Touring Japan (3) Nara, Hiroshima and Miyajima Island

Nara:

Every one said.. don’t miss Nara… so I didn’t.. arrived at Nara station in the morning and asked at the information office about few things… and they offered me a free student guide in English… so I said why not.. and I was told to tell the guide where I want to go. The guide was waiting for me in the main office 5 minutes walk from the station. Although I had the map and I got the description from the lady at the tourist office in the station, I felt that I lost my way.. probably walking in the opposite direction so I decided to ask. The first one, I stopped and asked “excuse me can you tell me where is the tourist information office?” and I was showing him the map… he hesitated for a second then he made a gesture by his head and hands like I don’t want to talk to you and he left me walking fast… a second later, I found 2 teenagers and I asked them in the same manner… one of them spoke English, so he looked at the map and said ah sure… we are going that direction and started to walk me to the office… whenever one addresses people in English, the first thing that jumps into their heads that one is American.. . so they asked if I am an American and I replied with a No and that I am an Egyptian… the 2 guys were graduate school students.. they were so excited to know that I am from EGYPTO and started to ask me what I do and why I am in Japan.. they were so happy when I was telling them that I came to visit and about my discovery on how different Japan and the Japanese are in a positive sense. When we reached the office, they bid me farewell and wished an enjoyable day in Nara.

At the office, I found Wakako, my student guide waiting for me. I found out that the students who want to improve their language skills, they do this job with the tourist office in Nara. My guide studies linguistics and loves travelling. She visited the UK before and is looking forward for her study abroad year at the US soon. She was very nice and helpful. We managed to visit all the shrines and temples in the big park and the world heritage site… the temple in Horyu-ji. We had lunch at a sushi bar in the esplanade area which was very nice. Then I started to hit the road to Kyoto in order to start my journey to Hiroshima.

Hiroshima:

This is the city that I had an amazing bond with. After studying for decades nuclear technology and weapons from legal perspective, I felt that I hold a special place for both Hiroshima and Nagasaki in me and I wouldn’t have been able to come to Japan without visiting these two cities. And, here I was going to Hiroshima.

I arrived at night to Hiroshima.. from Nara I had to take the train to Kyoto and from Kyoto to Hiroshima. I was lucky that I had a brilliant hotel choice. My hotel was almost in the station, I had to walk two minutes from the door of the station to the Hotel. That was so convenient. I checked in… the hotel was so nice and more luxurious than the one in Kyoto. I left my bags and went down to discover the place… I walked around the area and bought some food… wasn’t able to go to Japanese restaurants because I didn’t find a sushi bar or a place that serves food that I can see before ordering… language difficulty here plays a role.

I retired to my room, checked my itinerary for the following day.. had a good night sleep and then next morning, I checked out. Left my bag at the hotel and started to roam around. I started to walk towards Shukkei-en Park… it is a very beautiful park close to the river… the city looked very nice and peaceful and the park was so nice… strolled around a bit then I started to walk towards the Atomic Bomb site and the dome that was kept as a symbol of one of the few structures that remained in place after the bombardment of Hiroshima.

The Dome was under some renovations and the description on the boards surrounding it say that this is an ongoing effort in order to preserve the Dome as a symbol of the suffering of the people and of peace. Not far from it, across a bridge the other side of the river, one finds the beautiful peace park. The first thing one meets is the Flame of Peace on the left.. which constitutes of a huge concrete plate like structure and the flame is lit in its middle.. the flame is lit since 1964 and it is meant to stay lit until we have 0 nuclear weapons around the globe. On the right side, there was a monument for the children victims of the bombardment.

I started to walk towards the museum… I was expecting a depression outcome after the visit, so as much as I was excited that I am here, I was still walking with caution towards this circle of depression. On the way, I saw different monuments symbols of the victims of the bomb in name and in sculpture. The place was so serene.

Now, in the Museum, you will be faced with many pictures and stories about how and why it happened. Residues of debris, clothes, human flesh and nails that were collected in the aftermath of the war can be found in the museum. Some articles that belonged to the people at the time, watches, school items or tools are also on display. Stories of victims and survivors are told together with the items that were left behind after the attack.

A story telling about what goes on with the NPT and where the nuclear stockpiles are in countries around the globe. At the end, they dedicate all their efforts to the world peace and to the hope that no one will ever suffer as they did with aspirations to get rid of nuclear weapons in the world.

Definitely I was touched, but I realized that I was not affected as I thought I would be with the museum… I felt that the reason is simple, I have studied in details the human sufferings from the aftermath of using the bomb. I felt bad that the observatory that was established to monitor the effects of radiation on humans, living beings and the environment was there only to monitor but not to cure the human beings… that was sad. Nevertheless, after leaving the museum and walking back towards the station, I was so affected by the fact that the ground I was walking on, the buildings that are surrounding me, the beautiful parks I have strolled in were all brought down to rubbles and ashes by a mere explosion… people suffered for generations, yet they turned a tragedy into success. The whole city was down to the ground almost 50 years ago and now it stands tall and proud of the achievements of its people. I was overwhelmed with admiration to the Japanese people whom with their power and will rebuilt the place as it stands now.

These were my comments that I posted as my Facebook status after the Visit. “after a visit to the peace memorial/museum in Hiroshima and after roaming around the city... i bow of respect to those who were resilient enough to build it back as beautiful as it is now.. few decades back this city was turned into rubbles and hundreds of thousands were killed and injured by a mere explosion of one bomb... it stands now tall and mighty because of the will of the people on this land.. admiration is in place here!”

Now back to the hotel, picked up my bag and started my train journey towards Miyajima Island.

Miyajima:

Miyajima is supposed to be one of the most scenic places in Japan. The place was so beautiful with the green mountains in the middle of the sea and an orange gate to a shrine is the highlight of the ferry trip from the mainland to the island.

I thought I booked a hotel on the island, wishing it is a ryokan… the traditional old style Japanese hotel… however, after crossing with the ferry to the island and walking for a bit, I asked in a hotel about the directions to mine… then I realized that it is on the mainland and not the island.. that was my first disappointment.

I took the ferry back to the mainland and I have found out that the hotel I booked is just 2 minutes walk from the ferry. That hotel was a bad experience. I checked in. the hotel looked old… but the worse was the level of cleanliness… I went into the room.. it was old and shabby but it has everything as usual. I asked for a plug converter at the check in… and the lady was nice and decided to come to the room to assist. I showed her the plug… she shrugged and she spoke very little English and I assumed that they don’t have any… so I said I will keep the LAN cord to use it with my computer until the charge is finished… I have charged it in the hotel in Hiroshima and I had around 5 hours battery… so I thought that will be fine.. less than 5 minutes later, she came back with the converter… that was a surprise.. but now after almost a month in Japan I am not surprised at all at the level of assistance people offer… it is part of their nature and the way they are brought up.

I went down to look for food… this was the beginning of real suffering with food… if one is picky with food or have real dietary needs, better take your food on you from the big city...

on the island, the shops were closing already at 5 pm when I was looking for the hotel. So that left me with a restaurant in the hotel, and few others in the neighboring street. I tried to figure out from the pictures if there is anything I can eat.. noodles, sushi or any japanese tempura.. but everything was in Japanese.. which for me is like riddles or beautiful drawing.. . and people speak mostly nothing but Japanese in this part of the country, so… I decided to go to 7 eleven and buy something to eat.. that was also another bad experience, because it was a small local store with few choices.. even the sandwiches that are not in toast.. one can’t see what is the filling and all the description is in Japanese… the toast sandwiches always had eggs, mayonnaise, ham or bacon… which is a problematic package for me. So I ended up getting the available biscuits and snickers. I fixed tea in the room and had it with the biscuits… that was my dinner for the night.

Next morning, I started my journey to explore the island. The place is so beautiful and relaxing… I thought it must be heaven in summer, with the ability to swim in the sea and maybe a massage along these shores would have been such a treat.

I walked from the ferry to the shrine.. many people were visiting that day.. it was a Saturday and people were still going to the temples and shrines for the new year’s blessings. There was a ceremony going on and I watched it a bit… many rites are practiced by the monks.. looked very organized but of course, I didn’t understand anything.

I continued strolling around but my knee was in a very poor condition, so I didn’t dare to hike to the 5 story pagoda and was satisfied to watch it from below and taking pictures of it.

The architecture was amazing together with the sea and the mountains… it was a great place to visit but I am sure it would have been nicer to spend more time there.

I walked along the esplanade… food shops, souvenirs and others until I reached the ferry. I was trying to start my journey early in order to reach Nagasaki in the light.

I took the bag and off to the train from Miyajimaguchi station to Hakata then from there to Nagasaki. I reached Nagasaki around 3 pm which was perfect because it gave me around couple of hours in the light to see a bit of the place before the darkness of the night.