My blog is a record of my adventures and travels since January 2010. I have been lucky enough to travel around the world and see friends I have not seen in 30 years!
I am trying to make this more than a travelogue and add commentary and Op-ed pieces. I hope you enjoy and feel motivated to go out and experience the wonders of the world
John and I headed out early Friday to the largest fish market in the world. It is primarily a wholesale market and the sales begin at about 5am. We elected not to get there that early, but saw plenty of activity anyway when we arrived at about 6.30 am.
Maybe the easiest way to do this is to post pictures and then comments below each picture.
Frozen swordfish. Seems like Swordfish and Tuna are the only frozen fish sold as the flavor is not affected. Looks like the rest is all fresh and often alive.
I traveled to Tokyo on Wednesday after a wonderful stay with the Guhas in Kobe. We celebrated the last evening with dinner in a Vietnamese place that was really good and yet another smaller restaurant with a great atmosphere.
I took the Shinkansen for the 2 hour 40 minute ride to Tokyo. Of course everything was dead on time!
After a little uncertainty I met up with John Hall and we headed back to his place near Shibuyu close to central Tokyo. John used to take a company minibus to the Sagami plant but with the cutbacks he now has to take the train and company bus and his commute goes up from about an hour to more like an hour and forty five minutes EACH WAY!
He is in the process of moving to Cat Underground in Tasmania Australia where his commute will be 15 minutes!! Needless to say he is looking forward to that.
John and Teresa have Kayleigh (8) and Ethan (5)
Thusday was spent just wandering in the local area and trying to navigate the subway system which is much more complex in terms of the different lines and the combination of JR and subway lines.
I came through one of the local parks and used a map at the entrance. I was initially confused as it looked like I was at the south end but I knew that was not the case. I looked closer at the map and saw that the orientation was not with North at the top as I expected but basically upside down. Aparantly map orientation is not consistent in Japan (my mistake I guess) but that is not consistent with their consistent and organized lives in general. Oh well another lesson learned
Note map orientation on the center right. North faces down!!
I eventually found my way back without the need to resort to a taxi and the address card that Teresa gave me that has the English on one side and the Japanese on the other plus a map. I life saver if needed!! Thanks Teresa.
John and I are going to the Tsukiji fish market, the largest in the world in the morning. We are planning an early start as most of the action is over by 10am.
With the expert guidance from Satyaki on Sunday, and ticket in hand I set off for Hiroshima the site of the first atomic bomb explosion used in warfare on August 6th 1945 at 8.15 in the morning. A USAF B29 bomber “Enola Gay” dropped the bomb which exploded at 2000 ft above the center of Hiroshima. Approximately 140,000 people perished as either a direct result of the explosion or from the immediate after effects. Almost all the buildings in a 2 km radius were razed to the ground.
Another 60,000 died of the effects of radiation over the next twelve months or so.
Another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki 3 days later, and the Japanese surrendered unconditionally shortly afterward ending World War 2.
There are arguments that say far more people would have died as a result of a more protracted war and this may be true. I do not know. I do know that the bomb was dropped only 2 weeks after the successful tests in New Mexico “The Manhattan Project” There was also significant political reasons to end the war sooner rather than later, all related to the relative positions of the USA and Russia (USSR) particularly.
With this as the background (lots of the aforementioned I learned while in Hiroshima) I spent the day visiting the A (Atom) bomb Memorial and Museum as well as visiting Miyajima Island.
Snigdha had told me to buy a Day Pass that was good for the trams and ferries and was easier and cheaper than individual tickets. Thanks for the great advice.
The first stop was the A Bomb Site and was a shell of a government building that was directly below the explosion and much of the building survived and has been preserved in perpetuity as a reminder of man’s ability to self-destruct.
It is located next to theAioi Bridge that is T shaped and was an excellent landmark for the bomb aimer. No GPS or Smart bombs in those days. One of the mission requirements was clear weather at the target.
Prior to the bombing the entire are a to the south of the building was a quite densely populated housing area between two branches of the river. Some of this area was being cleared and houses demolished to create firebreaks because of the risk of bombings. Neither ironically Hiroshima, nor any of the other 9 potential bombing sites was bombed conventionally as the US military wanted a true assessment of the damage caused. It would be interesting to know if the Japanese military were asking why some places were bombed and not others.
Artist sketching the A Bomb Memorial
Bell of Peace narrative. I rang it twice.
The Bell of Peace
Hiroshima was ultimately chosen as it was a known military garrison town, and it was also believed there was no prisoner of war camp close by.
Of the 140,000 killed I was surprised to learn that approx 20,000 were Korean and a significant number (unknown to me) were Chinese. These were politely referred to as “Forced workers” aka slaves.
Korean Peace Monument
Korean school kids visit. They all waved and said hello!
There was already ill feeling between Japan and China due to the Sino-Japanese war at the end of the 1800s and similar situations with Korea. Many of these feelings persist today.
Among the many monuments and memorials was one dedicated to the Koreans, but if there was a Chinese one I did not see it.
There was also a special memorial for the children killed, and there were many as high school age students and the forced laborers were doing the work of demolishing the houses for firebreaks. They were out in the open and unprotected in any way when the explosion occurred.
A young girl who survived the explosion and ensuing chaos inspired the children’s Memorial after she tragically found that she had leukemia and died about 10 years after the bombing. I have posted a linkbelow (this is a first so I hope it works) about the memorial and the paper cranes that it inspired. People continue to send them and bring them even today about 65 years after the bombing.
There is a shrine in the middle of the park that aligns with the Museum at one end and the A Bomb Memorial at the other. It is a simple curved structure that allows you to see through it to either end and also see the Eternal Flame (that does not show well in pictures) It is simple but graceful.
I am not sure I can say that it was a fun day but certainly a thought provoking day, and one for reflection on where we are as a people and the progress we have or have not made.
I am a little disappointed here as I had hoped to make a more comprehensive visit and report on Tuesday. As I said Satyaki and I visited the bridge on Sunday but the tour that takes you to the top of one of the towers is closed on Sundays, so I returned on Tuesday to complete the mission. It was a cloudy hazy day early and again the tower was closed, and my ability to understand the people at the desk kept me from completely understanding why.
Oh well.
The bridge is a very impressive structure and is one of the largest suspension bridges in existence. The towers are nearly 300 meters tall (nearly 1000 ft) and nearly 4km long (about 2.5 miles). It was built after a couple of ferries sank and 150 lives were lost, mostly schoolchildren I believe.
If you click on the bridge data picture it will expand and you can read the detail.
The toll to cross is about $50 (covers out and back).
The bridge had to be designed for an earthquake prone zone and was under construction when the 1995 Kobe earthquake occurred. They ultimately discovered that the towers had shifted during the quake and they had to start over with at least one of the structures.
The suspension cables are 1.1 meters thick (maybe 45 inches) and consist of multiple hexagonal strands that are designed to be fairly rigid in one direction and flexible in the other.
Cable cross section
You can feel the bridge move with traffic and this would be important in an earthquake. Equally the bridge has to be designed to sustain and survive high winds. So It is a complex structure that was expensive to build but manages the task while also being a beautiful (in my mind anyway) piece of architecture.
Osaka Bay from the bridge base
Looking down thru a glass floor to the water 100 meters below
I am on the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) on my way to Hiroshima. Satyaki showed me yesterday how to get to Shin Kobe station and navigate the subway, and I managed to do that and order a simple breakfast at the Shinkansen station, which is separate from the Japan Railways (JR) stations.
Nozomi Shinkansen train. Cruise 185 mph
The trains are very sleek and exude the feeling of speed even when they are in the station. The trains run about every 20 minutes and cruise at around 185 mph.
There are varying levels for train and the Nozumi is the fastest and is the equivalent of the Super Rapid on the regular JR line. There are a lot of tunnels and only two other stops between Kobe and Hiroshima. It takes about 90 minutes for the journey and is about $100 each way!
The train stops in the station for about 45 seconds, and there are barriers and gates that only open when the train is in the station, so you had better be ready when your stop comes up!. There are reserved seats and some cars with non-reserved seats where you take potluck.
The train is quiet and very smooth and there is plenty of legroom and a table. It is clean and well lit, and like everything I have seen so far is well maintained.
We have been traveling for about 30 minutes so far and it looks like we are approaching the first station Okayama. It looks like not all the stations have full-length barriers and gates. There were none at Okayama.
Yesterday on the regular JR trains we watched the driver and the conductor. They are impeccably dressed and wear white gloves, and there is a procedure that looks like it is rigidly followed where the driver physically points to the signal ahead and when the train stops physically touches the light that indicates that the train is stopped and the brakes applied.
Note the white gloves
They are also meticulous about the time and the conductor constantly checks it and the doors close on the second. I looked at the board that the driver has and it shows the arrival time and departure time for each station on the route and is to the second, even for local trains. S the train would arrive at Sumyoshi station at, say 10.22 and 20 seconds and depart at 10.22 and 45 seconds. The length of time is dependent on the average passenger volume and probably varies by the time also. To the average American we would maybe find this obsessive, but it works with Japanese culture and their expectations for efficiency.
The information board indicates the next two trains and when the train is approaching it starts to flash. You had better be ready as the stop is brief, even for the Nozomi!
While there is some evidence of farming the vast majority of the journey so far has been either tunnels, or an urban or industrial area.
The whole system must have been very expensive to build, and expensive to maintain, but the results are truly impressive. I can recall hearing about bullet trains 35 years ago. I am told that there are also many trains In China that are as fast or faster and impressive.
The thing that surprised me most is the number of trains. They look like they leave Hiroshima (most southerly point) for Tokyo, a terminal anyway but not the most northerly point, every 20 minutes or so. Maybe the other thing was that there are female train drivers, and in this male dominated society I was surprised. I saw shift change in Hiroshima and the new driver was a lady in her 30s. Of course I took a train with a male driver…much safer!! JUST KIDDING.
Something a little different today.
I have collected a variety of images to show some similarities and some differences between life in Japan and elsewhere.
I hope you enjoy them. Some are classic
Call before you dig. Could work anywhere.
Bicycles at the train station. Hundreds of them. Most are not locked or chained.
You might have to lock this one up. Gas mileage is appalling.
Plug in electric assist bicycle with kid carrier.
Check out the boys school uniforms especially the hats!.
Looks like kids routinely ride the train and tram unsupervised at very young ages.
More kids with strange hats on their way home. This time in Kyoto.
The backpack is nearly as big as the kid. I understand they cost around $500!!
Japanese toilet (Western style) with soft heated seat, vent fan and bidet feature with adjustable pressure and heat!
Operator controls for said seat.
Seat on sale in a store for approx $350. Reduced from $750. Crappy market I suppose.
Note the store name. "Love Girls Market"
Probably what you buy at the Love Girls Market.
Lots of trashy dressing particularly girls. Presumably a chance to rebel in a very structured society.
Cheap hotel between 10pm and 11 am. Just about $50.
Understandable even for married couples where you live with the kids even when they are adults, and the walls or dividerrs are made of paper. Bet the kids will pay the $50 sometimes just so they do not have to listen. LOL
This guy is in a world of hurt. Parked illegally outside the Bullet Train station. It was there for at least 30 min with three cops taking pictures and measurements.
Security risk I am sure.
This house can only be 3 meters wide at this end judging by the relative width of the SUV. Good news is that it gets wider at the other end.
Rhino looks from the bridge at the A Bomb Memorial in Hiroshima. Seperate post about that trip but it was time Rhino made an appearance.
