Hiroshima

The trip to Hiroshima was both profoundly disturbing and uplifting at the same time. After getting off the overnight bus from Nagoya, we proceeded to go to the peace park, which is the Northern tip of a little island close to the epicentre of where the bomb was dropped. There are lots of various monuments here, some of which you can see in the pictures below.

The museum there (aren't allowed to take pictures) was very well done. If there was any "blame" placed on anyone, the museum blamed the then-militaristic government of Japan as equally as the Americans for what happened. One quote which struck me was "there is little doubt that if the Japanese had developed the bomb first, they would have used it". Reading the various reasons as to why the American military decided to drop the bombs did little to increase my esteem of them. Overall, I think it was a very factual straightforward account of what happened. One positive thing that comes out of the museum, and the situation in general, is Hiroshima's position on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. The idea is simple: nuclear bombs are bad. No one should have or use them ever again. Period. Seeing a description of the effects of both the bomb itself, and the after-effects of the radiation had me agreeing with them. The bomb did some really nasty stuff to the people it didn't immediately incinerate. Really nasty. Thinking about it still sends shivers down my spine. If you can visit the museum and still consider using a nuclear weapon, then your heart is made of stone.

Anyhow, after that experience (which ranks right up there with the killing fields in Cambodia), we thought we'd do something less depressing, and went to visit the castle. The castle, which was re-built after the war, very beautifully depicted traditional Japanese architecture. The moat and other buildings surrounding it was quite nice too. I got to dress up as a samurai, though despite my pleas, they wouldn't let me do anything cool like chop a watermelon in half with a samurai sword. Then we bought some fries from a vending machine (there's a microwave built into it that heats them up for you before dispensing them), after which we promptly decided that although you can live in Japan without ever actually going inside (everything is avaliable via omnipresent vending machines) some things are better when made fresh.

Oh yeah, and ringing the peace bell felt somehow meaingful.

Coming up next in the Louis' amazing Japanese adventures:
-travelling as far North as possible (well, while still in Japan, anyways) during a wonderful winter weekend
-pictures of me getting pummeled by people half my size while wearing full-body armor
-my vacation in Thailand and Cambodia
-other stuff from several months ago
-my trip to the exotic untamed lands of Canada

Leave me comments, people, it makes me feel special.

Me dressed up like a samurai.

This is the caption for the clock (sorry it's out of order; see picture below). Hiroshima is a huge anti-nuclear community.

Gate to Hiroshima Castle.

Hiroshima Castle

Paper cranes. They are a symbol of peace. A young girl who was suffering from the effects of radiation thought that if she made enough paper cranes, she would get better. Unfortunately, she didn't, but the cranes have since become a symbol of hope and peace.

The A-bomb dome. One of the few buildings to have survived the blast.

A picture looking up from the spot where the bomb was dropped.

The peace clock. It gets reset every time there is a nuclear experiment.

Me standing infront of the flame of peace. The flame of peace. It will be extinguished when the last nuclear weapon is destroyed.

The peace clock tower. Every morning at the time that the atomic bomb dropped, it plays music.

Me ringing the peace bell.

Miyajima

Miyajima is the name of a famous temple located just outside of Hiroshima. This is the location of the famous red (-ish orange) temple gate built in the water.

We took a ferry to get there, because the water was really cold, and we didn't feel like swimming with our backpacks on. We had been informed that we could see "lots of deer" on the island. Although this statement turned out to be factually true, and we did see lots of deer, the deer are highly domesticated, and basically live just outside the pier, and aggressively harass tourists for food. Case in point: the snack I bought for myself (after seeing the automated maple-leafy cream-ish filled donuty-bread type maker I couldn't resist) was almost snatched away from me by a deer. They seem to operate by the principle that any food that is out in the open is fair game. We saw one deer eating a pamphlet, and tried to get it to stop, but the deer probably thought we were trying to steal it's lunch, and quickly gobbled it up. Sad. A lot of the deer seem to have ticks, are missing hair, and possibly suffer from diseases which they are prone to since they live in such high densities.

Anyhow, after looking at all the touristy things on the island, we decided to climb to the top of the mountain, which according to our cartoon map was only 3 staircases away. Several hours later, we finally reached the top of the mountain, and cursed our not-even-pretending-to-remotely-be-drawn-to-scale map. After enjoying the beautiful view, and deciding that we would not pay $5 for a small bottle of water, we decided to take the cable car down.

When approaching the cable car station, we saw this really cute monkey (see below) and I took a bunch of pictures, thinking this might be the only monkey we would see. This turned out not to be the case. When we got to the cable car station, we discovered that it was closed, possibly due to being over-run by monkeys. I think we walked in on some sort of territory dispute, because some of these monkeys were NOT happy. They were screeching and chasing after each other and everything. After a while, things calmed down, and started grooming each other, and resumed shitting all over the building. Hilarious.

Not being able to read the Japanese sign (or really understand what the one person we ran into up there was saying beyond the fact that the mountain was "walking only"), we couldn't decipher exactly why the station was closed. The funny thing is that the cable cars were still running, and we conceivably could have just climbed into a cable car. I have four theories to explain this (each more plausible than the last): 1) the station was closed for the season, 2) they were testing the cars after doing repairs, 3) the monkeys who had broken into the station were jumping on the right buttons, or 4) the monkeys had learned how to operate the cable cars so as to send each other down to the town below to get beer.

Anyhow, after walking back down the other side of the mountain, we headed back to Hiroshima, and found a bar that just happened to have a "happy hour" that ended just when we needed to catch our overnight bus back to Nagoya anyways. Speaking of overnight buses: worst sleep ever. But, it combined travel and accomodation expenses into one reasonable price (and I did sleep really well on the way TO Hiroshima, so I shouldn't complain).

Ok, that's it for now. Will post on what happened in Hiroshima (and eventually Hokkaido, my winter break, etc) at some point in the future. I miss you all, and if you're going to be in Ottawa/Montreal between March 30th and April 5th, then you should let me know becasue I'll be back in Canada for my (one) med school interview.

This is the most unhelpful man in Japan. Most people here are quite nice and helpful, especially if you speak to them in Japanese, but this dude was the exact opposite of all those things. You suck.

One of the many deer that pester you for food once you get off the boat at the dock. These deer are really domesticated, and quite aggressive. It's kind of sad. The local authorities have filed down their horns so that they won't hurt anyone with them.

One of my hobbies here is taking pictures of signs in English.

One of the many monkeys that took over the cable-car station at the top of the mountain.

One of the shots from halfway up the mountain.

One of the most famous temple gates in all of Japan. Popular because it floats over the water. Let's call this the "before" shot.

...after. This is the shot that they don't include on the pamphlets.