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.