nooo Jenn what have you done!?

Hiroshima/Miyajima weekend

You guys are sooo lucky! Why? Well, I’ve been so busy that I have hardly had time to do anything about my blog. This means that probably the story of the weekend will be a lot shorter than if I had written it straight away ;) With over 200 pictures made, I could really write a long long story, but I will just give you the "short" version, which is probably more fun anyway!

So, the plan for last weekend was to leave for Hiroshima after class and spend 2 nights there. Unfortunately all the hotels that were affordable were booked solid, we tried to call them and everything, so we only managed to book one night, the Friday night. Leaving after class would mean arriving late enough not to really be able to do anything when we got to Hiroshima, so we really wanted to leave early. So Claudia and I went to the uni early, handed in our homework and with our puppy eyes convinced our coordinator to let us go early. He said yes and off we went, Gerrie, Claudia, mummy and me. We took the Kamome train to Hakata (Fukuoka) and then changed to the shinkansen (high speed train) to Hiroshima, arriving sometime in the afternoon. We were traveling light so we just went off to look around. We got on the tram (they are longer than the ones in Nagasaki but generally look the same) and headed off towards the a-bomb dome.

Hiroshima is the other city that was wiped out by an atomic bomb in the second world war. There is one building that sort of remains standing, as it happened to be right under the explosion (do not ask me how this works – I’m not good with physics and stuff). This is quite a famous site in Japan, and a must-see in Hiroshima of course. So we saw it, ‘ admired’ it, and then went in the direction of the peace memorial park. On the way we saw several monuments and tributes to the victims of the bomb, all very impressive, and of course all of them had paper cranes in some form or another. It’s the symbol of peace here. The peace park is set up really nicely.
There is the flame of peace, that will not be extinguished until all atomic bombs are destroyed in the world (and by this they don’t mean dropped on another country ;) ) which is aligned with the dome and the museum.
So if you stand in front of the museum you can see the flame and the bomb in one line.
There is also a monument made up of paper cranes. It turned out that after I had visited it in july 2003, some silly Japanese student burnt down all the paper cranes about a month after I had been. It was some statement about the poor work opportunities for students. As my mummy pointed out, chances of him getting a job now are close to zero. Anyway, so because of this thousands of children have made new paper cranes and peace pictures and all sorts of things. It’s quite a campaign. As we were walking around we were asked to ‘ make a paper crane together’ which we happily obliged to. So sometime my little paper crane will be hung up in the monument too!

Claudia and Gerrie went into the museum but mummy and I decided to go have cake! We have both been to Hiroshima before, have seen the museum before, and after all, it’s not the most pleasant thing to go to. The cake was real yummy! It was this funny german-style place with all sorts of cakes and biscuits to make your mouth water. After this we met up with the other 2 again in search of our hotel. It wasn’t even that easy, there were two hotels with the same name in one street, and of course we went to the wrong one first ;) The hotel turned out to be really great, quite luxurious really, and the beds were EXCELLENT. But not quite there yet, didn’t go to bed of course, just checked in. First it was time for dinner!

We managed to find an Indian restaurant. To Claudia this was completely new, I don’t think Gerrie had had much Indian food, and for mummy and me it was just nostalgia. Indian food in Japan is great. The curry is gorgeous (and quite different from Japanese curry ‘ kare’) and the nan bread is to die for. Well not quite but yeah, to cut a long story short, the food was delicious. But enough about food.

Having stuffed ourselves it was time to walk off the curry. The dome by night is quite something! I was asked by someone who shall remain nameless if people in Nagasaki and Hiroshima emit green light and stuff, being radioactive etc. Well no of COURSE not, but in Hiroshima there WAS a radioactive cat and looking at the night pictures of the dome one does start to wonder… just kidding ;)


We went back through the peace park towards the dome, it was really different (and yet still the same… *sigh* ;) ). After this is was sleepy time! Mummy and I watched some tv in the hotel before going to sleep. Some Japanese serie (dorama) about a single dad who pretends towards his father that he is still happily living with his wife and so has to call this woman home from work when his dad comes by unexpectedly etcetc. That’s what I made of it anyway. I sort of fell asleep after this as the bed was realllly comfy. Wish I had that bed here (though my bed isn’t bad at all!).

The next morning after having a good ole breakfast (coffe-juice-rolls) we set off for Miyajima. Miyajima is an island close to Hiroshima that was once forbidden territory. Anyone not from the island could get there by boat and had to pass through a torii (gateway to Shinto shrines that ‘ cleanses’ the person) before arriving at the island and Itsukushima shrine.
The torii is one of the top 3 most photographed sights in Japan according to the Lonely Planet. And quite right, on a sunny day it can be really beautiful. Depending on the tide this torii is in the water which can look really magical with the glittering of the water around it. Last time I was there I actually walked to the torii as the tide was out, and this time I got to see it in the water, except the weather wasn’t that great. It was still really pretty though! After having Gerrie being chased by a deer because he was munching eel pie (very funny movie will be uploaded, keep a look out) we walked through the main shrine. It’s a fully operational shrine, there was even a ceremony going on when we were there. This was for the 7-5-3 festival in Japan, for kiddies who turn one of these ages. The official date is the 15th, but the weekend before is a busy time for shrines! We same some very pretty little girls in their special kimono’s, it really is cute.

And onwards we went. After seeing several more shrines and doing some serious souvenir shopping (I bought something for on my door and a hello kitty phone decoration thing. There is a different Hello Kitty phone decoration thingy for every city in Japan. So I now have one for each place I’ve been, and have managed to get myself hooked so that I now have to have one for every place I visit (so 2 more will be bought when going to Kyoto and Nara next weekend ;) ). The Nagasaki one I have on my phone, the others are decorating my room ;).

After a much needed lunch we headed towards the rope-way to get to the top of one of the mountains to admire the view, and do some serious monkey watching. Literally, there are monkeys on top of this mountain, wild ones. Well, they are used to the tourists now of course, but you have to put all your stuff in lockers before going out and you can’t look them straight in the eyes for your own safety. Great. We survived though! The view was spectacular, really. You could see islands all over the place, you could see Hiroshima, Shikoku, and all these other places. By the time we got there it was starting to clear up you see, and by the time we left it was quite clear, no more fog, so we were very happy :).

The rope-way concluded our day in Miyajima and it was time to go back home. So first walk down to the ferry, take the ferry (10mins), then catch the tram to Hiroshima station (60mins) and then the shinkansen back to Hakata. This was quite an adventure as first the lady tried to put us on a train we would never have been able to catch (time wise) if everything had gone right, but then the lady broke everyone’s credit cards. Well not really but after having paid for one ticket, the other credit cards refused to work. Jennifer to the rescue with a pile of cash, and a train later, but we were on our way. We arrived back in Nagasaki around 11pm, which really isn’t all that bad. We went to the Royal Host (a restaurant) for some dinner where we became English practice for some kids. It was way past their bedtime but okay. This is my observation of this post. There are some Japanese who freak out when having to deal with foreigners, totally panicking and not waiting to find out that we can actually communicate in Japanese, and there are others who get all excited when they sit next to foreigners in a restaurant, thinking it to be a great opportunity for their kids to have a chat in English. You can see them fidget and look and turn away in an attempt to make contact. Of course we already knew what was going on because we could understand them! Not only that, the mother kept saying “ nice to meet you” in an attempt to help her kid on his way. I always find it very amusing, and it’s cool you can make people happy that way :P

So this concludes the Hiroshima weekend. I swear I’ve forgotten to tell you half of the stuff that happened, but this post is long enough as it is, and the essentials are there. The length is a warning towards the Kyoto/Nara weekend, hopefully I’ll have seen and experienced just as much there as I have last weekend, because it was seriously fun!

Love,

Jenn

Pictures of me in Hiroshima borrowed from Claudia

My pictures of the Hiroshima weekend

Hiroshima Engrish added

A few pictures added here too!