Hiroshima

The hotel that I am staying in provides a western-style buffet
breakfast. I cannot convey how exciting this is to me. And it's only
AUD $16. I have liked most Japanese food I have tried so far, however,
there are real problems with their breakfast foods. A Japanese
breakfast might consist of fish and rice, which is fine, but might
also consist of other things like nutto (which is derived from soya
something-or-other). I had the opportunity to try it it in Niigata.
It has a gooey, grainey texture, and tastes like sweaty socks. Really
foul. While the foreigners generally hate it, the Japanese love it.
Paul likens this to our love for Vegemite.

As my first day in Hiroshima today, I had a little trouble navigating
the public tram system, but after a couple of trips I am a pro. My
guidebook tells me that trams are a rare sight in contemporary Japan,
with most cities removing their systems during post-WW2
reconstruction. Hiroshima took delivery of the tram carriages that
were no longer needed in other cities, and did so knowing full well
that the tram design differed from city to city. Thus Hiroshima's
system today has a rather unique look, where one carriage will differ
from the next, as if it is all run by Steptoe and Son.

After a brief side-trip to the city's observation deck on an
inner-city hill, I ventured into the city bound for the Peace Museum.
For obvious reasons, Hiroshima looks new and quite different from
other parts of Japan that I have seen so far. There are wide
tree-lined boulevards, with a Western-style street grid. I often
commented to Paul in Niigata that the city needed a good town planner.
Like Europe, I guess, the location of Japanese city streets might not
have changed in hundreds of years.

But here in Hiroshima you could easily be mistaken for thinking you
are in Melbourne or central Singapore. That's where the differences
end though. The city is still subject to the pollution that I've seen
throughout Japan. Not just the smog (they still burn garbage here),
but also visual and noise pollution. There are signs everywhere. And
I mean EVERYWHERE. And usually in flashing neon, screaming
insistently, in case you blink for three minutes and miss it. Then
there is the noise. A constant barrage of sounds that do my head in
at times. Not just shop touters, but annoying nauseating musical
jingles to signify every possible event. (Think of Japan's obsession
with Hello Kitty, extrapolate to cover music and sound effects, and
you've got it). The audible street crossing alerts have a bird-like
chirping sound which is annoying at 3PM. And will continue all night
- even when the street is empty. Rubbish trucks play a jingle,
LOUDLY, whenever they stop. It's not exactly Greensleeves, but it
does sound like an ice cream truck. I'm not even safe on the
Shinkansen. That huge ballistic steroid-bound hunk of metal is
emasculated by a cutesy alert as it arrives in a station.

I have one more whine to get out of the way, and admittedly it is
something I have mentioned before. I can buy alcohol from vending
machines on the street. I could even buy cigarettes in a hospital
vending machine. (And there is nothing stopping kids from doing the
same). But do you think I can find one fucking protein bar in all of
Japan? I have been to about a hundred convenience stores in
Hiroshima, and they all sell the same stuff, which is touted as
healthy but is really just chocolate with another name. Thank God I
have worked out how to find a gym that allows single-visits here.
(Basically, there is one public city-owned gym in every city that
allows that - all the others require me to join... presumably
forever).

Anyhow, today was a very touristy day, with a visit to the Peace
Museum, the Cenotaph (marking ground-zero where the atomic bomb was
dropped, and the A-Bomb Dome, which was one of the few structures to
survive the bomb (and barely stands). The Museum was very moving. My
guidebook suggested, quite wrongly, that the Museum minimizes
Hiroshima's involvement in the Japanese war effort. I didn't find
that. The exhibits made clear Hiroshima's military importance for
more than 400 years to the time of the bombing. However, the
guidebook was correct in saying that there is no mention whatsoever of
Japanese war atrocities to provide some context to the horror of
Hiroshima, but I'm not sure if it is really relevant anyway. There
were lots of exhibits, and in fact too many to study fully. I
particularly liked the little things like the watch stopped at 8:15,
the shadow caused by the bomb's flash, and seemingly-perfect replicas
of important documents (like Einstein's letter to Roosevelt). There
was one particularly strange dioarama that looked like it had been
borrowed from Madame Tussaud's dungeon, with dripping flesh etc, but
the museum is otherwise tasteful and as I've sad already, quite
moving.

I also found out that I was mislead by my friends in Niigata that that
city was the preferred primary target. Apparently, Niigata was in the
original shortlist, and remained there for two months, but was removed
well before the bombing. Hiroshima almost always seemed to be the
preferred primary target.

I had to escape the Museum actually because there were about 3000
schoolkids running around the complex, and inside the building it was
impossible to think (let alone hearing the cool electronic guide I
purchased). But outside, it was cool to see the literally hundreds
and hundreds of schoolkids running amok (although in a very ordered
Japanese fashion). I was even asked by a group of kids to fill out a
survey for their school project. It was in English, and roto-stated
(remember that) to buggery, looking like something that many
foreigners have completed over the years.

The A-Bomb dome was a bit of a disappointment. You can't go inside,
and so I must have taken a hundred photographs of the outside before
realising I was bored of the idea. The other site I visited was Osaka
Castle. This is a concrete reconstruction of a 16th century fortress.
Central Hiroshima is a group of islands, bulit on swamp land. Osaka
Castle sat in the middle of these canals, and was built in such a way
that the land around the castle could be flooded if it were attacked.
Very clever. The castle looked fantastic outside (and yes another
hundred photos or so), but was a disappointment inside. There was
some cool armour and swords, but I wasn't allowed to take any photos,
not even without the flash. Speaking of swords, one trivial thing
I've learned is that all swords were confiscated and banned during the
American Occupation. Must have been something to do with restricting
access to weapons.

I threw myself round a gym this evening, and am now heading to bed,
after a fantastic miso ramen dinner. I'm so exhausted I can barely focus. More soon. Night!