A Sombre Day

Your erstwhile correspondent is back this time writing with a heavy heart. 

When we decided we were going to Japan, I knew Hiroshima was a must see for me.

I was not disappointed. The day in Hiroshima was a very special day. But a very sad and sombre experience.

I have watched the 1970 series the World at War several times, the most recent being only a few months ago.  I am well aware that over 50 million people were killed in that war and that this event is just another sad part of that terrible period of history. 

I have recently watched an SBS series on the dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima.  One thing that I recall from that series was the drawings of a Japanese artist that displayed through his images the hell of the Zombie like creatures that were created by the event and lived through the intense heat and fires.

Our Hotel was only a 10 minute walk from the Peace Memorial Park where the Memorial Cenotaph was built in 1952. As I walked around and read the memorials I was impressed that the Japanese acknowledged their role in the war, they did not lay blame, they talked of peace and prayed that the world would not use these devices ever again.

Several images of the memorials stick in my mind, the first is of the A-Bomb Dome.  It is staggering that this building, so close to the hyper centre could survive, when everything around it was flattened.

Another image is of the Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound where 70,000 unidentified bodies are buried. 

There is a superb museum in the park that provides lots of facts and the stories of individuals impacted by the A-bomb.  Whilst walking around the museum I found my self being overcome by emotion, so much so, that after a while I simply could not take any more and had to go and sit down to get my emotions under control.

A small amount of facts might help - at the hyper centre and for a radius of about 0.5 km the temperature reached 3000C and the wind blasts were at 1000 km per hour.  70,000 people died on the first day (of an estimated population of 350,000) and the same number again died within the next few months. Many others died from radiation poisoning and cancers etc over the next decades.

Meryl, Penny and I all took time to ring the Peace Bell and pray for a peaceful world. I think it is a good thing for us to see the horrors of war.  Who could not want Peace after seeing the horrendous things that happen during wars! 

The A-bomb Dome. The picture in the foreground shows what it was like before the blast.

 The Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound

The Children's Peace Monument

The Memorial Cenotaph

The Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum 

Ringing the Peace Bell

Miyajima Magic

After 2 shinkansen (very fast trains), a local train and then a ferry - in all 3.5 hours, we arrived on Miyajima Island. We had a wonderful time staying in a Ryokan (traditional Japanese hotel). We saw one of the 3 most famous sights in Japan the O-torii Gate. We even went through it on a boat. We took 2 cable cars up to Mt Misen and saw a magnificent view. We had a very traditional Japanese dinner. I was very proud of Glenn and Penny for all the seafood they tried. Amazingly Glenn and I both slept extremely well on the futon mats on the floor. Penny didn't but she said it was because we made her go to sleep too early and we both snored!

Shinkansen

On the boat

The view from Mt Misen

Our Room

At Dinner

First of 4 courses

Our beds

Sister City

The occasional correspondent returns to give some male musings on Nara (Canberra's sister city and Japans first capital) and later some general ramblings about Japan.  We loved Nara. It was a highlight day. 

The three of us left Kyoto Station around 10 am for our day trip to Nara.  We travelled for 45 mins on a local train (only 130 kms per hr).  When we arrived the temperature was a modest 30C, with extreme humidity. It got hotter and more humid throughout the day, getting to around 36C.
We have not got sun burnt even though outside for hours during the middle of the day.

Penny suggested we hire bikes and this proved a very sensible approach (our feet being very tired having walked for hours the day before in Kyoto). We rode up the hill from the train station to Nara Park (deer park) where the majority of the attractions are all clustered around the one area (not like Kyoto where you have to travel widely to see all the sites).  The deer have been around this area for hundreds of years and are very tame.  Whilst the bikes only had three gears we where able to ride most of the way hopping off to push only occasionally. Having gone up for an hour or so made for a lovely ride down when we headed home around 5 pm.

We were amazed by the height of the five story pagoda (Kafuku-ji temple) which was rebuilt in the 1400's (original burnt down - dates from 669).

In my mind I was heard to exclaim holy Buddha when I first sighted the Todai-ji Temple which is purported to be the largest wooden structure in the world. It houses a massive 16 metre high bronze Buddha and there are several other figures around the Buddha such as a heavenly guards.

We loved these water spots to cool ourselves down.

We also visited a Japanese garden which was shaded and gave some relief from the heat.  The garden was wonderfully structured with masses of camellias, azaleas and rhododendrons (which are my favourite plants!).  The garden was pretty but in spring it would be unbelievably beautiful. 

We had lunch in a Japanese cafe where I was heard to say Oiishi (delicious).  This is a phrase I have been able to say many times. The choice of food in Japan is highly diverse (western influences such as french patisserie embraced) and of exceptional quality, they seem to take great pride to produce good quality and nice tasting food and they are so courteous and friendly.  We each drank about 6 glasses of the wonderfully cold water that was provided.

The range of quality goods available in the wide choices of shops and across low to high price ranges is amazing, making Japan a mecca for the serious or amateur shopper (good news boys the coffee shops offer excellent coffee and gateaus to enjoy whilst you wait).

One of the great advantages of the summer weather is the Japanese women are showing off there good figures and nice legs by wearing nice dresses. My male eyes are captivated by the style of the Japanese women who wear a wonderful variety of fashion (although some times the combination of garments is quite unusual and too my mind does not always come off). 

So far we have found the 7-11 type stores (Lawson) are always close by and offer nice ice coffees, orange juice and nibbles and at very reasonable prices. I guess the big population keeps competition high and prices low.

Finally, on the way home to Kyoto we had another highlight when we stopped off at the Red Gates (Fushimi shrine - avenue of Torii) which was close to our train line  (shrine to rice/sake gods). We walked up the hill for about 20 minutes and were very impressed with the red wooden posts that act like a tunnel to other parts of the complex.

Festival, Food and Floats

Kyoto is packed with people for the Gion Festival. When Glenn and I went to the Tourist Information there was a sign 'No beds available in the city'.

While in Kyoto we visited the Imperial Palace, Nijo Castle (with very squeaky floors to alert them to enemies approaching plus lovely art and gardens) and Golden Temple (our favourite).

Imperial Park Gate

Nijo Castle

Kinjakuji Temple (Golden Pavillion)

On the way back Pen and I went into a department store and Glenn into a coffee shop! We couldn't believe the number of people and the noise of shop assistants calling out bargains.

The road was blocked for the festival and absolutely full of people. We had a quick dinner in MOS burger (Japan's equivalent of McDonalds). Pen had a rice burger ie rice instead of bun - a little hard to hold!

Both nights and a morning we went to the festival and had a ball. I don't think I've ever been in such a large crowd. We went and saw many of the floats and read their meanings. The one I found most memorable is where the man was trying to look after his mother and son but was too poor to keep them both. He decided he would have to kill his son and was burying him alive when he found a pot of gold. The moral of this story - always do your filial duty and you will be rewarded! There were hundreds of food stores and entertainments.

The decorated bus we went to the festival on.

So many people were dressed in traditional costumes.

In front of one of the floats

Penny adding the flavours to the shaved ice.

Glenn and Penny in front of one the floats. There were 33. Some very tall. At night they were all lit like this and in many streets in the city area.

Our fish dessert

Turtles to win

Pen in the throng

At the parade

Turning the float on the corner. Quite an effort.

Our New Japanese Friend

Once all the Frisbee wrapped up we needed to make our way to Kyoto via 4 different trains! Once we boarded the first train and were told that we got on the wrong one, we thought we were in for a long day...but Ted came to the rescue! Once we made it to the first stop and were attempting to board the second train, Mum turned to the first person she could see to check it was the train to Kyoto. She just happened to ask a Japanese man who not only was the nicest, friendliest person but could also speak English! He introduced himself as Ted (his full name was a little harder to pronouce). He said that he was also going to Kyoto and that we could go with him. So we happily followed along as he became our tour guide! We chatted away to him and asked lots of questions about things in Japan. He took us to get reserved seating on the Shinkansen (fast train) and assisted us with our heavy suit cases. As Dad began lugging his suitcase up the 2 flights of stairs, Ted proceeded to charge up the stairs with Mum and my suitcases, one in each hand! Then we sat back and enjoyed the 285km ride to Kyoto. We swapped emails with Ted and waved goodbye to our new Japanese friend as he went on to Nagoya.

With our new Japanese friend, Ted

Farewell Frisbee

Sorry for the delay in writing these posts but we have been super busy.

The Dingoes played well and beat Germany again so officially came 7th but really were far better than that. With a little bit of luck they could have been in the final.

The Wombats (Mens Masters) couldn't beat Canada in the final even though the Aussie supporters including Meryl and Penny were amazing and LOUD! Final score 17-13.

The other Aussie team in the final the Barramundies (Mixed) also were defeated by Canada (17-9).

So we ended up with 2 silver medals.

We are so glad we came to the World Ultimate Championships. What a wonderful experience meeting and talking to so many people from different countries and seeing such fantastic ultimate frisbee games.

Jitensha, jitensha, jitensha (Bikes, bikes, bike)

We had a fabulous day exploring downtown Sakai on bicycles we hired from the hotel. We have been so surprised by how many bikes there are around the place. People of all ages ride them and there are so many parked outside the shops. 

Look at all the bikes outside of McDonalds!

Sakai is a really flat city so we enjoyed cruising around and looking at the different houses, shops and schools.

They even had a smooth section next to the steps to roll the bike along

We stopped and talked to some people along the way. There were these adorable little girls and their mother coming home from school. They were happy to pose for a photo and we had a little conversation with them in Japanese. I asked them how old they were and they said they were 6 years old. Their uniforms were so cute!

We also went up the top of the city council building and got a great view of the city. I had a little conversation with Japanese tour guide. I asked if he spoke English (I said it in Japanese) but he said he didn't. Then another man who heard me came over and he said in broken English that he would drive us to Tokyo. We said thanks but we couldn't! 

The tallest building in this photo is our hotel

We've been enjoying trying a different restaurant every night. Tonight we went to one that didn't have any English or pictures on the menu. Also the waiter spoke hardly any English. I really enjoyed the challenge of reading and decoding the menu! I managed to read 'curry' and 'salmon' so we ordered those. They didn't disappoint! I also then found the dessert section of the menu and ordered us ice cream. Such a fun experience!  

This was the menu (the one on the right, third from the bottom is the nan curry I had) 

On the frisbee front, another 2 great games. Unfortunately the results weren't to our likings. The dingos lost both games by 2 and 3. They were tough matches against Great Britain and Japan (both strong sides) and the wind was whipping today. So the boys are playing Germany for 7th place tomorrow.

Andrew is the one in the yellow hat