Day 9

I packed too much. Discarding some of my older clothes I repacked my suitcase and headed down to the communal room for breakfast. The room was empty excepting the presence of a woman wearing bright pink trousers, a grey top and black thick rimmed glasses. She had a mole just by the corner of her right eye, and slightly pale features I could not easily ascribe to a specific ethnic group. She was using the breakfast facilities so I coordinated myself around her. Asking about the Murakami book I had placed on the work surface she struck up a conversation. We began talking about travelling, sharing travel tips and discussing the pros and cons of travelling alone. Unable to place her accent I asked after her origins. Japanese-French; no wonder.

She claims to have travelled with an empty suitcase, giving space only for souvenirs, simply buying her clothes and necessities as required from uniqlo and the hundred yen shops. I found this incredibly brave and immediately admired her adventurous spirit. Of course, speaking fluent Japanese is an advantage for such a journey; but even without the language Ed & I have, so far, always been able to muddle through and find a way to be understood. I looked at my giant suitcase and wondered if I should have done the same.

A slender, young looking man joined us, keeping mostly quiet. I later found out that he was dutch and either had a difficulty speaking English or was incredibly shy. Finally Ed joined us for breakfast and before leaving Muriel (the Japanese-French girl) asked for my email address suggesting a meet up back in Tokyo when we return. We'll see.

So we headed out into the blistering sunshine towards the train station. Having about an hour spare we stopped into the nearby shopping mall to nose around. Eventually we wound up on the 4th floor and went into the arcade. Besides being incredibly loud (and exciting) the arcade was full of shiny new looking machines with bright lights. A Japanese boy was fitting a stereotype by thrashing an unbelievably fast button bashing game. Moving his fingers as quickly as a concert pianist he struck 7 buttons in succession as a tetris like screen repeatedly flashed with a bright yellow 'GREAT'. We played on the easy setting of the Taiko drum game (great fun) and earned hundreds of millions of arbitrary points. Wandering around a bit more we saw arcade games specifically for women. It seems that the aim of the game is to virtually try on different kinds of make up, perhaps to look similar to the pop stars pictured at the sides. Nearby a rack of costly style costumes and wigs was available, and I recognised the outfit and distinctive green hair of the Vocaloid 'Hatsune Miku'.

what could be more fun than making yourself look pretty?

Heading outside and passed a music shop we saw a glass wall splashed with advertisements. One of the things I like about Japanese advertising is that they can be very direct.

What's your point?

Shortly afterwards we boarded the train. I'm so glad for all the train journeys we're taking. Especially in the west of Japan the land is stunning and varied. Sweeping vistas and rolling forested hillsides backdrop the small agricultural villages. Small bays and coves hold calm, turquoise waters. Wood and tile houses surround them with small gardens full of crooked oriental trees holding fruits which look like grapefruits and yellow plums. Behind the chorus of homes a stepped farm is built into the hillside, and the rows of green and brown are sometimes framed by pale silver boulders. The rustic utopia is occasionally punctuated with concrete bridges, asphalt playgrounds, and telegraph poles which dispel the image and reveal something of the nature of this lifestyle. In the distance the hillsides turn into mountains and it's hard not to get the impression that behind them you would simply find more, greater summits.

As the train moves onwards away from Nagasaki and towards Hakata larger urban gatherings appear and cranes, dams and trucks begin to encroach upon the natural beauty. Each new village and town is separated by the jutting hillsides which shift between distant wallpapering and protrusions almost bursting into the side of the train. The unkempt and unfamiliar barrage of trees seem like an impenetrable jungle. In a flash the jungle recedes from flat plains of crop divided by diagonally sweeping roads and streams. Wealthier two and three storey farmer's houses appear with their perfect tiling which curves like the shell of a tortoise. More sparsely and deliberately placed trunks decorate the borders of the property, and the raised greenery draws your focus to the grey rooftops. Only the location and the details (air conditioning units and aerials) identify these buildings as terrestrial.

As we pulled into Hakata the landscape had been replaced by grimy walls and roads bound by hotels with floors shooting well into the double digits. We disembarked and investigated the station shops. I found a foodstuff with pink blobs buried inside a nest of black/purple twigs. Asking the teller 'nan desu ka?' She replied a phrase which contained the word 'ume', so it's something made from plums I guess.

We stopped off at a standing udon soba joint. Remembering that some noodle dishes are served cold I asked the chef 'udon soba wa tsumetai desu ka? Atsui desu ka?'. 'atsui desu' she replied: its hot. Yay. More use made of my extremely limited Japanese. Great. Looking at the pictures we selected our dishes and matched the kanji to the buttons on the vending machine. I have learned that the first two rows of buttons at such places are the main dishes but the others are a mystery to me. Judging by the price I guess they're extra toppings.

A Japanese enigma machine

Ed receiving Udon soba at a standing restaurant

We eventually boarded the sakura 556 for hiroshima. It's easy to forget just how fast the shinkansen is. When you accelerate there's a point where you think the train must have reached its full speed and then theres a slight disbelief when the acceleration continues unhindered past roller coaster speeds and onto an entirely new level. The ride is so smooth and straight that there's no real sense of fear, however, even as you watch the wide open fields fall behind more swiftly than expected. The curves and gradients are very slight, but the sheer speed is so great that when ascending I sometimes feel my ears pop, and when descending I can feel a slight lifting sensation as I drift a little closer towards weightlessness.

The Sakura fast train returns us to Honshu and we pass through rows of tunnels and over sprawling suburbs. The flora appears more like that of my homeland now, the trees like pines but with thinner trunks. Set in neatly spaced rows along the skirts of the forestry, the gaps between the trees almost look big enough for hiking trails.

We arrived at Hiroshima and checked into the lovely Hana's Hostel. We have a Japanese style tatami room. nice :D

The place is really nice but we're not here to hang out at the hostel so we grab our rucksacks and head off to the Hiroshima peace park and atomic bomb museum.

Visiting the Nagasaki museum so recently I expected my emotional response to the Hiroshima museum to be more muted, and it mostly was. After most of the broad strokes had already been absorbed I felt little of the original horror. I was angered, however, by the news of the British colony at Hiroshima. Why had I not been taught this at school? Surely our own part in the shame is the most important part to learn about?

It is much to the credit of the Japanese that they highlight the deaths of the Korean forced labourers that were killed while building munitions in Hiroshima.

20,000 koreans diead in Hiroshima, about 10% of the total victims

Hell, as Dante described it, is on earth and it is within the power of man to create or avert it

We had a look around the peace park which, like the Nagasaki peace park, is a really nice place to just relax and separate yourself from the noise of the city. Inside the park This iconic industrial promotion building 'survived' the blast.

There was also this liberty bell surrounded by a pond full of frogs. It sounded nice so I recorded it.

sounds better from in here...

A bit later we went to find dinner. Today's Hiroshima speciality is Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki. This is a kind of batter mixture cooked with cabbage, bean sprouts, bacon, noodles, and some other bits, before being covered with a slightly sweet and salty sauce and some kind of herb! Delicious! We ate at a tiny place full of locals watching the Hiroshima Carps play baseball. The walls were smattered with posters of anime, AKB48, wrestlers, and baseball players.

Osaka okonomiyaki you're going to have to work hard to beat that

We headed back to the hostel and before going to bed I chatted with Tomoko, the hostel receptionist. She's very cheery and has helped me with various bits of planning. More importantly she gave me free sake to try; a dry and a sweet style. I preferred the sweet but have no idea what either was called; oh well!

Good night folks! Tomorrow we go to Miyajima!