! It sounded fun so we drove around the bay and tried to find them, after parking up a few times we found the problem, the boat tours could find them easily from the water but there was basically no access for cars, they didn't need it, they all had boats!

In the end we stopped in a small sailing club and asked an old lady who stopped tending the flowers and went with us down a few tiny paths between houses to the water front, the problem she said was that all the paths down were private and often led through or very close to peoples houses, and they didn't want lots of tourists wandering around, but she was happy to take us down and show us the houses, a very kind old woman and very friendly.

After looking at the houses and taking even more pictures we headed back to the car and after all saying that you (in Japanese, even me) to the old woman we left her to tend her plants in peace.

We got dinner together with Hiatt near his house and had Takoyaki, a kind of Japanese pancake filled with noodles, and Osaka is famous for its Takoyaki, and this place was famous in Osaka, and it did not disappoint! It was great, so tasty, and not so expensive, amazing!