Konnichiwa Nippon (1/2): Osaka, Nara & Hiroshima.

---

Konnichiwa!!
Yeah, I made it to Japan! Another country I had high on my list and I enjoyed the 2.5 weeks I spent there. A beautiful country with nice people, not as expensive as I thought it would be (thanks to the stronger US Dollar) and very clean! Except for travelling within the city area, I did not use the train because it’s too expensive. I used only buses to travel between cities instead. The Japanese Rail Pass, often bought by many visitors, wasn’t an option because you’d have to rush between cities otherwise it’s not worth it. The Japanese food in general was ok. They eat a lot of seafood and I’m not a fan of it due to allergies. The people I encountered were all friendly, educated and very well-mannered. I was impressed by the excellent customer service in general. They were very attentive and willing to do all they can to help you. They always wore a smile, it didn’t matter where I was. The level of customer service is something that Curaçao and our whole Caribbean/Latin region could learn a lot from. Japan, just like India for example, was a completely different world to me! So many things are different: the culture, the food, the Pachinko Slots everywhere, many shops filled with little toy-like things of Hello Kitty and some cat raising one of its arms, the heated toilets, the Manga cafes etc. just to mention a few things. These are the things that makes travelling so interesting!

I flew with Jetstar into Osaka Kansai airport from Hong Kong and arrived around 2am. This airport was completely built on an artificial island of 10 square km in Osaka Bay and is connected to the mainland by a bridge of 3km long. Travelling to the city wasn’t an option because there were no trains going until around 5:45am. Grabbing a taxi was way too expensive so I decided to spend the rest of the night at the airport. My accommodation wasn’t booked for that night either, so this way I saved one night of accommodation. After going through immigration and customs, I went to look to an ATM machine to withdraw money. I was happy to notice that I wasn’t the only one spending the night at the airport because there were several people sleeping on the chairs. I found my own spot on three chairs and used my jacket as a pillow, covered my upper body with my black pullover, covered my small backpack with both my legs and slept. I woke up around 6:15am and had breakfast at Mc Donald’s before I took the train to the city. I went straight to my Japanese-style accommodation where I had a small, single room with a mattress on the floor, a small table and a small fridge...can’t remember what else, but not much more. The shared toilets and showers were on the corridor. I was tired and slept for a couple of hours. After I woke up I went to the supermarket and later I took a map from the reception and started to do some exploring.

Osaka has nearly 20 million people and is the second largest city in Japan and the largest in the Kansai region. The first place I visited was Osaka Castle, located in a big park bearing the same name. Originally built in the 16^th century, it was reconstructed twice in the 20^th century. Inside there is a museum displaying several old letters, paintings, portraits, old weapons, armours made of iron plates and others braided with scarlet and multi-colour cords. Pictures were not allowed inside, except for one particular floor. From the top you can enjoy good views of Osaka.
In the evening I went for a stroll around the lively Ebisubashi-suji and Shinsaibashi-suji shopping streets full of people, bright lights and Pachinko Slot places which are basically Japanese-style casinos. The Dotombori River, which crosses the shopping area, has its banks full of restaurants and cafes and there was also live music outside, such a great atmosphere!
The next day I started by visiting the Shumiyoshi Taisha shrine, a sacred place founded in the 3^rd century. The shrine has several halls with traditional architecture. It’s surrounded by a beautiful park with a pond and an iconic bridge arching above the water. An interesting place was the Osaka Museum of History, located close to Osaka Castle, displaying a lot about Osaka’s history in detail. I also visited the Shin-Sekai area with its Tsutenkaku Tower, a symbol of Osaka located near the place I stayed at. Shin-Sekai has its own identity and the area is mostly frequented by Osaka’s working-class and it’s “supposed” to be a dangerous area. Here I had sushi for the first time in Japan!

From Osaka I made a daytrip to Nara. The city of about 400 000 people is located to the east of Osaka and it’s easy to reach by train within 45 minutes. Nara is an old capital, founded in the 8^th century. Most of the historical buildings are located in Nara Park (well-known for its deer wandering around) and in the neighbourhoods near the park. Sometimes the deer take food off people’s hands and one of them was following me because of I was carrying an ice cream cone. There were vendors selling things like biscuits to feed the deer but I couldn’t be bothered. The first structures I saw after entering Nara Park were the Kofuku-ji Temple and the Five-Story Pagoda. The most interesting and impressive structure was the Todai-ji Temple, home to a huge bronze Buddha statue, said to be Japan’s biggest. After this I hiked a part of the trail towards Mt. Wasakusa through the forest, in order to escape the crowd for some time. Here I sat down, rest and had some lunch. I went back towards Nara Park and then to Kasuga Taisha temple complex, known for its abundance of lanterns hanging inside while the path outside, leading towards the complex, is full of stone lanterns on both sides. All shrines have a lot of “omikuji’s”, small pieces of paper where people write their wishes and stick them at a particular place. Some also had “ema’s”, which are prayers written on small pieces of wood and tied on a thread together.

I took a night bus to Hiroshima, my next stop. The city has more than a million people and is well-known as the city where the very first atomic bomb against humankind was dropped on 6 August 1945. That’s the main reason I wanted to visit the city. From my hostel I walked towards the Peace Memorial Park. At a bridge above Motoyasu River there were several people asking for signatures for a world without nuclear weapons and I signed too. I don’t know if it’ll help (I doubt it), but I definitely support the idea. It’s scary just to think about the fact that several countries have those weapons today. Why would you have such weapons without intentions of ever using them? From the bridge I got my first glimpse of the skeletal remains of the Atomic Bomb Dome (A-Bomb Dome), the only building still standing in Hiroshima after being severely damaged by the attack. The hypocentre of the bomb is located just about 150m from the A-Bomb Dome, the place where the bomb exploded at an altitude of 600m. It’s terrible to just think about what happened that day, it must have been absolutely terrifying! I can’t believe that some people still discuss about whether the atomic bombs thrown at Japan were justified or not. Consciously killing tens of thousands of innocent people in an instant (and many more in the months after the attacks) is criminal and there is no way to justify it. A gruesome man slaughter of innocent civilians which wasn’t necessary; typical for the US governments showing off their power. The Peace Memorial Park consists of different sites like the Children’s Peace Monument, Peace Fountain, Flame of Peace and the Memorial Cenotaph for the A-bomb victims.

Nearby you must visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, displaying many belongings left by the victims, pictures and other materials that convey the horror that happened. There is also a part of the museum describing Hiroshima before and after the bombings. Once outside the museum I continued to the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims. It was established in 2002 by the Japanese government to remember and mourn the sacred sacrifice of the victims and it’s also an expression of desire for genuine and lasting peace. The Hall of Remembrance is provided for recollection of the victims and prayers for the peaceful repose of their souls. The wall is a panorama, made of 140 00 tiles (amount of victims), that recreates a view of the A-bombed city as seen from the hypocentre. The Victims’ Information Area continually displays names and pictures of A-bomb victims on a large panel. Besides the Peace Memorial Park, I also wandered a bit around the downtown area near Hondori Street and visited the Shukkeien Gardens. These nice, landscaped gardens in Japanese style were beautiful and it was a good place to relax my mind after all those atomic bomb sites.

At the hostel I met a couple of other travellers with whom I visited Miyajima Island the next day. We took a train and then boarded the ferry to the island, located right across the coast in the Seto Inland Sea. The island has an iconic floating torii (Japanese gate) right off the coast and was considered a holy place for most of the past. Once on land, we walked around for a bit and hiked all the way up Mt. Misen (535m). The view from the top was stunning and we saw the sunset from here too. Once back in Hiroshima we had dinner together. All of us had “okonomiyaki”, a popular dish in the Kansai region that consists of pancakes filled with various things (meat, vegetables, noodles etc). The tables have like a grill in the middle where you can keep the okonomiyaki warm. The travellers I spent the day with were Steven (USA), Byron (Australia), Petra (Netherlands), Krupa, Kimmi (UK) and Eric(Canada). It was really fun hanging around with them for one whole day.



More of Japan in the next blog entry!

---

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Sushi in Japan
Fantastic.

[jeritza martina]

japan
Hopi interesante Elton. Danki pa por a komparti tur e eksperenshanan kumi . Nan a horta mi cell bo mester app mi pa mi hana bo number