Hiroshima-what more can I say.

Mon 3rd October

               

This is what I call a train.

  Yesterday we arrived in Hiroshima and I'm afraid that when you mention this city only one thing springs to mind and that is that on that fateful day at 08.15 on the morning of the 6th of August life changed for the whole world with the dropping of the first atomic bomb.

The A-bomb dome,the bomb exploded right above it.

                       Hiroshima has picked itself up and it has turned into a typical modern Japanese city with all its hustle and bustle but on the edge of its offices and shops lie the peace parks and the monuments dedicated to that fateful day.I'm not going to get on my soapbox and discuss the yeahs and neahs of this event as I'm sure many people have done before and wiil continue to do so for years to come.

Flame of peace

The one thing I'll say is that the difference between the two parts of the city is immense with the noisy business centre and the sombre peace parks and I assure you the peaceparks are sombre.

Statue of Mother and Children in the Storm

                       We spent the Sunday looking around the area before fininshing off the evening in a restaurant which had been established as a family business in 1941 and was still going strong.

And the food was still excellent

                       The following day we decided to go in different directions with Lady Watson heading off to see the peace parks whilst I was going to head for the Manga library and the on to Hiroshima castle but on arriving at the library found out that like most public buildings shuts on a Monday.So back on the bus with the intent of heading towards the castle.

                             Whilst on the bus I spotted a tv advert for the Japanese navy museum complete with full sized submarine on display and to add to this the museum dedicated to the Japanese battleship Yamato with an actual 1/10th scale model on display.Looked like my days plans were taking care off.

                      The museums were in a place called Kure were the actual Yamato was built so it was into the main railway station,on to a suitable train and off we went.The train sped through the suburbs of Hiroshima and after about 40 minutes arrived at Kure station.Once again Japanese efficiency came to the fore with clear signs pointing the way clearly to the museums.

                           I arrived after about ten minutes at the Yamato museum whose frontage is dominated by a ten inch gun barrel,propellor and rudder from the Japanese battleship Mutso, and proceeded with about a hundred schoolchildren in tow to look around the exhibits.

A very big gun

                           When you arrive into the main hall you are greeted by the sight of this enormous well detailed model of the Yamato which is not far off the size of a real warship.

Must have taken an awful lot of Airfix glue

and a lot of patience.

                                 Off to the side of the model are exhibits in smaller halls detailing the building,launching,service record and its ultimate demise at the hands of U.S navy planes.

In need of a little TLC

                                There were plenty of exhibits and pictures of its life and also the role of the Japanese navy in WW2 with models of some of the various ships,aircraft carriers and submarines on display.Also on display were souvenirs from the wreck which were recovered by salvagers.

Bits

and bobs.

                 As well as the Yamato the museum deals with the shipbuilding of Kure from its infant days involved with the building and refurbishing of warships up to its retooling and then its movement into commercial shipbuilding including giant oiltankers.

Awful lot of oil.

                                Moving on to an adjoining hall I was greeted by the sight of a full sized Zero fighter in all its glory.This was an amazingly restored aircraft with extra peices of equipment on display all around the plane.This aeroplane complements the other icons including the Spitfire and Me 109 as being mainstays of WW2 airforces being instantly recognisable straight away.

Simply gorgeous

                                 All in all a great museum to visit and it makes up for not being able to see the pre dreadnought battleship Mikasa which was built in Vicker's shipyards at Barrow in Furness in Cumbria and is on display in Yokusaka south of Tokyo.

Waiting for the great flood

                                 The modern Japanese navy's museum is literally a stone's throw away from the Yamato museum and provides a sharp contrast in equipment and doctrine to its WW2 counterpart and it has free entance.

                                    Even before you arrive at the front door of the museum you are greeted by the sight of the modern day Japanese submarine Akishio standing in all its glory looking as though it is still ready to put to sea.

                                     Inside you are greeted by very friendly staff who although don't speak much English are very enthusiastic and eager to point you towards all the exhibits.

This museum tells the story of the origins of the modern Japanese navy from its defeat at the end of WW2 to its modern role in today's tumultuous times being involved amongst other thing anti piracy patrols in the Indian Ocean.

                                        The Japanese navy post1945 started of as a coastal navy involved mainly clearing mines from around its own coast mainly their own.From there it built up its resources and equipment into now where it is the fifth biggest navy in the world boasting some very modern and high tec equipment including the introduction of helicopter carriers.

Bad guy-Russian of course

                                             There are displays of mines which the navy has come into contact over the years from its infant days right up to its modern adversaries mostly covered in Russian or Chinese cryllics.Also as part of this display are the methods which they use to combat these mines.Right at the start they used methods to combat these mines which included sometimes kamikaze steering the boat towards the mine before veering off at the last moment hoping to set the mine off,somethings never change.Nowadays the use seadrones and such are widespread complmenting the use of helicopters and age old sonar.

Good guy

Another bad guy

                                      Moving on through the museum you come to its displays showing the development of the post war submarines through to its modern fleet.There are displays of how modern submarines are laid out and also how life goes on in these 'tin cans'including lay outs of modern submarines right down to the ingenious ways they store fresh food.

Watch what you sit on.

                                        At the end of the displays you end up at the preserved submarine and proceeding on to it through the conveniently cut out doorways you find yourself on board the Akishio and are able to witness first hand the cramp conditions you find on board even the most modern submarines.Cramp bunks,eating areas,working spaces prevail with even the captain not being provided with a big living space.

Captain's quarters

                           

Crew quarters

 

The high point for me was when the guide bade me to have a look through the periscope giving me a captain's view of the world.Lo and behold one of the new helicopter carriers was out in the bay but when I instinctively tried to find the torpedo button I found it had been covered in metal-bummer!

'Over here Tim san'

                               

'Target 60"'

 A great end to a very informative visit and one I hope to repeat.

                             

                                    Until the next time.See you when I see you.

                

The Googled Geisha.

Sun 2nd October 

    One of today's miracles of science

allegedly is Google maps and directions which even an idiot can see that it is about as useless as a chocolate fire guard.It is the equivalent of an idiot's guide to being dumb.Get a map and use common sense.I sat on Fri evening planning a way to the Kyoto film studio and within five mins it gave me five different ways of getting there.Two of them had me taking miles to get there.I consulted my paper map and had it figured out within seconds and when I headed out on Saturday morning it took me a whole half hour to get there from Kyoto station.As you will later learn Lady Watson used it to do her tour of the geisha district and was given some funny looks from the locals.

           After going our separate ways I headed out on a local train to Hanzomon,arriving into a sleepy suburban town where apart from the busy road through the town life went on at a nice leisurely pace.Walking to the studio took me about fifteen minutes,so much for google's directions.

          The film studio is also a theme park concentrating mostly on period pieces as it was mapped out like seventeenth century Japan with wooden buildings all around.

      There were demonstrations of sword fighting with the usual over exaggerated acting and shouting finished of with Ernie Wise styles of dying.Before you came into the outside set up there was a shop where you could get done up in the style of a samurai or if you were female a geisha complete with a whitened face.After you were tarted up you could walk about the sets strutting your stuff. But of course all at a price.

         All these sets still get used to make tv programmes and films.I entered into the house that is used in a medieval type drama complete with accessories and even period cooking utensils.

       I moved on over a period wooden bridge which with a few changes can be used as any bridge over many hundreds of years.It didn't even have water under it.Ah well that's show business .

        After another short walk I came to the photo shop where I decided to go in and have myself done up and photographed as a samurai.I donned the gear including a hairpiece(which got rid of my gray hair)wore the swords and had my photo taken.Let's just say that'll keep the grandkids away from the gas fire.

        I continued around the studio till I came to the Ninja show and it was just about to start so I made my way in to watch the the spectacle and I wasn't disappointed.There was some story about a man with some gold being relieved of it by some ninja and then being helped by a wandering hero.The story evolved into the hero being attacked by various demons but the audience enjoyed it.It was just like a pantomime with added ninja acrobats with once again the typical oriental overacting.

            Moving on I made my way into the main building where all the anime was and of course Power Rangers which had been filmed there.That definitely took me back to the early nineties when my kids were daft on them.

       Lunch was next on agenda with a Japanese Hamburg steak complete with pickled veg and miso soup(Japanese standard dish served everywhere and with every meal)the only downside was that it was served on a pile of fries.

        After souvenirs were bought I headed back for the train back into 

Kyoto.

      After finding out Lady Watson was still geisha hunting I arranged to meat her in the Gion district of Kyoto and duly made my way across the subway system which is not as easy as Tokyo's.I eventually met up with her and headed for the Yasaka shrine and I have never been so annoyed about a religious place in all my puff for as soon as I walked through the shrine gates I was confronted by a crab stick stall and just a little bit further in I came across other stalls and thought how dreadful that these stalls were allowed to be in the grounds of a holy place.Now I'm not religious and don't believe in a supreme being but I found myself asking where was Jesus to get rid of this lot.

   

  When I went further in I was confronted by hundreds of people milling about and a lot of them were in Japanese costume which was a barrel of laughs as most of them were speaking Chinese.By this time Lady Watson was using the Google direction finder on her IPhone trying to find the tea house she had planned to visit for her tea ceremony.Everytime she walked in the designated direction it would tell her to turn round in the opposite direction.This happened a few times before I asked her to try a map which went down like the Titanic and led us to parting company with her using her phone to find her tearoom and me using a map to find the nearest subway station.She eventually found her tearoom whereas I found a nice shower and a beer waiting for me at our shack.

         Peace was declared and we ended up would you believe in a Tapas bar.It's easier to eat with

chopsticks.

        Sayonara.