Golden Week: Hiroshima Trip
May 05, 2010
Day 1
There’s something I really love about getting on a bullet train. Not only does it feel like getting into an airplane but I’ve only ever ridden it when going somewhere far away. It’s always the starting point to mini-vacations in Japan. I’m a bit disappointed with Yahoo BB. I was getting a very strong signal for WiFi onboard the bullet train but it turns out JR only offers WiFi access between Shin-Osaka and Tokyo. Japan is years behind most other countries with WiFi coverage and availability.
We arrived in Hiroshima quite early and by noon we were at the Peace Park. The weather was superb and cooperative albeit a tad hot for my liking. There was a flower festival going on at the same time so the park was rather packed. We went through the Peace Memorial Museum fairly quickly. I’d have to say that I was expecting more out of it. I listened to a very interesting show on Coast to Coast AM about Hiroshima and that really set up high expectations for the museum.
Obviously the bombing and the many thousands who perished and suffer is not something to just pass over. It has got to be one of the worst manmade tragedies in our history. I was just expecting the museum to impact me on a deeper level. There is a big divide between the two wings of the museum. The first half is mainly history and politics while the second half is a much more detailed look into the personal accounts of victims and survivors.
Personally, the thing that hit me the hardest was reading accounts from mothers who lost their children. They had articles of clothing belonging to these children with a story of what happened. Pictures of Sadako Sasaki, famous for the thousand cranes story, also affected me more than the other stories. Hearing that story was probably the first time I learned about the atomic bomb when I was a child.
Sitting by the river with the Atomic Bomb right across, I had one of those sudden moments of realization. We were sitting smack at the center where, 65 years ago, thousands and thousands of people instantly died when the bomb was dropped and thousands and thousands more suffered unspeakable agony. 65 years later, looking around the bench we were sitting in, I could see a very serene place with grass, trees, and a medium-sized bustling city. At the center of all this is the Atomic Bomb Dome, hanging on the city like a skeleton, serving as a reminder of that tragic August 6.
Seeing the Atomic Bomb Dome before the museum and then after visiting the museum is very different. Passing by, it just looked like a junked out building. After visiting the museum, I felt the dome took on a personality and the dome was trying to reach out and tell people what happened. It was imploring visitors to remember what happened and to prevent other nuclear weapon use for the childrens’ sake.
By mid-afternoon we had finished going around the Peace Memorial Park. We walked around Hondori and visited Hiroshima Castle. The castle is not very interesting and the view at the top leaves much to be desired. Skip the castle. If we had more time I think I would’ve enjoyed visiting Shukkeien Garden.
We enjoyed some food that Hiroshima is famous for: okonomiyaki and oysters. Hiroshima-yaki is nice and I really enjoyed it. Maybe it’s the Osaka in me that I’ve picked up but I enjoy Osaka-style okonomiyaki more. Oysters at any place is always delicious.
So far, I’m enjoying Hiroshima. It’s a fairly small city with a lot less to do than Osaka. I’ve noticed a lot of young people just kind of hang out at different places. A lot of them just sit around and text on their phones with all their comrades. I also get the sense that young people here conform to fashion trends a lot more. It felt like you could clearly and cleanly categorize everyone into the different categories you find in fashion magazines. In Osaka, there are a lot more blurred divisions and you have the whole spectrum of fashion trends.
Day 2
Miyajima
One thing that takes a bit of getting used to in Japan is the country’s fascination with rankings and scorings. You will find Top Ten lists everywhere: countless TV programs, magazines, books, and websites. People rank everything, from food to bars, singers to flowers, and what I’ll mention today, scenic places.
Miyajima’s Itsukushima Shrine is reputably one of the best three scenic sites in all of Japan. I can’t dispute that seeing the giant orange torii gate appear is if it’s floating in the water is truly a beautiful site. The temple itself is built over the water and I hear that during high tide, the temple itself appears to be floating as well.
What I will have to disagree with is that it’s one of the top three sites. Firstly, who ranks these sites? Do they poll everyone in the country? What criteria do they use to judge these sites? For me, and I think you can agree, beauty is such a subjective concept that it is highly impossible to rank beauty. As much as I enjoyed Itsukushima Shrine, I don’t think I’ll place it in my top ten list. Reasons:
- It’s just a temple
It’s my eighth year in Japan and I’ve visited too many temples to count. Each temple is distinctly different but they all share very common similarities. The torii gate on the water is really cool, but it’s still just a torii gate. I prefer walking through the thousands of torii gates at Fushimi-Inari Shrine instead. - The tide changes the look
I guess in a way this is a cool thing. The tide level changes how the overall site looks. In pictures with high tide, the place looks remarkable. When we went today, we timed it well so that we got there just before high tide. Unfortunately, high tide was not very high and it was kind of sad to see the water not measure up to the torii posts. - The crowds
This is always a concern for me while traveling in Japan. It’s Golden Week after all so crowds were expected. The ferry ride over was quite smooth but the walk from the ferry port to the temple and then back was so crowded. The shoutengai covered shopping area was filled with souvenir stores, snack stands, shops, and millions upon millions of people. One thing that really irks me is people who are walking along a crowded pathway and then suddenly stop smack in the middle of the road for some retarded reason. I always imagine what it would be like to just kick them out of the way.
… Ok, I’ve calmed down now. So, my point is, crowds always detracts from he overall site. It’s a catch-22. Beautiful sites will draw crowds. Crowds detract from the beauty. The beautiful sites will be less beautiful. I’m less likely to visit now. Anyway, I don’t think I’ll ever need to visit this place again.
Iwakuni: Kintaikyo
We were both quite pooped after Miyajima. Walking under the sun all day will do that to you. Around 4pm, we got back to Miyajima Station and decided to make our way out to Iwakuni. It would take a 5km bus ride from Iwakuni Station before we finally got to the Kintaikyo bridge. It was definitely worth it. This bridge, with three high arches and two smaller ones that connect to either side of the river, was much more of a beautiful scenic site than Itsukushima Shrine.
Surrounded by trees and the sound of running water, we relaxed next to the river and I took dozens of pictures of the bridge. It was not as crowded as Miyajima as well. Iwakuni is actually in Yamaguchi prefecture but I highly recommend making the roughly one-hour trip by train out here.
It costs \300 to cross the bridge but there’s a cheaper package that gives you bus tickets, access to the ropeway and some castle at the top of a mountain. Because it was getting late and the castle didn’t look very fun, we decided to just visit the bridge.
Day 3
Hiroshima
I got up early and took a stroll around the Peace Memorial Park by myself. I visited a few more of the monuments but the one that was interesting was the “hypocenter” of the explosion. There’s just a pretty mundane looking plaque next to some parking lot that marks where the bomb exploded (600m in the air).
The Women wasn’t feeling so well so we decided to go home early. We were originally planning to visit Kure City and the Yamato Museum. Oh well, maybe next time.
