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  • Day 8

    Moving on to Nagoya

    August 16, 2016 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We had most of the day to spend in Hiroshima so we didn't have to rush. First item on the agenda was breakfast.

    Once again it was a traditional Japanese breakfast served in the communal dining room at the Ryokan. This means there were lots of Japanese there to watch us but we also watched them to see what order to do things in.

    We sat on the floor and hooked in. A traditional Japanese breakfast includes fish, rice, tofu, a salad, and a few other things we didn't want to ask about. It was actually pretty good.

    I forgot to mention yesterday this ryokan also had a communal bath, separated by sexes of course. We went up at night to check it out and I walked into the mens' section to find a whole lot of naked Japanese men, needless to say I had a 10 second look around and took off. T said there was 1 woman in the ladies side and it didn't look too bad. I said she could have that on her own!

    After breakfast we wandered across the road again and headed up to the Hiroshima Peace Museum near the main memorial. This Museum has lots of displays about the bombing focusing on the humanitarian side of things, meaning it told the stories of individuals affected by the bombing. Really emotional stuff. A man whose wife recognised his pocket watch, a school student whose mother recognised his lunch box (with charred lunch still inside), there were belt buckles, shoes, even a shadow burned into the steps of a building.

    Below are a couple of photos and I have typed up the explanation for each

    The tricycle:Shinichi Tetsutani (then 3 years and 11 months) loved to ride his tricycle. That Morning, he was riding in front of his house when, in a sudden flash, he and his tricycle were badly burned. He died that night. His father felt he was too young to be buried in a lonely grave away from home, and thinking he could still play with his tricycle, he buried Shinichi with the tricycle in the back yard. In the summer of 1985, forty years later, his father dug up Shinichi's remains and transferred them to the family grave. The tricycle and helmet, after sleeping for 40 years in the backyard with Shinichi, were donated to the Peace Memorial Museum.

    The two uniforms, uniform on the left - Noriko Sado was a first year student at First Hiroshima Prefectural Girls High School. She was exposed to the bomb at her building demolition site. Miraculously free of external injuries she returned to her home in Itsukaichi on a military truck that was transporting survivors. Nevertheless she died on August 22.

    Uniform on the right - Toshiaki Asahi (then, 13) was a first-year student at Second Hiroshima Prefectural Junior High School. He was exposed to the bomb at his building demolition work site in Nakajima-shin-machi along with 325 other students and teachers. Nearly all died instantly. Toshiaki, though seriously injured, made it to the river, where he stayed for some time. Later, he picked his way through the flames and about 4 hours later was found by a neighbor near Nagatsuka. His father took him by bicycle to Gion for first-aid treatment. That evening, he was taken to his home in Kabe-cho in a horse-drawn cart. Despite his painful injuries, Toshiaki talked about the bombing, the damage done, and what had happened to his friends. He even expressed concern about following the proper procedure for school absences. He endured unbearable thirst and drank almost no water at all. Despite the best care possible, he died in his mother's lap in the morning of August 9. His last words were, "Thank you for taking care of me."

    The museum explained about the research into the longer term effects of radiation and burns the victims endured. At the end they had photos of world leaders who had visited the site including Pope John-Paul 2, Jimmy Carter, Michail Gorbachev, Mother Theresa, and of course Barrack Obama.

    Like I said yesterday, the key message is Never Again.

    After the museum we headed up to Hiroshima Castle. Some sections of the Castle have been rebuilt but all that remains of some buildings were the foundations.

    By then it was time to collect the baggage and head to Hiroshima Shinkansen Station for our trip to Nagoya. We tried to get on the bus but it was rather crowded so we crossed to the middle of the road and caught the tram for the flat fare of 160 yen (about $2).

    Very simple and easy.

    Of course the Shinkansen was right on time and it was a painless trip though we did have to change at Okayama. It is about 550 kms from Hiroshima to Nagoya and the train did it in about two and a half hours including half a dozen stops along the way. Seriously love these trains.

    Once at Nagoya we transferred to the subway and made the short hop to Kanayama Station, again very helpful station staff made sure we were in the right place. Once at Kanayama we had a 10 minute walk to the ryokan.

    Now the ryokan in Hiroshima was pretty flash as far as ryokans go, let's just say the one in Nagoya was more cheap and cheerful! Hotel Iroha was clean and well appointed it just didn't have the polish of the Hiroshima one.

    Anyway it was dinner time by now so we asked the bloke at the counter to recommend somewhere as it seemed to be more out in the suburbs rather than in the centre of things.
    He steered us around the corner to a local Japanese restaurant and one of the best experiences of the trip so far.

    Let me set the scene. We walked in and there were 5 people who obviously all knew each other pretty well. There was a couple who were customers eating in the window, another bloke on his own eating at the bar (reminded me of a bar fly), the waiter (who I think was the owner), and an older lady who was the chef. Between them they knew about 10 words of english and they laughed loudly when we said we knew no Japanese. The restaurant had the Olympics going on the TV, 2 traditional tables on the floor but with pits cut out underneath so you were sort of sitting on the floor but it was a lot more comfortable, there were some sake bottles, and some beer taps.

    The first issue was getting a couple of beers, luckily that was pretty easy. Working out what we were going to eat was a little harder, luckily it was Google Translate to the rescue! All 5 of them were involved in the discussion with a lot of laughter on both sides. After a bit of fiddling we managed to get some tuna sashimi (which was actually pretty good). The bloke at the bar had an interesting dish so we pointed to it and we ordered a plate as well. He told T what it was and I quickly told her not to tell me, it was one of those don't ask don't tell dishes. It was actually OK if a little chewy on some parts.

    We finished that and had another beer while chatting through the smart phones. Google Translate works OK if you keep what you say very short, make it too long and it gets funny. They were interested in where we were from, where we had been, and what we thought of Japan.

    Anyway it was a really excellent night with lots of laughs. At the end we took their photo the bar fly is on the left, the chef in the middle, and the waiter on the right. The other couple had left by this time. I said to T afterwards the whole evening reminded me of something out of the TV show Cheers.

    By this time it was late so we headed back to the ryokan to crash.

    A couple of things I had over estimated about Japan:
    1. How long it takes to get somewhere. The trains make it very easy and very fast to get to places plus of course the country is not that big.
    2. How big an issue the language was going to be. Most people can speak a few words and will try and help if asked. A smile, a nod, and an arigato (thank you) go a long way with the Japanese.
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