Turning Japanese

After getting off the cruise ship, our next task was to find and to figure out the bullet trains. Here the bullet trains are called Shinkansens. These trains can travel up to 320 km per hour or 200 miles per hour in the old money. They are really comfortable and clean and travel smoothly with a faint high-pitched squeal like a jet engine. You don’t really notice the speed unless you look at the ground near the track that ends up a blur. You really do notice the speed though, when you pass another train going in the opposite direction. At first the train rocks with a thud of air pressure, then a white blur with blue strips appears for about 3 seconds, so fast that you can’t make out any of the windows. There are no flies on these trains! We had purchased rail passes before we left and these gave us unlimited travel. We got great value from these tickets. 

We caught our first train into Yokohama Station, converted our rail pass receipts into rail passes, then booked a ticket to Osaka. Osaka is one of Japan’s largest cities, but still smaller in population than either Melbourne or Sydney. It was a great place to base ourselves as it was relatively close to both Hiroshima, where I wanted to go and to Kyoto where Kim wanted to go. We could catch a subway train to the bullet train station and then be at our destination within an hour or two. Our first day here was spent walking around the streets and getting something to eat. You notice that you don’t see many European (white) people here.

Fortunately, on our first night, we found probably the best restaurant of all and thought we had hit the jackpot. It was a small, quiet place in a darkened alley way. There was a bar where people sat and ate. Behind the bar you could see three people preparing food with love and precision. We had the smoked duck as our first course. It was only about five slices of meat on the plate with a green garnish underneath. The texture was tender. It was juicy and melted in the mouth. You almost had to shut your eyes so you could concentrate more on every bite. 

The next day we headed off to Hiroshima. This place is famous because it is only one of only two sites that nuclear weapons were used against a civilian population. The first thing I saw at this sombre memorial was a young female posing and pouting while taking selfies in front on the remembrance site. I don’t mind selfies but it seems that narcissism and disrespect have no limits any more. 

At the site there are some dedicated volunteers that are children of the bomb victims, spreading the anti-nuclear weapon message. One man we spoke to, was not born at the time of the bomb but his mum was pregnant with him when the weapon exploded.  He has a blog with some of his stories at http://blog.livedoor.jp/mitokosei/. These people told us the stories of what happened. 

Much of Horishima at the time was constructed from wood. An area four kilometres from the site was pretty much vaporised and fires destroyed from four to eight kilometres out. The temperature at the time near the blast was said to be about 3000 Celcius. One building that did survive, 160 meters from the ground zero site, remains standing and to this day is a central focus of the peace park memorial. Seventy thousand people lost their lives as the bomb went off and another seventy thousand took a year to die from radiation sickness. One lady told us some stories and showed drawings done by her mother, depicting the time immediately after the blast, where people were walking around bleeding with either their clothing or skin burnt off. It was an incredible story of human survival. It was a very emotional and moving experience listening to her.

It was interesting to read that much of the radiation had gone within a few days. There was only about 1 kg of fissile material used. Apparently the radiation contamination from the recent Fukushima nuclear plant that exploded was much worse.

Peace Park ruins

We did a tour around Hiroshima on a hop-on hop-off bus. We visited the art museum and saw a Picasso, a Monet and a Rembrandt up close. It was a welcome relief from the heat that day. It was about 34 degrees in the shade and much hotter when walking on black asphalt out in the sun. Another interesting place we visited was an old castle that was the home of a Samurai emperor at the time. This site was built on reclaimed land several hundred years ago and was the original Hiroshima settlement. Areas of the old city were constructed to house fish, paper and out merchants, gunsmiths and sword makers. 

By now we are getting used to finding our way around the subways and buying train tickets. I bought another SIM card and found a site in New Zealand that lets you create a new APN on an iPhone, so finally I have Internet again. Some might say so what, but having a GPS that tells you where you are at any time, in English and does translates photos of Japanese characters, text and actual speech translation is an absolute must I reckon. Sure, people got by without the Internet, but it would have taken them ages to do what we can now do in minutes. 

The next day we went to Kyoto, famously known for the Kyoto Protocol, a first attempt to limit the world’s carbon pollution levels. Here we cruised around on pushbikes again. This time it was flatter and more shaded. I was feeling much better than I did on the Vietnam cycle tour, despite the heat. We visited some temples and an interesting aqueduct, built a couple of hundred years ago, copied from the Roman times, that still supplies some of the city’s water. 

Cat in a dog

One of the places along the way included a place that had several cats that an old lady commutes 1 1/2 hours to each day, just to feed them. They have cat cafes in Kyoto, for people that like cats but don’t have the time or space to own one. People pay to go in and spend time with cats, just patting them. I asked the old lady if she had a favourite cat, and she confirmed it was one named “Tiger”. The other tourists thought that was nice and wanted to know all about Tiger. The old lady obligingly produced a photo of Tiger, but he was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he was out having his way with some of his lady friends. The other tourists (Korean Americans) then told us of an Owl Cafe that they visited the day before, where people paid to hang out with owls. The owls sit on your arm for a while or on your head. If they fly away you just put your arm out and they land back on your arm. They showed us several photos of themselves with the owls. Unfortunately, one of them was urinated on by an owl, while the other was defecated on. I guess that is the price you pay.

After the cycling we did a walking tour that went for about four hours. We visited some more temples, apparently there are about 1600 temples in Kyoto. You never know when you will need one I guess. Our tour guide told us that she only visited temples about once per year, but that people that were in need of something visited them much more frequently to pray. The two main religions here are Buddhism, with its origins in India and Shinto, which is Japanese and based on nature. At one of the temples our tour guide pointed out a cat that was hiding inside a statue of a dog. This cat didn’t look anything like Tiger, so that mystery has still not been solved.

One of the many temples in Kyoto

We then walked around the streets of Kyoto and you could see a lot more European tourists and Japanese people dressed in traditional clothing. We were hoping to see a Geisha but were told not to expect to see one, as they normally only come out on weekends because their job is to entertain people, or rich men at least. Being a Geisha is an honourable profession that you have to apply for and do an apprenticeship in. It is a very exclusive and highly ritualised art form.

We walked to where a Geisha lived and our tour guide introduced us to yet another cat. This apparently was the Geisha’s cat. It was grey and just lying stretched out in the sun. As we were about to leave a Geisha appeared out of nowhere almost and walked towards us. Kim got a few photos on her phone. She did not look at us as she went into her house. They certainly carry an aura with them. As she disappeared a few other American girls came running up with cameras but it was too late for them. No doubt Kim will have more to say on this topic.

Our final stop was Tokyo. It was an amazing glimpse into our future. Kim's update will follow this. We are now on our way home. Thanks heaps for your interest :)