Allright gang here we go again ....
Friday January 31, 2003 ...
I visited the100 Yen super plaza in Fukuoka next to the train station to buy a few knick knacks,
secured my reservation for the Shinkassen (bullet train) and it was off to Hiroshima for a day
all to myself and for exploration. I must admit I was tired from doing my laundry until all hours
in the tiny washer and drier the night before at the hotel. So I think I slept most of the 2 hour
train ride to Hiroshima.
I had a hell of a time finding the Hotel Kameman, that Rosemary (Miyumi in Kagoshima) was
so kind to book for me on the Internet. The first taxi driver dropped me off at a hotel
close to the train station thinking it was it. The concierge of that expensive hotel called
the Kamamen hotel and located it on the map somewhat for me. I flagged down an
elderly taxi driver 55 - 60 years old and off we went. We stopped off at another location
that I think was a Japanese style inn or maybe it was a tea house, right next to the peace
park only to find out that it was not it so off we went again. We drove to the area that
was pretty close to the hotel, but we still could not find it. He turned off the meter after a
while and he parked the taxi and was running around the streets trying to find it. Finally he
came back to the taxi and I managed to convince him to call the phone number of the hotel. We
were only about 3 blocks away. But I suppose the mailing address was on the main street but the
entrance and sign were located on a side street. After finding the hotel I pulled my backpack
out of the trunk, he wanted to get the duffel bag out but it was beginning to take on weight by
then, and was heavy, so I did it. I wanted to give this elderly guy a tip for doing all of this
running around. I handed him a 500 yen coin after paying the fare. But he tried to refuse it.
but I insisted and gave it to him anyways. Japan is a no tipping country and maybe he was
embarrassed that he could not find the hotel but I felt he deserved it for all of the
literal legwork he did in the streets to find the hotel.
I checked in and they told me that they offered a breakfast the next morning as part of the
charge. I got to my room and unloaded some o f my laundry from the night before that
wasn’t 100 % dry all over the bed and anything else I could drape it over. Yes, I know I
am a true bachelor in need of domestication. Well that is one of the reasons why I took
this trip ha ha ha I asked the front desk how to turn up the heat so I never did get a
good answer so I took off for a walk about of Hiroshima as it was already 2 - 3 PM in the
afternoon. I found a near by bank and I did a currency exchange a little more than I
normally would do as it was a Friday and the weekend was coming. I walked down
peace boulevard, found a Starbucks and had a mini lunch to get out of the chill of
outside, Hot Caramel cider and a Chocolate chip cookie that could use some help -- but
maybe they are that bad in the states too.
Then I rounded the corner and I came to the major river in Hiroshima and I followed it a
few blocks to the original GROUND ZERO. I saw a plaque that told how all of the
water in the river had evaporated when the bomb exploded. I came to a few monuments
close to the epicenter and they had very colorful strands of Origami cranes strewn about
and hanging down the sides of the monuments. Someone told me that they are made by
school children as every kid learns how to make an origami crane just like our kids
learn how to play tick tack toe or hangman. Apparently the Japanese school kids have been
keeping up this tradition of laying these origami cranes connected together over these
monuments for decades already.
Then I came to and walked past the internationally famous A bomb dome building ( I
think it was originally a government office building) that survived the blast. There was
scaffolding around the building and it was fenced off as they are trying to maintain the
structural integregrity of it. It was a weird feeling being in this area The site of the
first atomic blast carried out against Japan. It was not very busy there but I did
internally feel out of place there as my country was responsible for what happened even
if it was before I was born or my parents even immigrated to the USA. To think that
our country and Japan were mortal enemies 60 years ago and yet we are so internally
intwined as trade partners now a days. How could this be? Especially after I have seen
so many very cute girls and everyone I have interacted with has been nothing but very
polite and helpful with me.
To be at GROUND ZERO, Where the world discovered what we were really packing up
our sleaves in absolute secrecy. The horror that it caused yet the countless lives that it
probably saved if the war were to continue. This was the primary location causing the
nuclear fears that I and most of my generation grew up with especially during the cold
war years. Though the Run, Duck and Cover black and white movies and drills were
before my time a little bit. I still remember the specter of knowing that all it took was a
couple of idiots to push some buttons in their respective bunkers. Though it has been
almost 15 years since the wall fell and the cold war collapsed, it is something not to be
forgotten.
I must confess that I did not have the time or really the desire either to go into the
museums that they have here and in Nagasaki that depict the realities of what happened. I
wondered how much radiation is still kicking around here. But heck there is a building
across the street devoted to studying the effects of the radiation. And yet also there are
probably 1 million people or so still living in Hiroshima and maybe 600,000 in Nagasaki
and the cities are still very much alive with the every day activities that you see
anywhere else in Japan. Where there was wreckage 60 years ago now stands a Starbucks
that I had a quick bite at. 45 minutes before.
I wandered a few hundred feet from the A dome building onto the rebuilt triangle shaped
bridge over the river that The bombardier from the ENOLA GAY used this bridge as his
marker to drop the bomb. Again an interesting view of the new modern city from the
river but an bizarre feeling though standing here and recalling history.
I proceeded and I saw that the Hiroshima Castle was relatively near by. I figured that I
should at least to make the efforts to visit one of these castles as many of the major cities
have one I think. But actually this is the only castle I would see on the trip. As I wove
my way towards the castle I came across a Chinese garden that I took a few pictures of
that was donated as a friendship project between the 2 countries. Then I took a nice
picture of the castle with its moat from the distance and I headed towards the actual
entrance. I passed through a gated area that sort of resembled the entrance to a medieval
European castle as the moat stopped in this area. It was fortifyable and defendable
entrence if it needed to be.
Then I proceeded into the complex and I discovered the first Buddhist or Shinto temple /
shrine that I had the chance to observe. I stopped at he gift shop just outside of the
temple and I found a vending machine that sold bento boxes of noodles. I popped in the
400 yen and I waited the minute for it to microwave in the machine and out it popped. I
found a bench out side and I ate it. It smelled weird and artificial sort of, but it actually
tasted fairly good. -- Well I had been hoofing it for a little while now and even though I
was only wearing a t shirt and my Boston sweatshirt it was still winter and chilly enough
to notice - so something warm was good. yes another chance to practice my Chopstick
skills. I wandered into the shrine area and respectful of other religions I asked if I could
take pictures of the inside. No big deal go ahead, was the answer that I basically got. As I
left this temple area to walk up the hill to the actual castle groups of students and their
chaperones were arriving to wander the complex and take pictures and it got somewhat
crowded quickly.
On the way up the hill in this inner sanctum of this moat area of the castle complex I found the
rest rooms that I needed. There were 4 - 5 urinals and one Japanese squatter pot -- old
fashioned toilet in its own cubicle. No big deal except that there were no doors on either
side of the mens room and you were in wide view of the passing public. I’m sorry but
my puritanical upbringing couldn’t take this so I used the squatter pot and I subsequently
took a picture of it . This has become one of the most popularly discussed pictures in my
photo album and it has proved to be good for quite a few laughs and comments like .... Eric you
really are crazy why did you take this picture?
After a few flights of stairs and a couple of pictures of the Hiroshima castle I arrived
to find that it was 5 PM and they had just stopped letting tours of people go inside. Oh
well I helped insure international diplomacy and I took a trio of people’s picture together
with their camera as they stood outside of the castle. Like myself they were disappointed
not to make the 5 PM cutoff. I took in the view from the Castle terrace over the moat
of the modern city below as the sun was lowering in the sky. I hiked quickly down the
hill to the Temple area. I practiced my poor Japanese --- Sumimassen shashin desu ka ---
Excuse me can I take a picture? and It worked I succeeded to take a nice picture of 2
cute temple 25 - 35 women priests or helpers in their red robes, who stopped sweeping
the sidewalks to stand next to their brooms as they posed for the picture. I passed a
strange looking willow tree and a noticed a sign that said it was a surviving tree from the
bomb 2100 feet from the epicenter. Then I realized that the whole castle and shrine
complex has been rebuilt as the originals were probably obliterated from the blast.
I left the castle complex and headed into the downtown area where I looked over the
pastry goods of the local department stores once more. I wandered the streets weaving my
way back towards the hotel as dusk turned into darkness and the neon took over
eluminatiing the streets. I found a 7 story hobby shop store with all kinds of items
inside. I spent 1 1/2 hours wandering and looking. I bought 3 chocolate dipping forks
which I subsequently gave to a coworker. I had numerous items in my hands that I was
interested in but I had to consider about things financially and more importantly how
much weight and how much room in my bags they would take. overall it was a neat all
purpose craft store worthy of a return visit.
I asked if I could take a picture of the Chocolate display they had of tools made out of
chocolate. this was meant to entice the women shoppers, so that they could buy these
chocolate tool items for the men in their lives for the upcoming valentines day holiday as
is the custom in Japan. But I was refused permission to take a picture by a sales
associate. I can figure out how to make copies of the Chocolate crescent wrenches, pliers,
screw drivers and even hammers. But the threaded nut and bolt out of chocolate would be
a major challenge. Fortunately I saw an ad for this new product line in one of my pastry
magazines about 2 years ago.
As I headed back towards my hotel room I went through one of the designated night life
areas. I was tired, and I am a good boy, so I observed but did not touch the goods
hahaha. It was interesting to observe the cute 20 year old girls outside of the clubs
handing out brochures for their night life clubs, shows / Prostitution / girlie clubs. But I was
like a leper being the Grande Gringo and no one tried to offer me the brochures for
whatever was inside their clubs. Asians only ? I went back to my hotel and found out
that someone had hung my clothes on a drying rack and turned on the heat. I crashed for
a few ours but woke up for a couple of hours at 4 am in the morning and I went through
my bags to lighten the load and get rid of unnecessary items. the TV had 1 hour of
relaxing music with Hubbell telescope space images and the second hour was or relaxing
countryside nature pictures. I crashed again and checked out the breakfast buffet only to
discover that it was Japanese style and that I really did not care for the items being
offered. Fast food to the rescue for breakfast somewhere near the train station.
