A sobering experience in Hiroshima and a peckerhead at last

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A sobering experience at Hiroshima with a peckerhead at last



And I forgot something from yesterday....again!



So our first stop yesterday was at the University with the English architecture and Jamie our guide made a big thing about not having to lock up the bikes. Wow we thought, you wouldn't be able to do this back home. You can't fart in public in Stoke without someone trying to nick it off you....and as for those thieving gits in Barcelona....don't get me started again!!



And we get back and the bikes are fine. So our next stop is a Buddhist temple and Jamie decides he's going to lock up the bikes!! 'I do lock them sometimes' he says. What's that all about? And then Kyle, an American remember, makes a witty comment saying 'so you trust students but you don't trust Buddhists.' So not only have my security illusions been shattered but I've got a genuinely funny American with me. Claire wants to know what I'll be able to moan about and....I don't know. I can't moan about the Japanese, they're fantastic-friendly, helpful and polite. I can't moan about the food because it is now definitely my favourite food and I could happily eat it every day. I can't moan about the usual loudmouthed, rude, ignorant yanks. I'm sure I'll find something....



Oh and I had a cup of cold green liquid given to me. Woopee-do I hear you cry. Well you may mock matey skip but my drink had flecks of gold leaf in it. Oh yes, my poo will sparkle for days!



We are now on our second shinkansen of the day. The seats are comfy and I have plenty of leg room. We met an American guy and his daughter and he was nice too-he actually listened, was softly spoken and was interested in things we had to say. What is the world coming to?!?!



Together we managed a 9 minute transfer at Shin-Osaka with minutes to spare. We are now bound for Hiroshima where we will be spending three nights-quite a long time for us!



Hiroshima is a modern city with neon lights but a somewhat sobering history. We arrived and then successfully negotiated a streetcar to get to our accommodation. We did this by using the tried and tested method of watching what the locals do and then copying them. Luckily some of them got off so we knew to pay on exit and to drop the coins into the machine next to the driver. Easy peasy.



Contradicting the impressions that most people have that Japan is all modern, hi-tech and expensive the tram was at least 50 years old and cost only just over a quid to get right across town. Still ran on time though.



Our guesthouse wasn't ready for check-in yet so we dumped our bags and headed towards the site of the first atomic bomb used on humans. The atomic bomb dome is a stark reminder of what happened that day in 1945 when the Americans attempted to end the war by slaughtering hundreds of thousands of innocent people. They also recorded their efforts by sending two planes with recording equipment and cameras before the enola gay deposited its devastating cargo.



The atomic bomb dome still stands despite being at the epicentre of the blast. It is far from the splendid building it used to be but is preserved to show the horrors of nuclear war. The museum lies in the adjacent peace park and is currently undergoing restoration so only one floor is currently open. Inside there are clothes, lunchboxes, tricycles etc that were being used at the time by innocent people including children.



There are remnants of the buildings, pictures of the flattened city, stories of people that died from the after effects and heartbreaking tales from the survivors. and there are pictures of world leaders who visited here including Barack Obama earlier this year. And amongst all this horror there is a plea that this must never happen again and for the abolishment of nuclear weapons.



And the terrible thing is that we haven't learnt, the British government still think it's okay to spend billions every year on Trident....a deterrent apparently. And America still have nuclear weapons and they still wage wars around the world. As Claire said 'how can these world leaders see this and then go away and bomb people?' But they do. Every day.



Anyway, the park also has a children's monument and a remembrance hall and it's all very sobering but a fitting monument to the poor people who died and are still dying from what happened that day. And it's testament to the spirit of the people that rebuilt the city and made it what it is today.



And then I met a peckerhead. He was from the Indian subcontinent and in a family of about 10. I could see him lining up a photograph and knew he was going to ask me to take it which I did. So, first off, you are posing with your family in front of the atomic bomb dome, left standing to commemorate the death and destruction of many people and an entire city. This isn't Buckingham Palace or the Eiffel Tower so personally I think having your gurning family posing in front of it is incredibly insensitive.



But I took the picture anyway because I didn't want to cause a scene and then peckerhead takes his phone back and just walks off. No thank you, no smile of acquiesence, nothing, just walked away. What A TWAT!!



After I'd beaten the living daylights out of him I roasted him on the eternal flame and got a round of applause and many deep bows from the locals who had seen his rudeness. It's not done here matey!!



Eschewing the chance to board another tram we decided to walk to our nest destination which was a huge Japanese garden called Shukkei-en. It dates back to 1620 and is massive with an enormous lake and other water features. The koi carp in the lake are qute possibly the biggest I have ever seen. We only had an hour before closing or it would have been nice to sit awhile. It was nice to finally walk in a tradional Japanese garden though despite our time being limited.



I then found somewhere to replace the camera strap that broke a couple of days ago. The department store must have had about 300 to choose from! They don't do things by halves here.



Our evening meal was Japanese having not had Japanese since lunch when a take out meal from a 7-Eleven sufficed. Again the food was superb and again we tried things we hadn't tried before and subtley found some of the English translation in the menu rather amusing. I think I may have some Japanese food tomorrow...



We finally checked into our guesthouse and found they hadn't even made the beds for us! Apparently this is traditonal as you lay out your bed at night but I reckon it's just lazinesss. I bet we don't pack ours away each day! I also managed to trigger a discount as we'd booked three nights here so before we even got to our room we'd saved 300¥!



Do you know I've got to the end of the day and realised I nearly forgot what was probably the highlight of Claire's day...oops! As we'd been walking back from the hostel we'd been looking for somewhere to eat and, goddamit, I spotted a cat cafe. This is not somewhere you get to eat cats but normally somewhere you have some food and there are cats there. It's for people who can't keep cats where they live. We can keep cats where we live but this is the second one we've visited plus that Bengal cat thing in Kyoto.



At least I'll get some food I thought...



But no. Despite it looking like food or drinks were available we weren't offered any. Instead we paid over £5 each to sit in a room with 6 cats for half an hour. If that's the sort of money our cat can bring in, wow, our living room is now open for business! We were the only ones there though so maybe it's not so lucrative. Claire must have taken over 1000 photos while my camera wasn't even switched on.

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Photos

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The atomic bomb dome

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It's non-stop action at the cat cafe!

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The children's peace monument

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Huge koi

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Japanese bridge in Japanese garden in Japan