広島

“I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world.”
Sadako Sasaki

           I already wrote a post about Hiroshima, but that one was admittedly pretty heavy.  Writing a “regular post” seemed pretty vapid without preempting it with a post about my feelings about Hiroshima.  Hiroshima City is equal parts an exciting, modern metropolitan and emotionally exhausting reminder of the past. I visited Hiroshima City, Miyajima Island and Iwakuni City during a public holiday in February, and it was really my first trip flying solo.  I’ve traveled within Wakayama-ken and Osaka on my own, but this trip was the first time I ventured outside of my prefecture by myself and didn’t meet up with other travelers later, also making it the my first venture completely outside of my comfort zone.

          I had this idea set in my mind that Hiroshima was an intimate and personal location to be visited on my own so that I could really explore the Peace Memorials at my own pace.  In retrospect, I wouldn’t recommend traveling to Hiroshima by yourself.  Going to Hiroshima’s Peace Memorials and museums was one of the most challenging experiences of my life, and doing so alone made the experience even more difficult.  It wasn’t so much that I was surprised by my emotions – I knew that Hiroshima was going to be a depressing place – but rather my desire to share my experiences with someone.  Not being able to compare experiences and talk about how I felt meant that I had to bottle those emotions deep in my chest, and it stewed until I had to express it.  That last blog post was extremely cathartic and thank you to those of you who read it – it certainly wasn’t easy to write, but it was really the first time I was able to fully share what I’d felt.

Memorials at the Hiroshima Peace Park.

          
          That being said, my trip to Hiroshima didn’t incur a My Chemical Romance-themed karaoke session or prompt me to sport emo-liner courtesy of Hot Topic.  I actually fell in love with Hiroshima City.  It had a similar energy to Osaka, but on a smaller (read: more manageable) scale.  The harsh reality of the Peace Memorials and museums shouldn’t take anything away from the vibrancy and modernity the city has honed and cultivated since that tragedy 70 years ago.  And similarly, my feelings toward the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki don’t make me any less of a patriotic American – we can’t change the past but we can certainly resolve to learn from it as we move forward.  Acknowledging that it happened doesn’t automatically make me ashamed of my country; I think I would still feel this same weight of loss and regret if another Allied Power had been responsible for deploying the Enola Gay.

"To young people everywhere, I say: let us together create a new future of fraternity and solidarity....Your young hearts have an extraordinary capacity for goodness and love; put them at the service of your fellow human beings."
Pope John Paul II, Peace Memorial Hall, February 25, 1981

          In addition to visiting Hiroshima City, I also spent a day exploring nearby Miyajima Island and Iwakuni City in Yamaguchi-ken.  I chose to see Miyajima Isalnd first thing in the morning so that I could see its torii gate at high tide, but what I didn’t plan for was a taiko festival being held on the island the same day.  I was definitely surprised to step off of the ferry and be face to face with hordes of vendors, peddlers and NHK representatives.  It took a little while to fight against the crowds to get to the quieter part of the island.  >_<

          The island is well-known for its torii gate associated with the Itsukushima Shinto Shrine because at high tide the gate gives the illusion of floating above the water, and is one of the Three Views of Japan, a list of Japan’s three most famous and celebrated scenic sites.  The island itself is fairly small, with tourist seemingly outnumbering the 2,000 residents and native deer and monkeys.  The residents of the island respect nature; they are forbidden to cut down any of the trees on the island for lumber and allow the animals to roam freely – in the Shinto belief, deer are considered sacred messengers from the gods and do as they please, similarly to Nara.  Unfortunately for me Autumn had long since passed so I wasn’t able to see the momiji that inspires the island’s most popular omiyage: momiji manju.  Momiji manju is a maple leaf-shaped pastry filled with either adzuki (red bean past) or custard, though you can also find it with filings like chocolate or cheese.

The sacred deer of Miyajima.  ;)

          The main feature of the island is the Itsukushima Shrine, which can be seen from the ferry as you approach the island from the mainland.  The shrine is dedicated to the three daughters of Susano-o no Mikoto, the Shinto god of seas and storms and brother of Amaterasu, the sun goddess.  Because of the island’s sacred nature, the shrine was built on a pier-like system so that pilgrims could visit and pay homage at the shrine without impacting the island’s purity; the suspended-illusion torri was designed for the same reason.  While visiting Itsukushima-jinja I was surprised with a Shinto wedding ceremony.  I don’t really know too much about Shintoism, so it was interesting to see how the ceremony differed from what I’m more familiar with, mainly Christian weddings; I was able to see the tail-end of the ceremony as well as a Noh performance.

The Noh performance at Itsukushima Shrine.

          After taking my time in the morning to check out the shops and holy-deer, and then fight again past the festival-goers, I hopped back on the ferry and took a 25-minute train to Iwakuni in Yamaguchi-ken.  Iwakuni is a former castle town, but how I knew of it is because it is also home to MCAS Iwakuni, a Marine Corps Air Station.  The base was originally built in 1939 under the direction of the Japanese army, and was occupied by the Royal Australian Air Force after WWII and became a USMC base in 1952; today the base is shared with the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force.

Kintai-kyo: Probably one of the coolest bridges in Japan, if not the world.

          While in Iwakuni, I focused my visit to Kintai-kyo (Kintai Bridge) and Kikko Park since I had limited time there.    The Kintai-kyo is the most popular tourist spot, and the wooden bridge was first constructed in 1673 with the distinction of being built without any metal nails.  The current bridge is a reconstruction from 1953 when a severe typhoon destroyed the original structure in 1950.  The bridge spans the Nishiki River and leads straight to Mt. Yokoyama and Kikkou Park.  The park, which used to house the personal residence of the Kikkawa family, is home to Iwakuni Castle, a few historical buildings and temples, and a sanctuary for the white snakes, a special national treasure designated by the Japanese government.  These white snakes can only be found in Iwakuni and are a symbol of Benten, the dual Buddhist and Shinto goddess of wealth – it was especially auspicious to see the snakes on Chinese New Year, and the beginning of the Year of the Snake.

          Iwakuni Castle at the top of Mt. Yokoyama  can be accessed by foot or via ropeway.  The castle is a reconstruction from 1962, and the castle includes a history museum and a large collection of armor and weapons from the Kikkawa family.  I didn’t get to spend too much time at the castle as I got there right before closing, but the mountain offered fantastic views of the city below and a pretty easy hike to end my day.  I rewarded myself with a sofutokurimu (soft-serve ice cream) in the park; when I had first walked in the place was inundated with a huge group of tourists, and a sign read that they were famous for having a hundred flavors of soft-serve.  After watching me struggle to try and decipher the ice cream flavors, the cashier offered me an English menu, and low and behold there were in fact over one hundred flavors, including goma, kimchee, ramen and wasabi flavors.  I ended up taking the shinkansen from Iwakuni back to Hiroshima – who knew there was a Shinkansen station in Iwakuni?  And why is the closest Shinkansen station to me in Nagoya or Osaka while Iwakuni has one!?  Ugh.  I digress. 

          I also decided to visit the Peace Memorial one last time upon arrival to Hiroshima.  It was pretty late in the evening once I finally made it to the Genbaku Domu, and despite how depressingly desolate and lonely it seemed I’m glad that I went at night, it’s a very different experience between the morning and evening.

The Genbaku Dome: Unsettling and chilling in both the daylight and at night.

          The next day was spent doing some shopping in the morning (hey, I’m not in a big city that often) before making the very long train ride back to Shingu.  Overall, despite being a little lonely and sad at times, I really enjoyed my trip to the Hiroshima area and would love to go back, especially to Iwakuni since I really didn’t get to spend nearly as much time there as I would have liked.