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Published: January 24th 2010
Shinkansen
Bullet TrainWe scrambled through the busy train station grabbing coffees, pastries and bento boxes (kind of like take-away, a meal in a box..except they taste good!) then waited on the train station platform taking in the occasional woosh of air as the bullet trains whizzed by. Eventually one stopped, allowing us to board. We had lots of room to kick back in reclining seats, spread out and enjoy our food while traveling at speeds up to 300 km/h (186 mph) on our way to Himeji. Our final destination of the day was Hiroshima, but we decided to stop in Himeji, the halfway point of our journey, to see the famous Himeji Castle.
Himeji Castle is one of Japan's "Three Famous Castles," and is the most visited castle in Japan. It serves as an execellent example of the defensive and architectural features most associated with Japanese castles; most notably, is the confusing maze of paths leading to the main keep. The gates, baileys, and outer walls of the complex are organized so as to cause an approaching force to travel in a spiral pattern around the castle on their way into the keep, facing many dead ends. This allowed the intruders to
Shinkansen
Eating my Bento Box on the Bullet Train be watched and fired upon from the keep during their entire approach. However, Himeji was never attacked in this manner, and so the system remains untested. It made for a long and interesting walk to the top, seeing along the way many gun emplacements and stone-dropping holes. The view from the top of the castle was beautiful and contented with the sights I made my way out of the castle, only to be attacked by a ninja!!! After a brief sword fight and some pictures with some local high school students, we decided it was time for some green tea ice cream.
Enjoying our unique flavors of ice cream, everything from Green Tea and Black Seasame to Yubari Melon and Wasabi, we made our way back to the train station to continue our journey to Hiroshima. Our hotel was just a short walk from the Hiroshima train station, so we dropped our bags and made our way out for dinner. We decided to go for a famous Hiroshima dish called Okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki is a Japanese pancake containing a variety of ingredients. The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki
meaning "grilled" or "cooked." We sat around a U-shaped grill-top table and watched as our okonomiyaki was made right in front of us. It started with a pancake batter, then came the cabbage and lettuce, next came seasonings, sprouts and cheese. Then, calamari, shrimp, squid and bacon! Then, ohh yes, there's more, came eggs, some sort of bbq like sauce, more seasonings and a heaping pile of green onion and chives on top with some more melted cheese. All I can say is that I was greatful for the large beers we'd been drinking before taking in this famous dish! It was interesting...to say the least. I ate about half of mine, which I found quite impressive I must say, before deciding to let another large beer fill my belly the rest of the way.
After a long day of traveling and a night of large beers and traditional Japanese cuisine, I was well ready for bed. We slept sound and woke early for a day at the A-bomb dome and Peace Memorial Museum. It was very eerie to see the A-bomb dome, sitting amongst the beautifully rebuilt city. It remains as a constant reminder of both the devastating
past and the eternal strive for peace. It was quiet and somber surrounding the dome and the dichotomy between the past and the present was ever apparent. From here we made our way to the Children's Peace Monument. From far away I could see beautiful artwork displaying images of hope and unity and it was not until I got closer that I realized all of the artwork was created from oragami paper cranes. It was amazing! There were thousands of them. After taking in the art, we each took our turn of ringing the bell at the Children's Peace Monument before heading over to the Peace Memorial Museum. Outside of the museum I saw the Flame of Peace. The Flame of Peace has burned continuously since it was lit on August 1, 1964. It symbolizes the anti-nuclear resolve to burn the flame "until the day when all such weapons shall have disappeared from the earth."
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum was extremely well done. It was so interesting for me to experience this museum after having experienced the American War Museums in Vietnam just a few short weeks earlier. While in Vietnam I had felt a range of emotions
from pride and anger to guilt and sorrow, while here in Hiroshima I felt like by visiting the museum I was agreeing and supporting the movement for peace. I still had a range of strong emotions, but they weren't so conflicting as were the emotions I felt in Vietnam. I learned quite a bit in this museum and saw plenty of graphic evidence of the tragedies that occured. I was ready to go after a few hours and was making my way out when I saw some of my fellow travelers sitting at a table learning how to make paper cranes. I sat down with them and the two Japanese girls who were teaching them began to help my friend Stephanie and I with our paper cranes. It was a nice uplifting way to end our time at the museum. We managed to make them after plenty of wrong folds and as we were getting up to leave with our paper cranes, the two girls who'd been helping us, got up to leave too. It was only then that I realized that they did not work at the museum and had just stopped to help us create our cranes before
Hiroshima
This girl who made our Okonomiyaki had the greatest laugh I've ever heard! they left. I thought that was so cool and was just another testament to how friendly the Japanese people are.
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