A Second Trip to Kure and the Return East

Today we checked out of our small Hiroshima apartment and began our journey back towards Tokyo, traveling to the coast city of Hamamatsu where we plan to visit the zoo tomorrow. Of all our destinations, Hamamatsu is the least touristy, and we hope to get a better glimpse into the way of life of the natives here during our travels through this city tomorrow.

But our journey today began with another visit, our return to the city of Kure about 10 miles south of Hiroshima to see the Yamato Museum. This detour began with a tight fit into a rush hour train car that soon became roomier the further we got from Hiroshima. We were fortunately able to stash our heavy bags in coin lockers at the Kure station and proceeded to the museum unencumbered, which we reached about half an hour after its opening time. 

The museum is situated on the wharf where the Battleship Yamato was constructed from 1937 to 1941. The Yamato and her sister ship Musashi were the heaviest battleships ever constructed and were both sunk during the course of the war. The Yamato was sunk on April 7th, 1945 (exactly fifty years before another notable date) after being hit by at least 11 torpedoes and six bombs from American aircraft.

The main exhibit of the museum is a giant 1:10 scale model of the Yamato which is situated in the central room surrounded by a walkway which allows visitors to view all angles of the vessel. Other exhibits include a Japanese Zero, several midget submarines, torpedoes, shells, and a variety of models of other Japanese warships. We also watched a video describing the Yamato's final battle and wreck discovery, but could not appreciate the nuances of this film due to the language barrier. Our tour through the museum ended in the gift shop, where we purchased some mementos as well as a soda drink in an interesting bottle which we mistook for sake. 

The remainder of the day was spent traveling to Hamamatsu, which required two legs on the Shinkansen, switching at Shin-Osaka (just north of Osaka). Here we had an exciting 5 minutes to get to our second train which we made with a minute to spare. We ended the day by checking in to our apartment and visiting a local grocery store which we found underground in a mall near the train station. 

-Theodore

A Yamato pancake to start the day.

 

The giant 1:10 scale model of the Yamato.

The author and Nathaniel behind the ship.

 

Shells for the main guns of the Yamato. I believe the red one on the left is an incendiary round meant to be fired at aircraft. 

 

The size of these projectiles can be seen from this picture which we took yesterday outside the museum. 

Maryrose and the author in front of the Zero. 

A research submersible outside the museum.

 

A mockup of the front half of the deck of the Yamato behind the museum which gives a sense of the size of the ship. 

 

Grocery shopping in Japan always yields interesting culinary discoveries such as this. 

Disappointment at Kure

Take the despair you felt yesterday at finding no new post on this blog and you will know how our intrepid troupe felt on the train ride to Kure when we discovered that the Yamato Museum, the sole purpose of our visit to the city, is closed on Tuesdays. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, we decided to finish the train ride anyway and spent our time in Kure strolling around the harbor area where we saw the exteriors of several museums as well as multiple vessels. We resolved to return the following day before our departure back for the east to see the museum.

After retracing our steps back to Hiroshima, we immediately sought out one of the many 7 Elevens there and purchased lunch. Our meal consisted of pre-prepared cases of rice and beef as well as some pastries that were reminiscent of eyeballs on a stick (see pictures). Finding a bench by the Kyobashigawa river we sat down and devoured our lunch while we pondered what to do next. 

We decided to visit Hiroshima castle which was in walking distance of both us and our apartment. On the way we stopped at a bank as The Author had a desire to obtain a roll of 5 Yen coins as souvenirs as they are both cheap and very Asian in appearance (complete with a hole in the middle). Here our veritable lack of linguistic abilities became obvious as we tried to communicate to the bank employee what we wanted. The Author had previously read that banks have change machines from which we would be able to get our coinage without the challenge of conveying such pecuniary subtleties to another human being. With the aid of Google we were ultimately victorious in communicating our goal to several employees and left with both the coins and the knowledge of how to fill out the appropriate exchange form for future transactions. 

Thus we proceeded to Hiroshima castle. Although similar to Osaka castle in appearance and fortifications (surrounded by moats and atop a rocky mound), the castle is smaller than the former with only 5 floors. This castle is also a reconstruction and the inside was similarly laid out as a museum with exhibits describing the castle's past. Most notable where several detailed dioramas and large screens with images of the castle and various battles painted on them. At the top we were greeted with yet another panoramic view of the surrounding city and purchased a souvenir coin with the castle on one side and a custom message imprinted on the other which was stamped into the coin by the machine. Leaving the castle we all got icecream. The respective flavors were green tea for Maryrose, peach something for Theodore, and sake for The Author (which was not as good as I thought it was going to be). As we ambled back to our apartment we passed over one of the moats in which we saw several turtles and a large gold-colored koi. 

-Nathaniel

Theodore and The Author in front of a Soviet submarine outside the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force Museum which is across from the Yamato museum. This museum was also closed.

 

Theodore with a gun from the Battleship Mutsu outside the Yamato Museum. The width of the bore on the guns of the Yamato was about two inches greater. 

  

 

An interesting sculpture behind the museum. The other half of the dog in the foreground is sticking into the furthest tombstone-shaped plaque. 

 

Our lunch dessert. These are some sort of rice pastry in caramel. They had an interesting consistency somewhere between bread and goo. 

 

Maryrose and Theodore outside the main tower of Hiroshima castle.

 

The Atomic Bomb Dome viewed from the top of Hiroshima castle. 

 

Theodore and cone on the causeway over the inner moat of the castle.

 

The golden koi we observed on leaving the castle.

 

Maryrose and The Author outside one of the gates into the castle.

 

Front and back of a 5 Yen piece and one side of the souvenir coin depicting Hiroshima castle.

 

Reverse side of the coin, note the inscription.

Hiroshima

Our travels today brought us to the western extent of our two week visit, the city of Hiroshima on Japans Inland Sea, almost 200 miles from Kyoto. We travelled on the Shinkansen in two legs, the first bringing us southwest from Kyoto to Kobe-Shi where we switched trains. During this ride I enjoyed a somewhat overpriced ekiben, one of the complete meals-in-a-box offered for train passengers. My ekiben consisted of rice and beef with some veggies.

After arriving at the Hiroshima terminal, we took a brief train ride to Yokogawa station, from which we enjoyed a ten minute walk to our Airbnb where we deposited our luggage before setting out to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. 

The city of Hiroshima is situated on what appears to be a river delta consisting of several rivers branching out from a common source. The Peace Memorial Park is located at the northern tip of one of the islands in this delta, several hundred meters from the hypocenter (ground zero) of the 1945 atomic blast. Directly across the eastern river bordering the park is the Atomic Bomb Dome, the scorched remains of the Industrial Promotion Hall building which can be recognized by its iconic dome frame atop shattered walls. 

We entered the park from the north and proceeded south, passing a variety of monuments and memorials dedicated to preserving the memory of those killed by the bomb and advocating for a future world of peace devoid of these destructive inventions. These monuments include the Peace Bell, a large bronze bell whose forlorn tones can be heard throughout the park as it is rung by visitors symbolizing the spread of peace in the world, the Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound, which contains the ashes of thousands of unidentified victims, and the Flame of Peace and Cenotaph for A-bomb Victims. The latter monument is a stone box containing the names of the bomb victims enshrined beneath an arched gateway resembling a saddle, which is meant as a shelter for the souls of the victims. This arch is oriented so as to align with the Flame of Peace and the Atomic Bomb Dome. Beyond these monuments is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, which we did not enter, and the Fountain of Prayer. At the southern end of the park is a statue named "Mother and Children in the Storm", which depicts the suffering a mother will endure for her children out of love. 

Our visit brought us around this statue and back north, where we walked through the National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims before taking a closer look at the Atomic Bomb Dome on our way out of the park.

-Theodore

 

The author and Maryrose before entering the park with the Atomic Bomb Dome in the background. This structure was relatively near to the blast and remained mostly intact due to the steep angle of the shock wave at this point, meaning that its walls did not bear the brunt of the force which was instead directed mostly downwards. Ground zero is several hundred meters to the southeast, which is behind the building in this picture. You can see that the walls on the other side of the building, which used to be situated symmetrically around the dome, are far more damaged. The frail structure has since been reinforced from the inside.

Maryrose ringing the Peace Bell.

 

The Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound. The stone disks on the shrine topping this mound are reminiscent of a mushroom cloud. 

 

The remains of a 17th century tomb which was toppled by the blast. 

 

The cenotaph shrine, Flame of Peace, and Atomic Bomb Dome. 

 

The statue at the south end of the park.

 

A clock-shaped fountain above the underground Peace Memorial Hall which depicts 8:15, the time of the blast. There is a functioning clock at the north end of the park which tolls at this time every morning. 

Around Arashiyama

Sunday morning found us on a train headed to the nearby town of Arashiyama where our only concrete plan was to see the famous bamboo groves there. The popularity of the area surprised us as the train ride was packed though not so much that we needed to be forcefully stuffed into the train as they do in Tokyo at rush hour (Maybe we will get to experience this someday soon). After arriving at the station we made our way to the groves investigating some sort of temple complex on the way. Here we found a statue of a figure with a Christian looking cross atop a sphere held in one hand. With the aid of google translate we attempted, mostly in vain, to decipher a nearby sign which said something about Kamikaze pilots in WWII.

We next continued straight to the bamboo groves which we wandered through in admiration of those green columns. Exiting the groves we walked through a nearby park where we were intrigued with a sign picturing a monkey and warnings of not to feed or touch the simians. With our eyes peeled for monkeys we walked through the park where we saw only some statues.

Somewhat disappointed, we stopped to get some authentic Japanese icecream. We each got four different flavors stacked one upon the other. They were, top to bottom: Sencha, Roasted tea, Macha, and Mugi-cha (oat tea), all of which are types of tea. It was good icecream, and The Author noted that Macha tasted just like mate, though not as strong.

Back at the station, as the day was still young, we plopped our selves down on a bench to find what else there was to do and found that a dedicated monkey park, called Iwatayama, was in fact nearby at the top of a small mountain. Believing that the monkeys were fed at 12:30 and the time being 11:40ish or so we charged off to and up the mountain with great haste. After a 20 minute hike up the hill we were imediately greeted with many monkeys at the top. The exact flavor of monkey is the Japanese macaque, Macaca fuscata, also known as the snow monkey. These are the only monkeys native to Japan. It turns out that the monkeys are not fed at 12:30 but that us tourists can feed them ourselves for 100 Yen each. Feeding occurred in a caged room where we are separated from the monkeys by a wire mesh. This is probably for our own safety as one monkey bared its teeth at us fiercely when we ran out of food.

We next concerned ourselves with our own lunch, so we preceded leisurely down the mountain in search of a suitable venue (one with beer). This we soon found where we (The Author, Maryrose, and Theodore, respectively) ordered: Gyo Don (beef and onions over rice), curried rice, and rice dumplings with soup. Much refreshed, we meandered back towards the station passing the makings of some sort of parade consiting of guys with flat straw hats and four-legged dragons.

-Nathaniel

 

The possibly Kamikaze related statue. If you look closely you can see the cross in its hands.

Maryrose and Theodore in front of the bamboo.

 

The Author at Arashiyama.

 

The monkey sign.

 

A statue in the park. Appears to be holding some sort of pick axe.

 

The delicious icecream. 

 

A monkey.

 

More monkeys.

 

Feeding the monkeys.

 

We each got a bag. Two had banana slices and one had apple chunks. 

 

When eating banana slices, the monkeys dexterously remove the peels with their teeth.

 

A monkey who is not happy that we are out of food.

 

Three monkeys. See whether you can guess the inscriptions above each one.

 

Lunch.

 

The parade. The dragon terrorized at least one toddler while we were there.

Over to Osaka

On Saturday we took a day trip to the coastal city of Osaka, where we had an eventful outing planned. We first walked from the JR station to Osaka Castle, one of Japan's most famous landmarks. Built in 1583 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the castle went through several iterations before reaching its current configuration, as various fires, attacks, and World War II bombings (during which it was being used as an arsenal for ammunition) destroyed the original structure. The most recent restoration started in 1995 during which the main tower was recreated as a concrete reproduction of the original, with the inside serving as a museum. Our visit brought us through eight floors of exhibits, ending with a balcony on the top floor which afforded a panoramic view of the city. The most interesting exhibit was a series of dioramas showcasing notable episodes in the life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, which combined traditional miniature scenes with videos of actors projected onto glass panes, creating the illusion of people in each scene.

Lunch was next on the day's menu, and we decided to treat ourselves to some native fare by visiting a Japanese McDonalds, where we ordered "san Big Macs and fries." 

We next took the subway to the Osaka Aquarium where the rest of the day was spent observing all manner of fish, aquatic mammals, and crustaceans swim and crawl through their tanks. The highlight of the exhibit was a massive tank containing many large sea creatures, including various species of rays and two whale sharks. 

-Nathaniel

 

The Author in front of a lion outside Osaka Castle.

Maryrose and The Author in front of the inner moat. The stones encasing the mound date from the 1600s.

 

A closeup of one of the golden fish details.

 

The whole crew in front of the main tower. 

 

Maryrose and Theodore by a small pond on the castle grounds.

 

The Author and Theodore with our traditional 'merican lunch.

 

One of two whale sharks at the aquarium.

  

Crawling forth from your worst nightmares, an aptly named giant spider crab.