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Published: June 17th 2008
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Shinkansen
The shinkansen is expensive, but worth it when you're traveling this far. Jessie and I don't consider ourselves travelers. We're home bodies, generally content to stick close to what we know. However, because we realize this, we often find ourselves (especially in Japan) stepping out of that comfort zone in order to experience new things.
We had been planning to take a trip, alone, to some far off place in Japan since our arrival here, and having saved up enough money we finally got a weekend that looked good, and we took off to Hiroshima.
Now, many tourists consider this stopping point in southern Japan a must-see site. But, when we told some of our Japanese friends about our plans, the response was "Why do you want to go to Hiroshima?"
Our answer:"There's a lot of recent history there." -- a simplistic answer to an uncomfortable question. But, that theme of the Japanese perspective versus the foreigner, or American, perspective ended up being one of the most profound things I took away from an experience filled with visuals that I will remember for the rest of my life.
Oh, and to Matt at our church in Ames, Iowa: no, we didn't get radiation poisoning.
So, getting to Hiroshima,
Hiroshima after the bomb
A panoramic photo of the city shortly after the bomb.
"Nationalism, on my opinion, is nothing more than an idealistic rationalization for militarism and aggression." - Albert Einstein which is at the southern tip of the country's main island, we took our first shinkansen, or bullet train. Let's just say it was fast: 300 kph (186 mph) at its fastest. It was certainly a strange experience because there's no shaking, no jostling like a regular rail train. It's like a jet on the ground. But, like most things that last six hours, the bullet train got old pretty fast.
We spent a lot of time on fast trains, slow trains, buses, streetcars and boats during our three-day trip.
Hiroshima was worth it. Despite it technically being rainy season here in Japan, we were blessed to have great weather (80*s and sunny the entire time.) Hiroshima is definitely more tropical and it was nice to see a different side of Japan.
Hiroshima is truly a port city and it's split up into a grid by its many rivers and the coast. This was also Jessie's and my first time really getting a look at the Pacific Ocean. Actually, it's really just an inland sea, but it's all the same water so we counted it.
Our first afternoon in the city we spent in and around
Cenotaph for the Atomic Bomb Victims
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein Peace Memorial Park, which is located at the epicenter of where the British and American forces dropped the atomic bomb at 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945. Many of the memorials are dedicated to the remembrance of those who were killed that day and afterward as a result of the attack, but there are also many reminders located around the park, and in the museum we visited, of the present-day threat of a nuclear war that would make the bomb dropped on Hiroshima truly appear to be a "Little Boy."
In 1961 the USSR successfully tested a hydrogen bomb nearly 6,000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb.
Many of the city's 350,000 residents at the time the bomb was dropped were killed, but today the Hiroshima area is home to 1,600,000 residents and very modern (nothing's more than 60 years old, of course) architecture and style of living. We were very impressed by the city's fashionable, thoughtful flavor and the friendliness of its residents.
We've seen and heard enough in our time here to understand that most Japanese are over WWII. Most seemingly want that time to disappear into the past as fast as it will
The Atomic Bomb Dome (left)
"The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one." - Albert Einstein go. Still, just like some Americans have lingering feelings towards the Japanese, so too older folks in Japan must have some for the Allied countries -- primarily the Americans since American forces carried out the occupation for years after the war was over.
So, we were a little nervous. But, what we found was an not an attempt to bury the Hiroshima's legacy, but a concerted effort to urge the world, Japan included, to learn from its past mistakes.
The museum was incredibly sad, and made even more so because we know the simple lives the people no doubt lived -- most just trying their best to accomplish what Emperor Hirohito was asking of them. I think it made a difference that we actually have many Japanese friends and we've met people who would remember the war and were probably sitting next to the radio the day the Emperor admitted to not being a descendant and an incarnation of the sun god.
The following day we took a boat to Miyajima, one of many islands just a kilometer or so from the mainland. It's a sacred island where no one is allowed to die, so we had
Okonomiyaka
Famous in Hiroshima is the dish okonomiyaki, a quesadilla of sorts with a crepe, egg, cabbage, sprouts, tiny fish, bacon, noodles and sauce. We though Hiroshima style okonomiyaki was much better than Osaka style. much better than how people in Osaka eat it. Here we're sharing some with our new friend Tasushi, who was introduced to us by our good friend Yuki, who is a native of Hiroshima. to be careful of the tame deer roaming the island.
Peace Park is the thing I'll remember the most, with so many thought-provoking sites it's hard to know what to put in a blog. The Atomic Bomb Dome, especially, was a little haunting to see at night. The museum was a very difficult thing to walk through and Jessie had an especially difficult time walking through the area with the students' uniforms, personal items, and even body parts saved as a remembrance of the many innocent victims -- many of whom were killed because they were outside demolishing buildings as part of the war effort, at the request of the government.
Most victims were vaporized, but many lived with incredible burns and memories of the horror of that day. Many of these people would later die from radiation poisoning. But, that's what war looks like today.
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Jeff
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Hiroshima Trip
Hey guys, I read this one awhile back, but I noticed today that you don't have any comments for it yet (geez, your blog readers are a bunch of slackers...). Anyways, very cool pics, I like the shrine gate especially, and the nuclear clock and the Albert Einstein quote are neat too. It's a shame that so little research and effort has gone into understanding how to build a more peaceful and happy society. I was reading recently about Bhutan, and how it is one of the most isolated and least-developed countries in the world, but is rated as one of the happiest. Anyways, I hope things are going well for you guys, and that packing and saying goodbye to everyone is going alright. I'm sure there will be a bit of culture shock when you two get back here, but I'm sure you'll readjust yourselves to the apathy and nonchalance of American life.