I Wonder If You Can Refuse to Inherit the World

Lots to write about. I journied west this week, to the city of Hiroshima.

I departed Friday night with Keith, Jiang 1 and Jiang 2 (both are Keith's co-workers from China). We took the night bus from Tennoji, about a 7 hour trip. Luckily this night bus was much better than the last, with each seat separated (seat, aisle, seat, aisle, seat) and there was a washroom in the back. Which was too short for me to fully stand in.

We arrived at Hiroshima Station at 6am, played cards and ate breakfast at Makudo for a while, then went on a hike to a shrine on top of a nearby mountain. We were mostly just killing time (Kelvin was due to arrive from Tokyo at 10am), but it was a good view.

Kelvin arrived in one piece, but not feeling the best. Another case of food poisoning: he had eaten expired tofu a few days earlier, adding to the list of "Food to Avoid". After taking awhile to plan our day, we made our way to the trams.

The first stop was Genbakudomu-mae, where the Hiroshima Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Museum are located. The weather was gloomy when we arrived, which seemed to fit the mood of the park. The dome was one of the few buildings left standing after the bomb dropped. We also saw the Children's Peace Monument, surrounded by glass cases holding tens of thousands of paper cranes.

The museum was pretty chilling... first displaying the history of Hiroshima, then showing before and after views of the city. The middle section showed artifacts that survived the bomb... clothes, lunchboxes, a rusty tricycle, a section of wall with a silhouette on it. A huge wall of letters, written by the mayors of Hiroshima, advocating the abolition of nuclear weapons. Pictures of the victims, covered in burns, describing death tolls and how the victims suffered, and teaching the science behind the atomic bomb and radiation sickness. It was a good experience, but difficult...

From Genbakudomu we went to Miyajima by ferry. The island is home to the Miyajima Floating Torii Gate, one of the 3 most beautiful views in Japan apparently. I think for this section a picture is worth a thousand words, so check out my webalbum instead for pictures.

The one interesting thing to note was one of the items in the gift shop... A towel with a picture of two women on it... and when the towel gets wet, their clothes disappear! Or, as the sign beside the towels put it "Surprise! A naked woman appears!". /sigh

Afterwards we decided to check into our accommodations for the night, a type of inn called a Ryokan (Translation: "Type of inn"). Upon finding out that we weren't staying in a hotel I must say I was a bit disappointed, I was looking forward to a private shower... Instead it was very communal, even compared to my dorm, as there were four buckets extremely close together. As in, if the room was full, the buckets must have been touching o.O. But I went at 1am when it was empty, hurray. The room was ok, slept on futons on tatami floors, and I got one of the better sleeps I've had in a while. Probably because the futons are softer than my bed, and because I wasn't listening to any weird music while I was sleeping. (Thanks a lot Brady, your crazy music invades my dreams and makes me think I'm going insane!)

Day 2 we went for breakfast at Lotteria, which serves its pancakes in a burger wrapper, with no butter, syrup, knife or fork. And orange drink sucks. We walked to Shukkuin Garden, which was quite nice to see. Kelvin came up with the idea of using our bodies to spell Hiroshima in Kanji (which was a humorous failure). We also saw the ruins and reconstruction of Hiroshima Castle, and went shopping in Hiroshima's downtown area.

On our walk we passed by a mall where a Christmas Concert was being held out front. To everyone who's seen A Christmas Story (ie, to everyone)... remember that scene at the Chinese restaurant where the staff sings Deck the Halls? Like that, only add another 20 people, a stage, microphones, background music and a bigger audience.

Not to mention the weirdest part. They weren't singing traditional Christmas carols, but religious songs, like "Oh Happy Day". In a population of less than 1% Christians, and after seeing Christmas (er, XMas) as a purely commercial affair here, this was very weird to see and hear.

After trying on interesting hats in the hip-hop stores (Yes, people aren't wearing enough hats, and yes, I want an Indiana Jones style fedora), we headed back to Hiroshima Station for our 7 hour train ride back home.

Other news... Well, Bloc Party tickets have been obtained! I got the ticket for the Tokyo show in the mail, and the Osaka ticket has been prereserved... now I'm debating whether to go see the Killers in January.

The training for the pushup competition is underway, though I will not say how many I am up to. Like in poker, gotta play your opponent, not your hand. Gya ha ha... Anyways, a trophy has been obtained, featuring Fullmetal Alchemist's Armstrong on the top, with his beautiful muscles haha.

And finally, trying to plan for New Years. Currently it's a train to Fukuoka, a loop around Kyushu, then back home. Maybe expensive, but we'll see. Gonna book hotels tonight.

Ja...