Kobe, Japan by Stacey

Kobe, Japan (April 11-14)

Post from Stacey

 

Hello,  Konnichiwa

Thank You,  Domo arigato

Goodbye,  Sayonara

 

Currency:  102.37 Yen = $1 US

 

Octopus balls, hmm . . . .  not one of my favorites.  All soups seem to taste fishy and the noodles are thick and slimy.  Rice bowls are yummy and of course tempura, sushi and Kobe beef are the best.  Vending machines are plentiful and BOSS cafe au lait is available canned, hot or cold, from the same machine.

 

Japan is very expensive, very orderly, clean, with many unobtrusive garbage cans and people who follow the rules without penalties.  For instance, there is no fine for littering, but people take pride in their community and would not think about making a mess of common areas.  Another example is folks standing at street corners with no autos passing, and waiting patiently for the walk light to turn green.  Wow, what a contrast to human behavior in most of our other port cities.

 

Kobe is a pretty city with flowers, greenery, parks, artwork, and lots of covered pedestrian streets lined with shops and restaurants.  You can get anywhere by train, commuter or long distance, in a timely fashion.  There is no graffiti defacing the train or any property for that matter.  The first day in Kobe, we explored on foot and walked about 13 miles by Craig's pedometer. 

 

Day Two we took a bus trip to Hiroshima.  Five hours one way was not too hard after all the walking the previous day.  On August 6, 1945 the US dropped the first atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima.  Clocks stopped at 8:15 a.m. as everything within 2 kilometers of the hypocenter was leveled and hundreds of thousands of civilians lost their lives.  We visited the Peace Memorial Park and Peace Memorial Museum that were constructed in 1955. 

 

The Peace Memorial Park is beautiful with many monuments including the Cenotaph for the A-bomb victims, the Flame of Peace, the Children's Peace Monument, and the Fountain of Prayer.  The Flame of Peace will burn until all nuclear weapons on earth have been destroyed.  The arch of the Cenotaph is aligned with the A-bomb Dome, the twisted shell of a 1914 building near the hypocenter that somehow remained standing after the bombing. 

 

Nearby, a statute of a young girl standing atop a long dome, holding a giant origami crane - the symbol of health and longevity, is the Children's Peace Monument.  Sadako Sasaki was exposed to A-bomb radiation when she was two years old.  Ten years later she had radiation related leukemia.  Twelve year old Sadako started to fold cranes in the hope that if she reached 1000 she'd be cured.  She died before reaching her goal, but her classmates continued after her death and went on to build this monument.  Schoolchildren from around the world continue to fold paper cranes in memory of Sadako and other children who struggled through the effects of radiation exposure.  Thousands of paper cranes are housed at the base of this monument.

 

The Peace Memorial Museum contains models of the city before and after the bombing as well as many pictures, artifacts and actual remnants damaged by the blast, the heat rays, or the radiation.  The history of the development of the atomic bomb is also illustrated.  It is sobering to see and heartbreaking to think of not just the atrocities and tragedy of any war, but specifically the role our country had in dropping two atomic bombs on Japan (Hiroshima and Nagasaki).

 

Amazingly, this city has bounced back and become a symbol of world peace.  "Hiroshima's deepest wish is the elimination of all nuclear weapons and the realization of a genuinely peaceful international community."

 

Day Three Craig was on duty and stayed behind while Kelsey, Eric and I joined the two inter-port students on a train trip to Himeji.  We visited Himeji-jo, White Egret Castle, a fabulous white, plastered, hilltop structure built in the early 17th century and designated a national treasure in 1931.  My imagination wandered to the days of the Samurai as we toured through this huge, solid wood beam maze built on top of a monumental stone foundation, with multistory watchtowers and moats.  This feudal-era fortress served as the backdrop in the James Bond movie You only Live Twice and the Tom Cruise film, The Last Samurai.      

 

Our final day, Kelsey again joined the inter-port students and some of her other friends and traveled to Kyoto (see Kelsey's blog entry).  Craig, Eric and I toured the city again on foot with Ken (SAS Executive Dean).  We were fortunate to be in Japan during cherry blossom season.  The gorgeous trees were in bloom everywhere and only last for 10-14 days before all the blossoms fall.

 

On a final note, Japan has the most fabulous public toilets.  At highway rest stops you find large, clean bathrooms with attendants and fresh cut flowers.  An adequate number of stalls and to make you feel at home, your choice of western style toilets or squatters.  The western toilets were complete with all options;  bidet squirt, spray, or wash, (these were pictures, so I could guess what they were) sounds of a babbling brook, heated toilet seat, and other options I wasn't sure of since it was all in Japanese:)