I woke up in what is becoming an oddly familiar room. My 3rd stay in a 'double' room at Toyoko Inn this trip means that I can fully appreciate just how identical these rooms are. The day began with complimentary breakfast in the foyer, this is always an interesting experience and I try to eat something different whenever I can. Today I had 3 different, unknown, flavours of onigiri (rice balls), miso soup and an oddly nice pasta salad. Certainly not what I would eat for breakfast at home in Australia.
Seeing this view in daylight I began to realise just how Hirohima as a city is characterized by its past. The majority of the visible buildings are the unattractive concrete multi storey type of utilitarian buildings, which admittedly are the norm in Tokyo and the outer suburbs/newer areas of all Japanese cities I have visited. However after being in Kyoto for so long I had become used to the little patches of history popping up at every turn, even in the more modern areas. As everything in Hiroshima was completely destroyed the chance of me finding any visible history seemed unlikely, and I should have been more prepared for this, having visited Nagasaki a few years ago.
After breakfast I went exploring around the surrounding streets, the huge department stores and the station shopping complex dominate, but there was a winding, complex series of alleyways which create a street market, and I found some interesting little shops. I ended up buying some ceramic bowls for gifts from a tiny little shop, where everything no visible from the street was so dusty I doubt if the elderly couple who owned it had sold anything from the back shelves in years. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos.
This exploration had left me not far from where I was to meet my friend Riyo, and a friend of hers. They had flown to Hiroshima from Sapporo, and were meeting me in their hotel (which was a lot nicer than Toyoko Inn). After greeting, we set off to explore some of Hiroshima's famous places.
Our first stop, after taking a tram which made me think of Melbourne, was Hiroshima castle. Here I got the 'visible history' I was looking for. The outer wall and moat that you can see above, was only very recently finished, and seeing it made me realise just how wonderful some of the other castles I have seen on my travels must have looked when they were first built.
When I saw this tree, Riyo couldn't understand why I was so excited and walked up to it. I knew it was a gum tree (eucalyptus) it reminded me of home, and I wanted to know why it was there, inside the castle walls, of all places. The tree was one of only a few on the castle grounds which survived the atomic bomb blast, you can read a bit more about it here (http://www.lang-arts.com/survivors/castle.html )
This is the only photo I have of the main castle tower, and you can see what a popular destination it is. Hiroshima castle's main tower was one of the first iconic buildings rebuilt after Hiroshima was destroyed. It was completed in just 5 years, which I think is an incredible indication of how important the history of this city is to the people who are part of it. Hiroshima is not defined simply as a victim of the immense destructive power of modern warfare, it is a city with ancient history and significance, and a city creating a new future for itself.
This is a scale model (so very popular in all Japanese museums) of the original layout of the castle and surrounding town, the section which has been rebuilt is the large square area towards the left. Because of all the water, mazelike bridge system and the elevated design which allowed lower lying areas to be deliberately flooded to cut off enemies, Hiroshima had almost impenetrable defences.
Because it isn't all serious, we had some fun dressing up and posing in front of a photo of the castle.
The view from the top of the castle tower was beautiful, across the park to the rest of the city. I could even see my little Toyoko Inn (below)!
After buying some icecream and walking through the park we ran into Yuichi on a bridge! Of all the people in all of this huge city I happened to meet the same person twice, by accident. As he had no plans, he joined us for a very delicious dinner, which again, I didn't take any photos of. It was a very memorable day!
