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Atomic Bomb Dome
The dome seen from the gardens across the river. Thursday evening was Karaoke, quick river visiting, and then home because of a weekend trip to Hiroshima and Miyajima. On Friday morning, at an ungodly hour, I departed for the Kyoto train station. I made my train, although I was later than I would've liked due to traffic, and had a delightfully uneventful Shinkansen ride to Hiroshima. On the way there, since I hadn't shaved before I left, I headed for a make-up stall they have on the Shinkansen, which is kind of like having just the sink part of the bathroom. There's a row of sinks with mirrors and such but no toilets and just a cloth pull across the back. I shaved on one of these, making it the fastest shave I've ever had (since 'twas done at 140 mph ... bu-dum-ching. Sorry.)
Hiroshima was dark and rainy when we arrived, a suitable atmosphere for a somber trip. We began at an Okonomiyaki place, which serves these really pretty tasty and filling egg-cabbage-shrimp-octopus-beef pancakes. They’re a little hard to describe, but surprisingly good. In any case, we ate well, and then proceeded to wander through the streets of Hiroshima to the atomic bomb dome.
The bomb exploded
almost directly above the dome, and since the shockwave therefore had little lateral force, the walls of the building mostly stayed standing, giving the haunting shape of the warped steel girders and blown-apart building. It's pretty much exactly as you imagine it.
We went to the Peace Memorial Museum after that, which focuses on the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. It was one of the more awkward museum visits of my life, as I walked around the elementary school groups that were visiting to learn about the atomic bomb for the first time. Thankfully, and for reasons I don't really understand, the Japanese are really good about not doing the whole sins-of-the-father deally, and no one made me feel unwelcome, nor did any of the little kids make off-color comments, even in their own language, within my earshot.
Supposedly, the museum got some flak in the past for playing up the victimization of Japan, which may or may not have been true - our prep reading for the trip included an experience from someone in 1980, before they renovated. Even then, the visitor felt that the museum's message was one of the necessity of peace rather
Riding the Ferry
Riding the ferry back from Miyajima. than the victimization of Japan. In any case, the museum has since expanded to include a lot more than it initially did, including information about the Japanese slaughter of the Chinese, their conscription of Koreans, etc. It's still a powerful and upsetting museum.
After Hiroshima, we headed over to Miyajima, which is a snazzy little island nearby. I don't really know why it exists, as the whole place seems pretty contrived. It's very small, no one is allowed to be born or die on the island, and the rice scoop was invented there. That's about all there is to Miyajima. Nonetheless, it's quite a beautiful place and I'll take any excuse to stay at a ryokan (Japanese-style inn).
So the benevolent Bings again funded us, this time treating us to a lovely stay at an inn complete with a luxurious onsen, a marvelous meal, spacious rooms, and a beautiful view. After arriving hot and sweaty from wandering around the extremely small downtown area, of which probably 90% is gift shops, we scoped out our room. It was beautiful with tatami mat floors, wide and luxurious. There were seven of us staying in the room, and it was still
Big 'Ol Rice Paddle
To commemorate the invention of the rice paddle, proud Miyajima residents build a really friggin' huge one. more than large enough for all of us. We were treated to green tea, and then relaxed on the cushions for an hour to talk. We knew dinner time was coming up and, feeling gross and sweaty, decided to relax in the onsen (public bath) for a little bit. So we all headed down, soaked ourselves and enjoyed the comfortable onsen. Again, not really as weird as you might imagine - the Romans and the Japanese were right on about baths. They're just damn good, and even more so when you can hang out with your buddies while doing so. Afterwards, we donned our rockin' yukatas and headed down to din-din.
Dinner was amazing, a multi-course meal that was exquisitely prepared and delightfully delicate. It also came with an unlimited complimentary drink service, which we made heavy use of, and I tried hot sake for the first time. Not unpleasant, but I feel there are alcohols with a better blech-factor-to-proof ratio. Anyway, we had a long and enjoyable dinner which was followed by a brief walk (in those cool clompy wood sandals) up the hill to a look-out point on top. After admiring the view for a little, we
Entrance Gate
The entrance gate to Miyajima. When the tide is down, you can get this picture. When the tide is up, it floats above the water. adjourned to our room and relaxed. Later on in the evening, we headed out briefly to the water near the large gate, and I had a cool / surreal moment when I was walking along the beach and saw my reflection. The shadow was of a Japanese man in traditional wooden sandals wearing an impressive yukata, strolling towards the traditional temple gate now floating above the water in the Sea of Japan. How did I end up here?!
Later that night, the cool Lisa-san (who works at the center, coordinating student-Japanese people issues) stopped by our room for a long chat. She entertained us with her experiences as a California-born Japanese-American who visited Japan and ended up living here, finding career and love in the process. Good times, and she had quite a few amusing stories which she shared. Sometimes it's nice to look foreign - when she was learning Japanese for the first time in college and abroad, everyone assumed she was retarded since she looked so Japanese but had such a bad time speaking it.
The next day, it continued to rain, but we decided to visit Himeji (a big 'ol castle). Supposedly, it is one
Victory!
Victory! I don't really know what the competition was, but you can tell from my face that I've won. of those things you should do when you visit Japan, and it was along the way back, and the Bings gave us extra traveling money, so we decided to go. Similar to Tottori, we were going without any plan whatsoever or knowledge of how to find the place, but figured it would be well-documented since it is so heavily visited by tourists.
Sure enough, we got there, walked out of the train station for half a kilometer, and arrived at the castle. It's quite large and impressive, but the inside isn't as well decorated as other historical castles. All the sliding rice paper doors have been removed, all the lordly furs, carpets, and tapestries were gone. It was pretty much gutted and replaced with a few sparse museum exhibits. Nonetheless, it was a lot of fun to climb up its many stories to reach the top of the surprisingly tall keep. After that, we concluded the Saturday by returning home and going to sleep. I think we're all burning out - too many late nights, now combined with midterms and serious homework sets, forcing us into exhaustion.
~Danny
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Food
I agree with your opinion of ryokan life. It is a wonderful way to spend a weekend, especially if you can get in the countryside and find a hot spring. One of my travelling companions from a conference arrived at such a day before me and when the hostess spent considerable time explaing how we were to soak in the tub and not use soap, etc., I suspected something was wrong and asked her about it. She was reluctant to say anything but when pressed eventually told us that my colleague had finished the night before and pulled the drain plug. Dumping >1500 liters (400 gal) of purified hot water. No one in the hotel could soak for the 24 hours it took to recharge and reheat the tub.....