Hiroshima Trip

This past week has been quite an emotional ride. I finally have bought and squared away plane and award ceremony tickets for the BAFTAs thanks to my university. So officially, this next week I will be traveling (from Osaka) to London from Wednesday night to Sunday night to attend the British Academy of Film and Television Arts 'Video Game Awards Ceremony' for the Chambara team's 'Ones to Watch Award' nomination (that's a mouthful!). And to think that two weeks ago my plan was not to fly to London...

Even besides trying to figure that out (across 3 different time zones!), it was still an extremely busy week. A friend and I met with my Speaking Partner and some of his friends for another yakiniku (all you can eat BBQ) night. Also Friday night, I finally met my Homevisit Partner in Osaka City, where we went out to eat and ran around Namba and 'America-Town' (small area with lots of Western related fashion, apparel, hip hip-hop teens, and the only Apple store in the city apparently).

Hanging out with Homevisit Partner in Namba

Friday midday, I went with a group of 20 study abroad students to a junior high school, where we were paid volunteers to play games and practice English with the students. The school treated us like celebrities (as we were walking up to the school, all the windows of the school building were full of faces peering out at us to get a glimpse of the pack of foreigners). They presented skits and songs they had prepared for us, then we broke off into groups and played a board game that involved me trying out Japanese culture (like eating a spoonful of wasabi) and trying to describe American culture in what English they could understand.

Gifts from my Junior High group (including the board game, origami, tea, juggling bean bags, and a tube of wasabi)

I wish I had more pictures of the day, but when working with students/minors, the rules for taking pictures can be strict.




Saturday morning, we left for a class field trip to Hiroshima. Getting to Hiroshima only took about an hour from Osaka on the shinkansen (bullet train). The class sponsoring the field trip (to the best of my knowledge) focuses on peace, development, and human rights. This field trip happens to be the most widely attended (bringing in well over 100 students every semester). The purpose is primarily to visit the Atomic Bomb Memorial Site and attend a presentation given just to our class every semester by a survivor.

First ride on the shinkansen

Atomic Bomb Dome from the Aioi Bridge (the intended bombing target)

Presentation given just for our class by an atom bomb survivor

On pillar at museum entrance:
"Water, please"

Peace Memorial Museum, Hiroshima after the bombing

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

I am not going to write all that much about Hiroshima here. There are just too many tangled and strong emotions that are just too much to fit inside the scope of this post. I will say that it was an extremely heavy, troubling experience. It shouldn't be a surprise, but the stark contrast between how the narrative of the atomic bombings is presented in American schools versus here in Japan is jarring. The bombing came as a major surprise and shock to Japan, and it feels very apparent that feeling of shock has still not gone away all these years later.




Afterwards, we ran over to Hiroshima Castle to look around and decompress a bit.

Some (plum?) blossoms blooming

Hiroshima Castle

Dinner at Okonomiyaki-mura (Hiroshima is known for its style of okonomiyaki)

By nightfall, we had just enough time to catch a ferry over to the island of Miyajima (a world heritage site in Japan).

The famous torri gate of Miyajima

No one left on the island, everything was closed, so it was very calming

We took the nightbus back from Hiroshima to Osaka (about 5-6 hours trip). Sunday, I caught up on sleep, then caught a short train up towards Kyoto to Yawata to visit a couple shrines recommended to see by my Religion in Japan professor.

Hiko Jinja : Flight/Aviation shrine

Here, you could pass paper airplanes with wishes through the cleansing ring

Bamboo forest climbing up to the mountain shrine at Yawata

Oddly enough, part of the larger shrine at Yawata is dedicated to Thomas Edison (the story goes that he used the bamboo from this forest to invent the first incandescent lightbulb). So, if you have any electricity related problems, you pray to Thomas Edison here. (we're ignoring the fact that Thomas Edison has since become a rather infamous figure).

Thomas Edison is enshrined as a kami for his work bringing electricity to Japan

Nearby, there is a statue dedicated to the Japanese Boy Scouts

At the top of the mountain sits the Iwashimizu-Hachiman shrine

In the bamboo forest

It was quite the weekend. Quite the rollercoaster of emotions. Next up, I will soon be traveling to London this Wednesday night! Also very overwhelming and exciting.