Japan: A Thousand Paper Cranes & A Thousand Suns For Hiroshima

Blog number 17, Passage 2.  09.01.2021.  nguptatravelscrapbook.blogspot.com

Japan: A thousand paper cranes and A thousand suns for Hiroshima

Covid 19 Status in the UK: With an unprecedented increase in the case numbers thru-out, the UK, 3rd national lockdown has set in with a national strategy to ramp up vaccination progress( Oxford  and Pfizer vaccines) 

"A film about Peace. What else do you expect them to make in Hiroshima except for a picture about Peace?" Hiroshima Mon Amour.

The atomic bomb dome

It was the tail-end of World War 2. Germany and Italy have surrendered, and the only major Axis Power left standing was Japan. The Japanese Empire refused to accept defeat. Determined to forego a long and bloody invasion, the Allied leaders were looking into the option of using their newly developed weapon, A-Bomb to finally end the WW2 that had already claimed over 70 million lives. They had to choose a city to drop the bomb onto, one with a sizable population and a military garrison. They wanted to show the massive destructiveness of this new weapon and ensure that all hostilities end once and for all. They chose the city of Hiroshima.

On 6th August 1945, at 08:15 am, the atomic bomb named "Little Boy" was dropped onto Hiroshima by Allied bombers creating an immense fireball that eviscerated almost 15 square kilometres of the city. In an instant, 70,000 people perished reducing the city to Ground Zero, a new terminology since 9/11terror attack. Tens of thousands more expired because of burns, radioactivity, and diseases in the months and years to come. On 9th August 1945 ( 3 days later) a second A-Bomb was detonated on another city, Nagasaki, with similarly colossal casualties. By 15th August, Japan announced unconditional surrender. World War II ended.

Peace memorial Pictures( digitally enhanced)

One building that survived partially in Hiroshima was the Old Industry, Promotion Hall. Its iron girdled dome named The Atomic Bomb Dome ( UNESCO World Heritage Site)  has become the symbol for the city's survival, preserved in the peace park. It stands opposite the peace museum designed by the famous artist Kenzo Tange. This memorial conveys the naked truth of this tragedy to the world, passing it on to the future, learning history lessons, and building a peaceful world around disengaged from nuclear weapons. The other monuments in this park are the children's peace monument and the Peace Memorial Museum.

Paper cranes and Children's memorial ( digitally enhanced)

I visited the museum with no illusion that I would write about what I saw and little hope that I would comprehend it. The three hours spent there forcing myself to look at every item, reading each caption in English, brought me no closer to an understanding, but they knocked on in my mind. It is not the vastness of destruction that moves you so much as the relics of individual suffering. These speak with the most articulate signs like a melted desktop buddha, a burnt watch, burnt out breakfast trays, and a schoolboy's scorched blazer. There are photos of a little girl refusing to drink water from a cup, that may have made her death more comfortable, of a young soldier covered in red colour, of a keloid formation of the face of a woman, a boy bald as an egg, of a young homemaker who was wearing a kimono, looking like a doll in her death. The Children's Peace Monument depicts a girl holding a folded paper crane. It is based on Sadako Sasaki, a girl who folded 1,000 paper cranes with her feeble hands to fulfil her wish of getting cured of atomic radiation before she died.

Further pics of Peace memorial ( digitally enhanced)

Cranes are a sign of longevity and peace in Japan. Millions of school children come to the child victim's monument, adorned with Statue holding origami crane and museum receives millions of paper cranes from children worldwide.

I was overwhelmed to see so many school children being brought in by teachers. They were silent, holding each other's hands, and a few asking questions from their teachers, being answered in the almost inaudible drone. Not a single child smiled, and the seriousness of their faces made them appear older and wiser. The museum's atmosphere was virtually deathly, all colours muted, that I could almost hear a pin drop. The museum buildings from inside to outside were virtually characterless, with no attempts to show any signs of life or vegetation or otherwise, sending a stark warning to the world. About 200,000 people died because of the world's first atomic holocaust, we saw their names in a stone chest, a peace memorial's simple and most eloquent memorials.

Library and gardens of peace memorial ( digitally enhanced)

 We observed many youngsters involved in searching the details of their succumbed relatives on the internet in the memorial's library. It is said that there are documented virtual and graphic details of the last moments of every person who died on that ill-fated day. Looking at the words carved on the chest, I could not help myself wondering whether the passing of time had not transformed their ringing promises into strangely and incredible prayers. Sleep in Peace. Don't repeat mistakes!

Today,  Hiroshima is as modern as any other Japanese city, a sprawling metropolis with evergreen trees shaped in the artistic aviary, grass lawns, flowers, and to top it all, heavenly Sakura in April when I visited Hiroshima. Many tourists visit Hiroshima to see how that devastating day has shaped the city and how the beautiful city of Hiroshima rebuilt itself. Hiroshima is a well planned out vigorous city with mega shopping centres, glittering neon signs, incredible local cuisine and friendly, cheerful people. However, I will admit that the mood was sombre, touring around the Peace Memorial Park. But then I reminded myself how great the Japanese people are. 

  <- Hiroshima memorial entrance tickets 

No matter where I travelled in Japan, I was always in contact with the most helpful and gentle people, still bowing, leading me to bow in return. I found Japanese hospitality one of the best, and they do it with such grace and beauty; men, women and children alike. After the peace memorial, we walked, getting around was relatively easy, like most attractions, printed material and signage are in English apart from the Japanese language called Nihongo.

Returning to Hiroshima Bullet train station walking, we tasted our first ramen noodle dish in a restaurant in a subway of the station. We loved the noodle soup's punchiness with added flavours of tuna and toasted sesame seeds, confirming that eat like locals.

Visiting Miyajima island off Hiroshima

Shinto Torii Gate 

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Miyajima is a small island outdoors of Hiroshima. It is reached by taking a short ferry ride from Hiroshima ferry terminal to Miyajima island. In the sea, The floating Red Torii Gate is the most common site locked in Japan and often is one of Japans' most visited tourist appeals. The contrast of the azure sea, the jaded hills, and the intense bright red, almost crimson coloured shrine is breathtakingly beautiful!

Further images of Itsukushima Shinto shrine ( digitally enhanced)

Named as Itsukushima shrine, it is a pier-like construction with an elevated status. The ordinary people were not allowed access to the island and had to approach the shrine through a  floating gate out in the sea. The Shinto shrine is home to multiple statues, lanterns, pavilions, pagodas, and stages where performing arts occur in the evenings. 

<- Hiroshima to Miyajima ferry tickets 

Miyajima's Maple and Acer trees are celebrated throughout Japan, shrouding the island in an unlimited crimson colour in the autumn season, matching with the Shinto shrine's actual colour. At the time of our trip, the island was covered in beautiful shades of red, oranges, pink and white azaleas and of course with the never-ending displays of cherry blossoms. For the sanctity of the island, trees may not be cut for lumber. Deer roam freely in the island, as are thought of as heavenly in the native Shinto religion.

Pictures of Miyajima market scenes, a showcase of plastic foods, Lanterns in the shrine 

We had a pleasant evening out on Miyajima Island and appreciated wandering in the streets, visiting local shops and pagodas and enjoying a dinner in a small local restaurant. The cook happily prepared their famous dish called Okonomiyaki ( Literally meaning grilled as you like it) for us. It comprised a savoury pancake filled with cabbage, green peppers and a selection of meat or fish along with a bowl of miso soup.

A common site of drinks dispenser and Saki cauldrons

Shinkansen train experience

We travelled thru the length and breadth of Japan, by the famous bullet train named Shinkansen. Let me pen about our experiences on this train. On 1st October1964, with ten days to go before the Tokyo Olympics, the two inaugural Shinkansen arrived at Tokyo and Osaka's destinations on exact times. The event announced not just Japan's recovery from the devastation of WW2, but the commencement of Japan's economic superpower boom as millions of Japanese started flocking to Tokyo for employment daily. The train journey between Tokyo and Osaka had previously taken seven hours, now reduced to four hours by Shinkansen at a speed of 320 KPH. The term Shinkansen means New trunk line. 

 

All visitors to Japan ride the trains at some stage of their trip and come away with the same impressions. Japan's Train transport is the cleanest and most courteous world, run by uniformed, white-gloved men and women who still summarise a strong Japanese professional ethic. We travelled in Shinkansen from Nagoya to Hiroshima, taking over two hours covering approximately 480 km and the following day from Hiroshima to Kyoto, stopping en route at Himeji castle for a few hours. Nagoya_Hiroshima_Himeji Castle_ Kyoto. The train was a smooth ride with comfy reclining upholstered seats, enjoying an uninterrupted sakura display all the routes along. There was no need to go to any garden to view sakura further! While onboard the train, we observed a Japanese delegation comprising about ten men who began their luncheon packed in bento boxes. The two most junior delegates (as we thought) did all the chores, including the opening and laying down the lunches in front of their seniors. Later on, whisking away the scraps and disposables to dust bins provided. They then cleaned and folded back the tables in place.  This was the best spectacle of the Japanese business ethos in terms of the hierarchy!

Although at the time of our travel to japan in 2003, Shinkansen was the fastest train in the world, now amidst advanced technology, there have been faster trains in the world including the maglev trains in Shanghai reaching the speed of 431 KPH. We experienced the maglev train journey when visiting Shanghai in 2006.

Kabuki Theatres, the centre of performing arts. While roaming around in Miyajima, we came across another famous Kabuki theatre that we first visited in Tokyo on our London arrival. Kabuki is the most dramatic of traditional Japanese performing arts, though much less often conducted today.

Pictures and leaflets of Kabuki theatre in Tokyo ( digitally enhanced)

Theatre Performance 

A family would hire one of these theatres in olden times, comfortably squatting on the floors on tatami mats, all family members together, watching actions. They would smoke, slumber thru the boring bits and chatter among themselves. They would eat from their lacquer lunch boxes( bento) and drink heavily on home fermented wines during the leisurely intervals. After our brief rest following a long haul flight from London, we steered ourselves to Kabuki theatre in Tokyo fetching a taxi. Kabuki is a colourful, exuberant, and full-of-life drama with a highly stylised theatre with ostentatious displays, intricate ensembles, makeups and stage effects. Originating somewhere in the early 1600s, Kabuki diverged as a rigid form of theatre and was promoted by merchant class in late 1600s.  We understood the context of the story via an English rendering page attached to the theatre ticket. They explained to us that Bunraku was an updated version of Kabuki. It was an excellent enriching experience to see the show for an hour before our dinner in Shinjuku in Tokyo city. 

Enjoying a tea ceremony in Miyajima ( digitally enhanced)

Japanese special skills of gift wrapping: We were most amazed at how the individual food items (biscuits, sweets, crackers etc.) were wrapped in beautiful, attractive and tempting little parcels, urging us to open them straight away. Japanese people love things covered or wrapped. 

Furoshiki is an exceptional art of fabric wrapping of the gift, originating several centuries ago, to protect the goods. It is a versatile, eco-friendly and culturally oriented Japanese practice. These days, there are many YouTube videos to learn this art and practice it in day-to-day use as needed.

Shoe etiquettes: Travelling around japan involves a lot of footwear changes provided at the doorsteps. It is common to take one's shoes off when arriving at a guesthouse, ryokan, temple, shrine or bathhouses or even a restaurant or reaching for a Tea ceremony. They offer you a pair of indoor shoes or slippers ranging from slippers to sandals to Japanese style wooden flip flops. Often there are a vast array of shoes to choose from, they are in pair but can be ambidextrous, and are small, medium or large. When you come to your room with laid out tatami sheets, one can leave the slippers at the door threshold and enter the room wearing your socks.

I plan to blog next to Japan's cultural city, named Kyoto as I experienced it in 2003. I thank you for reading my blogs and for your encouraging comments ever.