HIROSHIMA, JAPAN

I admit, I was a little wary as an American to visit Hiroshima.  In a world where people from foreign nations still hold George W. Bush against us, I couldn't imagine what it would be like to walk around a city that my country (along with a few others) destroyed.  However, it proved to be a great trip, and I can confidently say that Hiroshima is my favorite place in Japan so far.

I took the night bus, which put me in Hiroshima around 6AM.  I bounded off the bus surprisingly rested, checked into a hostel when it opened at 8AM, and then grabbed my camera and headed to Miyajima.  Miyajima is an island about an hour from Hiroshima proper.  It's famous for its torii gate, which at high tide looks as though it's floating on the sea.    This view is considered one of the three most beautiful in Japan.  However, Miyajima has a great deal more to offer than just the torii gate.   It is also the site of a beautiful shrine suspended over the sea, as well as Mt. Misen, which is considered a holy mountain.  If you make the arduous hike to the top, there's a breathtaking view of Hiroshima and the surrounding islands, including Shikoku, one of the main islands of Japan. 

Torii gate

Itsukushima Shrine

View from Mt. Misen

GALLANTRY, THY NAME IS MAYU-AKI-YUKI-SAE-ETC.

Here's the story of how I was rescued from either mauling or murder by half a dozen nine year-old Japanese girls.  

I've detailed in previous posts my clashes with the deer of Nara.  Alas, Miyajima proved to be no haven from this scourge.  I was sitting by the sea, savoring the Goldfish my mother had exported from the States to Japan, when a hungry deer came my way.  As I attempted to shield my precious Goldfish from the deer with my body, he/she/it took offense, and starting rooting around in my backpack, which was sitting next to me.  I wasn't terribly concerned until I realized that the deer had sniffed out the sembei (crackers) I had just bought 10 minutes earlier to bring back to the teachers at my school.  It pulled out the bag, and quickly and efficiently shredded it, causing crackers to fly everywhere.  The deer then proceeded to calmly munch on the fallen snacks.

It all happened so fast.  By the time I stood up, it was over.  All I could do was mutter repeatedly sotto voce various dark epithets.  I quickly realized there was nothing that could be done to remedy the situation.  My mind then turned to what I should do in retaliation.  Push the deer into the sea?  It could probably swim.  Let it choke on the plastic bag?  Not even my cold cold heart could countenance that.  My ruminations were cut short by the entrance of a gaggle of young Japanese girls, who had been watching the spectacle in frozen horror.  They immediately took charge, grabbing the plastic away from the deer, collecting the ruined crackers from the ground, and then forming a ring around the deer and herding it away from me (by this time the deer had started to eye my Goldfish again and was making its way towards me).  They brushed off the crackers one by one, and handed them to me with bowed heads, saying, "Sumimasen," which translates roughly as, "Excuse me."  Their intervention was enough to diffuse the situation, and I thanked them profusely and then walked away, giving the evil eye to the deer, who had lost interest once all recognizable food sources disappeared.  

One of my antagonist's brethren. I'm still bitter.

DON'T EAT THE PICTURES

The city of Hiroshima has built a sizable peace park, which includes a very balanced and informative museum.  It traces the history of Hiroshima from a growing port to a strategic location for the Japanese army, with a barracks and training ground for an army regiment during the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars.  Eventually, this made Hiroshima a prime target for the Allies.  However, what I did not know, but learned at the museum, was that Hiroshima was essentially chosen over Niigata and other considered cities because it was the one area where no POWs were being held.  The Allies chose Japan over Germany to test the bomb, because they figured that if the bomb didn't detonate, the Japanese would have a harder time appropriating the bomb's technology than the Germans (who, as you history buffs may remember, were developing their own atomic weapon).  The final straw was that the US in particular was eager to bring about an end to the war.  America feared the growing power of the Soviet Union, and wanted to end the war before Stalin did something Stalin-esque, like invade and occupy Japan.

And so, the bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945.  Photos of the city taken a month later show little more than rubble, save for a few remaining structures, such as a building now called the A-bomb dome (even more remarkable considering that Little Boy detonated a few hundred meters from the structure).  The museum has case after case of artifacts from the surrounding area: glass and pottery that melted together from the heat and radiation; metal lunch boxes that survived intact, housing the ashy remains of a lunch that was never eaten; the clothes of children of various ages, ripped apart and clearly displaying stains I'd rather not think too much about.  Then there are the photos.  Most people within the immediate blast area died within a few days, in excruciating pain.  Yet there were others who lingered.  The photos of their burns are surreal- it's like looking at a petrified person from Pompeii.  Then you're taken through the aftermath of the bomb: the different kinds of cancers, the burn scars, the instances of birth defects and mental retardation found in children years later, etc. 

Post-bombing

A-bomb dome today.  At the bottom of the photo are a bunch of elementary school students.  Hiroshima is a popular field trip destination, like Washington, DC is for Americans.

The museum closes with its propaganda against the continued existence of and military exercises with nuclear weapons.  There are photos of various dignitaries who have visited the city, from Mother Teresa to Pope John Paul II to members of the G8 to various presidents and prime ministers from the former Soviet Union.  Copies of letters written by the mayor of Hiroshima to every sitting U.S. president since the war line the walls. 

I think what surprised me the most about Hiroshima in general is their capacity for forgiveness.  There are no recriminations, no lingering hatred of the West.  Instead, the message is: let this never happen anywhere, to anyone, ever again.   

Paper cranes.  The sheer volume of these offerings at the different monuments is staggering.  Cranes represent longevity, but they also relate to the story of a young girl from Hiroshima who developed leukemia at age 11.  She thought that if she could fold 1,000 cranes, she would survive. When children visit Hiroshima, they make garlands of these cranes to leave at the Childrens' Memorial.

(As a side note, amongst the many monuments in the peace park, there is one memorial to the Korean victims of the bomb.  Thousands of Chinese and Korean people were forcibly brought to Japan as slave labor during WWII.  A great number of them were sent to Hiroshima and died in the blast.)