A shinkansen is a plane without wings, that moves a few inches over the ground. That's basically what a bullet train seems like; I've never moved that quickly over land before.
I made it from Shin-Osaka station to Hiroshima just fine. It took me a little while to figure out where the street cars were, but once again, navigating in Japan is very simple. The street cars were very convenient and cheap as well. You can get day passes for them and the JR train line, plus ferries to Miyajima.
I rushed to the museum because I did not know when our school was going to have the presentation by a 被爆者/ひばくしゃ(Atomic Bomb victim). Trying to inquire about the speaker was difficult since I didn't know the word 被爆者 to begin with, but after saying "speaker" and "Kansai Gaidai" I got the point across and found out I had ample time to explore the museum and grounds before the talk.
The beginning focuses on Japan from the Russo-Japanese war to the creation and deployment of the bomb. All of this was on the walls, and in the middle was a model of Hiroshima before and after the bomb. The next exhibit showed more destruction and the cleanup, along with some of the treatments for victims. Then the third area was on what an atomic bomb is, what current ones are like, who has them and how many, and the need to get rid of these weapons.
Then there's a break with a bookstore, where I bought the first thick volume of はだしのゲン (Barefoot Gen) and 夕凪の街、桜の国 (Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms). I wish I got the smaller editions of Barefoot Gen as they were a bit more colorful, and this is kind of bulky... But anyway, they are two important manga that deal with Hiroshima, the former in the initial event and the latter in coping thereafter. I'm looking forward to reading them.
The second half of the museum displays artifacts including disfigured household items, building materials such as warped metals, and many common things that seem as if they were dragged from the depths of the sea. Also this part dealt more with the human suffering, a few models of disfigured people, actual photos, and human remains such as singed locks of hair, finger nails, skin, and tattered clothing. Many people had their skin melt right off of their bodies, and had the skin of their arms hanging tattered from their arms; literally melted off. Incredibly gruesome and ghastly in appearance. People bled from most orifaces or from their skin, begged for water (which was contaminated) and died from awful pain. Of course many were also instantaneously vaporized. Others further out were poisoned, blinded, or burnt.
Our speaker presented to us in English, but was difficult to hear. She was very sick, and had no eyelids due to the blast. She related to us how her and her friends were in a field when it happened, and her good friend was disfigured in front of her. She was burnt as well. People jumped into the water to cool themselves or to drink, and died in the water or in wells. The cries for water were common. She went throughout life in constant physical and mental pain and could never get married, like many surrvivors. She dedicated her life to lecturing, and came to not hate the Americans but war itself, and now fights for not just nuclear proliferation but cluster bombs and land mines.
The museum was very fair and balanced in representation, so there was a very sincere portrayal of a desire for peace from the city and victims of Hiroshima. The speaker said that they should have done a better job with the grave nature of the suffering of the victims, and upon reflection that could very well be true, so I reccomend that if you do go, you should look into literature and documentaries afterwards.
I went to the victims memorial afterwards and it was a circular room with a tile mosiac of the view from the hospital after the bomb was dropped (where the hospital used to stand). Each tile represented a victim. That put things into perspective well enough. There was a fountain inside the room, and one outside the memorial, and the reason was explained in the next room through the stories of three victims. So many people begged and moaned for water, so fountains were built to commemorate them. In one story a man related that he was in the army at the time and his commander would not let him give water to anyone as they thought it would kill them quickly. True, they needed water due to the heat dehydrating them, but the water was also contaiminated. It haunted him forever, not being able to give them water.
After the museum I sat and listened to some Japanese girls playing guitar under a bridge, it put me in a much better mood.
J-Hoppers was an excellent hostel. I made a reservation there and found it with ease. The guy running it, Mamoru, was great in telling me where to go to get great food, other sights, and about a festival that night. I ate at a great restaraunt and then went to a bath house since I didn't bring towels, shampoo, bodywash, and the like. That was my plan, to find something like this or go buy some travel stuff and rent a towel at the hostel.
Right side was for men, the left for women. You could tell due to the gender of the child riding the dolphin on either little cloth flap in the doorways. I got a few stares going in, but my Japanese quickly turned their heads away. The clerk wasn't too surprised. She was about 40 something and had her little pedastal between both sections of the bath house. I paid her 400 to get in, and bought shampoo and soap and a towel for about 100 yen more. You strip right there too; so you immediately see naked guys when you walk in. This would be quite a shock to those apprehensive to the thought, but I've done this before and I don't carry the same American apprehensions... You then go into the bathring room and sit on a little stool and shower yourself off while sitting. Once you are completely clean, you go soak in the hot water in the giant bath. There was a sauna too, but I didn't use it. I just relaxed in the water for a good 10 minutes then went out, dried, and left. It felt so good.
When I got back, I ran into Cata (Catalina) and Kaori, two girls from Kansai who were also staying at J-Hoppers. My plan was to travel alone, but Cata is very outgoing and friendly (a little crazy,) but is one of the few Americans who wants to speak in Japanese and is sincerely interested in the culture. Kaori is just great too, so nice, fun, and of course is Japanese. She studied in Baltimore so her English is great, but we spoke in as much Japanese as we could. I can't even tell you how happy this made me to not be using English constantly. This is one of the reasons I came here.
Anyway, we all went to the Fall Festival that Hiroshima was having at several temples. Good food, cheap beer (300 yen!) and incredible folk dancing. I felt so bad that I left my camera at the hostel so I had only my cellphone for pictures and video. It was some story of a demon attacking some place, then two guys, one with a spear and one with a bow drive it off. The dance was incredible.
Afterwards we went to a mom and pop (literally, Mom and Pop were cooking together) place for okonomiyaki and chatted for a good two hours about being abroad, our cultures and how other people have been coping, and all sorts of things. Cata was adopted and has a Mexican father and an Irish mother. She's lived in Mexico and Washington State, so she has quite a background. Her third language too, very impressive. She and Kaori had facsinating perspectives on things. I love the international community at Gaidai. It's quite enriching, and I think I'll miss it very much.
In the morning we all went to Miyajima island together, since we were all heading there before we met anyway. They slept in a bit and kept me waiting, and I was thinking about going on ahead, but I would have regretted that. I don't even know why I thought that.
We rode the trolley to the ferry, and after a 10 minute ride we were there. It was gorgeous. Deer were all over the place, begging for food, sunning themselves, walking around, and (sometimes) being petted. Smaller than American deer. I pet quite a few since I love animals... We saw Itsukushina, which is the red Tori gate that seems to float over the water at high-tide. Also we visted Goju-no-to Pagoda and Senjou-kaku Temple. All gorgeous.
If I went alone, I don't think I would have done what we did next. We climed the highest mountain on the island. At first the girls got some ice-cream, and we had a deer accompany us for a good while, untill we ran up some steep stairs. Of course the trail was man-made, so there were hundreds of steep steps winding up the mountain. Cata climbs rugged mountains for fun, so Kaori and I were trailing behind, gasping for air.
Almost towards the top we ran into a guy who said he saw thirty or so monkeys at the top. That was another thing I really wanted to see here: wild monkeys. One nearly attacked him though.
We encountered a Japanese girl right before the top, who was descending the trail in high heels. Almost all Japanese girls wear these movement-inhibiting shoes, but... on a mountain trail?
No monkeys at the top though, which was dissapointing. However, the view made it wholly worthwhile. You could see other islands, and all of Hiroshima, and even further out. The weather was perfect. We spent a good bit of time there taking in the sights, but the girls had an appointment to pick up some local snacks for souveniers for friends at a shop, so we had to descend. Great Japanese (and some English) conversation the whole time though.
We took the ferry back and grabbed some dinner at a family restauraunt. To our surprise, 75% of the place was occupied by a british highschool class. Ugh. A little annoying, but the food was fantastic, as always.
The shinkansen ride back was with more conversation, but we became delirious with exhaustion, so I don't even remember what most of it was about. I had a good chat with Kaori on the regular train ride back from Osaka.
Just a great trip over all. Go to Hiroshima and Miyajima if you ever get the chance. The Peace Museum is very important, and the local beauty shouldn't be missed either. This was definitely my best weekend.
Other recent things aren't as exciting, right now it's mid-term week, so I should be studying more than writing here, but I need to. Things are going well though... Japanese is going fine and the Asian Studies courses are dissapointingly easy.
Maybe Nara this weekend? Or perhaps Kobe with some Osaka and a few forgotten emperor's tombs south of Osaka. We'll see.
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1 comment:
Hey,
When are you going to be back in the states? Drop me an email here sometime when you get a chance, things to discuss with you.
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