Our World

We spent a couple of days in Osaka, Japan’s second city, but there was not much of interest . There was lots of shopping and a very lively entertainment section of town that glowed brightly at night. Energy conservation was not evident in Osaka while in Tokyo many of the large advertising displays along the Ginza had been dark at night.

As we headed further south we stopped for the day at Himeji.This is the site of the 16th century castle that is undeniably the most magnificent one in Japan. The town is also situated in a way that makes it an ideal tourist destination. Outside the train station is a wide street lined with shops and restaurants that leads directly to the Himeji Castle and garden area about a kilometer distant. The convenience of it all makes for an ideal day trip which may not be best for the local businesses.

We were quite eager to see the castle as the pictures we had seen were quite impressive. As we left the train station we found that something was different about the castle and it was not good. Beginning in the fall of 2010 there was undertaken a restoration of the castle and what that meant is the a mammoth plastic framework had been placed over the main body of the castle. So as you may see in the pictures below we didn’t see the castle (picture from tourist brochure) but instead we saw the plastic with an outline of the castle. There were still parts of the castle visible but the main body of it will not emerge until 2014. Access was possible inside the structure to witness the restoration work and the gardens surrounding the castle were stunning, but on such a beautifully sunny day it was disappointing to see the plastic box.

Miyajima Island is a short ferry ride from the southern coast of Japan and deserves a detour to see one of the country’s most famous sights. The island had always been thought as a home to the gods and no “common person” was allowed to set foot there. So a shrine was built in the water so that it could be visited without actually touching the sacred island. The gateway to the shrine is a vermillion gate that stands in the water several hundred meters off the shore. This is the Floating Torii and it is indeed a most compelling sight. Our visit fortuitously was timed to see the Torii fully surrounded by water and later as the tide receded marooned in the sand. Some of the Japanese could then use the opportunity to collect shell fish. Common people such as ourselves are now able to roam the forest trails of the island along with another herd of friendly deer. You are also able to visit the snack shops along the beach area with the herd of friendly deer. Not so sure the shopkeepers see the deer as so friendly.

In the city of Fukuoka we found an interesting display that we haven’t seen anywhere else. The Hawk Dome, where the baseball team plays also serves as a concert hall for all sorts of musicians. In what we can only guess is part of the contract requirements to play the venue the performers have bronze castings of one of their hands made. These are mounted outside the stadium so that one can have the “experience” of shaking hands with the performers. Most of the hundreds of castings were of Japanese who we did not recognize. However virtually every big name western act was there from Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson to the Rolling Stones.

Hiroshima is imprinted on the world psyche as an event not as a place. War is horror but an atomic war is beyond that and Hiroshima stands testament to that. On August 6, 1945 at 8:15 AM a small atomic bomb exploded above the city and incinerated the structures and many of the people living there. The balance of the population living in the city center were to die even more horribly over the hours, days, months and years to come. Why the bomb was dropped will forever be debated and why a second bomb was dropped three days later on Nagasaki can never be justified by any of those involved on either side of the war. Visiting the memorials and museums of Hiroshima and attempting in some small way to visualize what happened leaves one with a horrible pit in their stomach. To know that the power of the device exploded there was only a small fraction of today’s weapons is terrifying.

It was further disturbing in visiting Hiroshima to find how the Japanese government has decided to explain the event. Large groups of Japanese school children visit the site and solemnly place flowers, paper cranes and artwork in remembrance of those who died here. Throughout the area are plaques explaining aspects of the event in Japanese and English. Nowhere to be found is there any admission that Japan’s unwillingness to accept surrender, in a war that was long lost, had any relevance in the decision to destroy Hiroshima. Instead one statement alleged that the bomb was dropped partially due to a domestic political consideration that the expense of producing the bomb could not be justified if it was never used. Why Japan did not accept defeat immediately after Hiroshima or after Nagasaki burned three days later is beyond my comprehension. Four more days were to pass before the Emperor of Japan finally insisted that the war must end, but there was nowhere at Hiroshima to be found any explanation for why all this was allowed to happen.