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A Beautiful Break
May. 4th, 2007 12:10 amRecap of the rest of my trip:
Monday: Visited Peace Memorial Park. The Peace Museum was heart-wrenching (and sometimes stomach-wrenching), really, the only museum I've been to that was even slightly similar was the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. The rest of the park was a beautiful and moving memorial, especially the Children's Peace Memorial.
I've heard debates before on whether the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings were justified, and I don't see how any of our WWII-era motivations (or probably any motivation) could have made such an act reasonable. The immediate death toll from a nuclear attack is staggering, but all the textbooks I've seen have brushed over the fatally injured, tens of thousands dying painful deaths over a matter of days or weeks in a situation where even adequate palliative care is thwarted by the destruction of infrastructure and the massive number of injured.
(The rest of the trip wasn't so emotionally heavy... it seems a bit callous to write about it now. :-/ A brief pause...)
Tuesday: Explored downtown Hiroshima. Saw Spiderman 3. I enjoyed trying to read the Japanese subtitles but could only recognize the occasional word. Wandered around the district of Hiroshima known for it's nightlife, but found that most clubs there seem to be 日本人 (nihonjin; Japanese people) only (which annoyed me on principle, even though I don't care that much about those particular establishments).
Wednesday: Took the bullet train to Kyoto. Met Doc Itoh (a really cool guy who Vito knows (through a friend) from his research work). Itoh-san had kindly offered to host us during our stay in Kyoto. He speaks excellent English, so there were no issues with communication (although I enjoyed trying to speak in Japanese as well). Talking to him about his research (focusing on archeology and plant biology, apparently) was very interesting, and he helped us quite a bit with our Japanese. Itoh-san also shared some interesting Japanese foods. I can now say I've tried umeboshi (pickled Japanese plums; texture like a slightly mushy plum, extremely salty and sour), and while that's not something I'd choose to eat frequently, I enjoyed the experience.
Today: Visited a bamboo forest park and a huge Zen Bhuddist temple. Had an interesting conversation (largely in Japanese!) with a random trilingual foreign exchange student. Overall, a very relaxing day. Only annoyances: My seasonal allergies are killing me (weren't bothering me at all until the last few days), and the ATM at the post office was closed when I tried to get more money (I'm running a bit low). I spent somewhat more than usual on this trip on (really awesome) food. I was able to save on accommodations due to hostel niftiness and Itoh-San's exceptional generosity, so I guess the trip wasn't too expensive. Still, I'll have to watch my spending when I get back to Tokyo.
Tomorrow: Going home on the bullet train. I got some homework / studying done on the trip, but I should probably have done more. I have quite a bit of work to do over the weekend when I get back.
Overall, this trip was awesome, and I'm really glad I went.
Monday: Visited Peace Memorial Park. The Peace Museum was heart-wrenching (and sometimes stomach-wrenching), really, the only museum I've been to that was even slightly similar was the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. The rest of the park was a beautiful and moving memorial, especially the Children's Peace Memorial.
I've heard debates before on whether the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings were justified, and I don't see how any of our WWII-era motivations (or probably any motivation) could have made such an act reasonable. The immediate death toll from a nuclear attack is staggering, but all the textbooks I've seen have brushed over the fatally injured, tens of thousands dying painful deaths over a matter of days or weeks in a situation where even adequate palliative care is thwarted by the destruction of infrastructure and the massive number of injured.
(The rest of the trip wasn't so emotionally heavy... it seems a bit callous to write about it now. :-/ A brief pause...)
Tuesday: Explored downtown Hiroshima. Saw Spiderman 3. I enjoyed trying to read the Japanese subtitles but could only recognize the occasional word. Wandered around the district of Hiroshima known for it's nightlife, but found that most clubs there seem to be 日本人 (nihonjin; Japanese people) only (which annoyed me on principle, even though I don't care that much about those particular establishments).
Wednesday: Took the bullet train to Kyoto. Met Doc Itoh (a really cool guy who Vito knows (through a friend) from his research work). Itoh-san had kindly offered to host us during our stay in Kyoto. He speaks excellent English, so there were no issues with communication (although I enjoyed trying to speak in Japanese as well). Talking to him about his research (focusing on archeology and plant biology, apparently) was very interesting, and he helped us quite a bit with our Japanese. Itoh-san also shared some interesting Japanese foods. I can now say I've tried umeboshi (pickled Japanese plums; texture like a slightly mushy plum, extremely salty and sour), and while that's not something I'd choose to eat frequently, I enjoyed the experience.
Today: Visited a bamboo forest park and a huge Zen Bhuddist temple. Had an interesting conversation (largely in Japanese!) with a random trilingual foreign exchange student. Overall, a very relaxing day. Only annoyances: My seasonal allergies are killing me (weren't bothering me at all until the last few days), and the ATM at the post office was closed when I tried to get more money (I'm running a bit low). I spent somewhat more than usual on this trip on (really awesome) food. I was able to save on accommodations due to hostel niftiness and Itoh-San's exceptional generosity, so I guess the trip wasn't too expensive. Still, I'll have to watch my spending when I get back to Tokyo.
Tomorrow: Going home on the bullet train. I got some homework / studying done on the trip, but I should probably have done more. I have quite a bit of work to do over the weekend when I get back.
Overall, this trip was awesome, and I'm really glad I went.
