Three Days in Hiroshima

The ancient Torii Gate on Miyajima Island

(Originally posted 12/11/2017)

We are on our way back to Tokyo today after spending the last three days in Hiroshima. We headed out from Tokyo on the Shinkansen Super Express bullet train and in a mere four hours we had travelled the 1,200 km to Hiroshima.  Japanese technology in action.

One of the prominent reminders of Hiroshima's past

Hiroshima is known around the world as the first city to ever suffer an atomic bombing. On a blue sky morning in August of 1945 the United States made the fateful move they hoped would end the Second World War and opened the door to the modern nuclear age in the process.  The devastation was so great that it was said no living thing would survive in the city for at least 70 years. Only ash and some stones remained after temperatures on the ground flashed to well over 5000 degrees celcius.  Today, certain buildings have been preserved in their mangled state as a testament to the power of these weapons and, more subtly, as a reminder of humankind's brutality.  Few survived the ordeal, but fortunately not all perished and we were lucky enough to meet one of those individuals.

Now in his eighties the man was ten years old when the bomb struck. He has spent the rest of his life recounting his experience in the hope that no one else will ever encounter similar tragedy.. The story he shared was heart wrenching and there were many tears in the audience, including from our guide and translator, as he recalled the truly unimaginable horrors of that morning and the days that followed.  Needless to say that words, whether coming from me or someone that lived through the experience, cannot describe it adequately.  The meeting was a powerful ending to our day touring the Hiroshima Peace Park.  I'm sure talking about deterrence, proliferation, and the other political aspects of nuclear weapons as we so often do in international affairs will now come with a bit more weight attached. 

Iwakuni Castle 

Of course modern Hiroshima sprang up well before the 70 year timeline that had been predicted and is now home to over two million people.  Our group was given the chance to get to know some of those people over a home stay.  We were billeted out to local families in pairs and each went our separate ways. Charles and I were adopted by a young couple and their four years old son who first took us out to lunch at a popular restaurant. Despite the fact that this was our first interaction it was almost as if they knew me well as our next stop was a 17th century castle from the days of the samurai. The fortress was impressive in its own right and boasted incredible views of the surrounding mountains and coastline.

Over the 24 hours we spent with the Kondo family what surprised me most weren't the differences from life in Canada, but the similarities. That's not to say the differences were hard to see. Having cod roe and raw egg for breakfast and reserving bath water for the next person stand out among the more prominent foreign experiences. But in a broader sense, daily life in Hiroshima is pretty relateable to life in Canada.  We spent the afternoon entertaining young Ryota by playing Hot Wheels and various card games.  Keiko's parents joined us for dinner which brought an oddly reminiscent feeling to the house.  Dinners at home with my own grandparents were a common feature of my childhood and to see this set of grandparents spoil their grandson brought back many close memories.  It may have helped that they brought a bottle of sake which we promptly polished off.  In the morning we walked the short distance to a small park where players from the local Hiroshima Carp baseball team were posing for pictures and playing catch with kids.  The local fire department was running the grill and even though they were handing out oysters instead of hot dogs the atmosphere and participants were not all that different from what you'd expect to see at the park in my own hometown.  There are certainly universal values that can be seen around the world and family and community are important everywhere.


Our three day stay in Hiroshima included a bizarre range of ups and downs in such a short period of time.  From hearing the stories of someone who is hopefully among the last people to experience an atomic bomb to laughing around the dining room table with our host family.  The experiences we had come from a side of Japan that few foreigners are privileged to encounter and have helped add a new depth of colour to my view of the country.

     

       

Off and Running in Tokyo

                                   
(Original posting date 6/12/2017)

On coming to Japan, one of the greatest aspects I was looking forward too was not having to plan everything myself.  Whenever I visit a new place I like to at least have a rough idea sketched out of what I want to see and when before I even get there.  However, once in a foreign country, simple tasks that we often take for granted become significantly more difficult.  Simply getting somewhere becomes a challenge in itself and requires patience, resourcefulness, research, and quite often just looking hopelessly lost and asking a local for help.  It's part of the fun of traveling but it can also be exhausting and after stressing about due dates and deadlines at school, I was ready for a change of pace.  This trip to Japan is exactly that and requires only minimal effort as everything has been planned right down to the minute

Today was our first full day and we became very aware of the precise nature of Japanese society.  After meeting at 9:00 am sharp, our group was wisked away to begin our orientation for the rest of the trip.  At the conference room we were instructed to kill time for ten minutes even though everyone was present and ready.  It was 9:50, but the schedule had us starting at 10:00.  The welcome package we received included every piece of information we could ever hope to need and then some.  It covered everything from Japanese temple etiquette to earthquake preparedness and personal bathing instructions.  It was a lot to take in but the excitement was palpable and everyone seemed to just go along with it.

Following our orientation was a visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where we had a presentation and discussion with an official from the department's North America branch.  It was a very informative talk covering Japan's history as well as its role in the modern world.  Since the 20 of us are all MA students in international affairs it was obviously specially designed and there was no shortage of interesting points made and questions asked.

Later in the afternoon we took a visit to the Imperial Meiji Shrine with its expansive gardens that are more like an urban forest.  It really is an oasis of calm and nature in the heart of the urban sprawl that is Tokyo.  With over 40 million people living in the metropolitan area I'm sure it can get a little hectic at times, but with green space like this you'd hardly even know you were in a major city.

We also visited the Honda interpretive centre which featured a demonstration of Asimo, the hi-tech robot featuring the ability to talk, walk, run, balance, and even use sign language.  While seeing a piece of technology perform human tasks even better than humans are able to was a little disconcerting, I have to admit that it really was an impressive advancement.

Overall the first day and a bit have been full of surprises.  The food has been amazing, both in terms of its deliciousness as well as its shock value.  The cooked sacks of melted sticky rice with a gum-like consistency stand out in that last category.  Also catching me off guard has been some of the relatively minor cultural differences.  I found out that "air conditioning" doesn't necessarily mean cold air by waking up in the middle of the night in sweltering heat.  It was so hot in the hotel room that the heated electric toilet felt cool and refreshing by comparison.

I've also been surprised by the order that characterizes this city.  Despite its size it is entirely free of traffic jams, garbage, and the usual problems such as homelessness and crime.

After just one day Japan seems to confirm some stereotypes and completely up-end others.  I can't wait to see what else surprises me in the days ahead.


                          

Bridge to Japan

After a brief three year hiatus I felt the urge to dust off the travel blog and continue documenting my adventures and sharing my experiences.  Its not that my recent past has been mundane, in fact, the opposite is true.  In the intervening years since my last post from my exchange in Slovenia I have had the opportunity to jet off to far flung places and carry on in my ambition to see the world.  It was partly because of these not infrequent travels that made the decision to pursue a Masters degree in International Affairs come with mixed emotions.  Of course it was a necessary and exciting step towards my dream job, but it meant that time and money would have to be further diverted from my other aspirations.

So when I learned of an opportunity to travel to Japan and represent my school, on their dime, I did not have to think twice.  There was such lack of oversight in this decision that I didn't even stop to think that the trip coincided with the end of the semester; the most hectic point where even at the best of times I would have been spending countless hours in the library.  But although meeting deadlines has been a greater challenge, twenty years from now I'm not likely to remember anything about those essays I wrote.  A week in Japan on the other hand, well that's a different story.

Tomorrow I set off to Tokyo with a group of 19 others.  Ten of us from Carleton, ten from the University of Ottawa who are all graduate students in international affairs.  The trip is called the Kakehashi Project, meaning "bridge" in Japanese.  The stated goals are to promote mutual trust and understanding between the people of Japan and Canada, and to showcase Japan as a destination for travel, study, and work.  Part of the focus will be to gain an understanding of the current North Korean nuclear crisis from the perspective of Japanese people; a unique viewpoint no doubt.

Needless to say, I am excited to learn about a new place and its people and to get to know my fellow travellers, but i'm also looking forward to good sushi and to living life on the road, even if just for a while.

 My aim is to post regularly over the next ten days or so and I hope you will enjoy following along.