Sunday in Tokyo: Monday in Hiroshima

Sunday was more of a travel day although we did manage to spend half of the day in the Daiba area of Tokyo, which is a series of huge man made islands in the port area of the city. We began the day packing and vacating our apartment.  They have a very interesting luggage delivery service in Japan called Takuhaibin and the largest company in this business sector is Yamato Transport. You see them everywhere and their symbol is a black cat on a yellow background on a turquoise banner. They are similar to UPS. But they have outlets in 7-11's, train stations and airports, and you see their workers  using wheeled pushcarts to deliver and pick up packages up and down the narrow streets all over the country. If you do not wish to shlep luggage, you simply call them and they will arrive at your location, take your luggage which is delivered to your destination late the same day or in the case of far away Hiroshima, the next day. Although we packed relatively lightly, we still had one medium size suitcase each (for three weeks of travel) and as Hiroshima involved a couple of train changes on the Japan Rail pass, we decided to try this service. They took our two suitcases, generated the paperwork, charged us about $30 and we said a silent prayer hoping that our total worldly belongings (including our precious kosher food) in this far off place would actually resurface sometime Monday mid-morning in Hiroshima.  And so we had the better part of half a day till our 4 PM train to explore more of Tokyo. 

   It was a bright sunny day tho still cool, and we headed by subway and monorail to Daiba.  The location, off the port area, puts you at a vantage point where you are now looking back at the entire skyline of the city, quite impressive. The man made islands are served by a monorail and a free shuttle bus that allow you to get around the large area but since it was a nice day and we needed to work off the large Shabbat meals, we went for a long exhilarating walk around the promenade along the water. 

  The islands are host to Legoland, Disney World Japan, SEGA, Madame Tussaud's, Sony's headquarters, and four or five huge shopping malls. There is also a fascination with America here so you see The Statue of Liberty, Krispy Kreme and other USA landmarks around the island. It is really a shopping and entertainment center but on this very clear and cool day, allowed us the get out of the city and still be close to our train for the very long 5 hour bullet train ride to Hiroshima. 

As this was the first JR train ride for us, we went into the JR service area at the Shinagawa station where the attendants speak manageable English and they printed out our reserved seats and clearly explained how we reach our desired track. The stations are huge and bustling with people, and they are also hubs for shopping centres to service the large crowds. But at every station (and by now we have been at many) there are knowledgeable officials who are eager to assist you if you do not know exactly where you are going. We have not travelled much by train in North America and a limited amount in other parts of the world, but here we are exclusively getting around by train. One thing that we thought was quite unique was the amount of time that your train is in the station. Our first leg was scheduled for 4:17 PM. I asked the JR attendant what time we can board. He replied that the train arrives in the station at 4:15 PM, and I thought I did not hear him correctly.  When we got to our track at 4:05, we watched as two extremely long and rapidly moving bullet trains pulled into and out of the station on our track in advance of our train, which was in the station for about two minutes. You literally do not want to miss the train...but if you blink, you can and you will. And the trains better be on schedule because there is not much wiggle room for one train to leave the station before the next one comes barreling in.  Seats are comfy, leg room is very generous and there is a lady with a refreshment cart that regularly walks up and down the train from car to car. As she and the various conductors walk in and out of each car, they stop at the doorway, turn to face the passengers and take a deep bow, before going to the next car. There is much bowing going on in this country.  When we arrived in Hiroshima, we exited the station and hopped into one of the many cabs that were waiting and showed him our printed directions in Japanese. We arrived at the Rihga Royal Hotel in minutes and after much bowing by the staff who greeted us, we got to our room on the 26th floor. It was a lovely spacious hotel room right in the center of Hiroshima and as I had emailed the hotel to tell them that this special trip was in celebration of almost 48 years of marriage, there was a vase with flowers and a card wishing us a Happy Anniversary. 

It was not till the morning that we were able to appreciate the amazing view of the city. Hiroshima is in a valley surrounded by mountains. In front of us was the Hiroshima Castle and many modern buildings that make up this bustling city of over one million people.  Monday's schedule consisted of visiting the epicentre of the atomic bomb that ended WWII and the various memorials surrounding it, in the morning; and then travelling to a picturesque island called Miyajima off the coast in the afternoon.  It was quite cold and cloudy with occasional sunshine breaking thru when we began our walk to the Peace Dome just a short walk from our hotel. On the way there, we were able to walk thru a number of department stores and underground subway station tunnels lined with retail stores that allowed us protection from the cold outside.  In 1945, the US made a strategic decision to drop the first atomic bomb ever on the city of Hiroshima. The city was chosen because it was an important port and there were 40000 military personnel in the city, and the clear skies over Hiroshima allowed the US to clearly see the effects of the bomb. The bomb was supposed to be dropped on a nearby bridge, but it missed its target by 800 feet and was detonated just above a nearby hospital and the exhibition hall.

The blast killed everyone nearby instantly, about 70000 people, and the effects of the bomb killed another 70000 for a total of 140,000 people out of a total population of 300000 people. Because it was detonated just above the dome of the exhibition hall, the blast was dispersed in all directions and the dome was the only building that remained standing. All the rest of Hiroshima was turned into ash. The dome stands as a stark reminder to all visitors of the devastating effects of war and as such was designated by the rebuilt city of Hiroshima as the centrepiece of its peace memorial park.

The park includes an eternal flame, a children's peace exhibit, assorted memorials and tall pillars with peace written in 49 languages.  Below are the pillars with the 49 languages and in the next picture you can see Shalom which is the third row on the lower panel.

It was very cold and we were scheduled to visit the picturesque island of Miyajima off the coast of Hiroshima. We were wavering whether to push it off for Tuesday morning, but since the sun was breaking thru, we decided to go for it. It was good that we did as Wednesday morning began with fog and snow and it would have been impossible to go to Miyajima then. So we ate lunch at our hotel, hopped on a train for the 20 minute ride to the ferry boat ride to Miyajima. 

Miyajima Island is one of the most visited sites in Japan, mainly because of its picturesque Torii gate that seems to float on the water at high tide. There are also tame wild deer freely roaming the island and a very quaint old town. There are numerous shrines and temples and a number of very picturesque pagodas. 

 

The sun was shining but it was very cold. We spent a couple of hours walking thru the very picturesque island and when the skies began to get dark and we felt the first raindrops, we decided to head back to town. We had an early night and packed our bags for the next leg of our journey beginning on Tuesday afternoon.  More to come All the best  Fran and David