At the beginning of September 1999, I made a small weekend trip to the eastern part of Yamauguchi-ken and Hiroshima. First, I went over to a town called Iwakuni, which is in Yamaguchi-ken, but is very close to Hiroshima-ken. Of course, by "very close," I mean 40 minutes by train... my sense of near and far really got warped by in Japan! Anyway, I had a friend (a fellow JET), named Karen, living in Iwakuni, who was kind enough to let me stay at her place for the night. She showed me the main tourist attraction in the small city, which is a beautiful old five-arched bridge from samurai times, called Kintaikyo. It's one of Yamaguchi-ken's famous historical sites. Although it was washed away by a flood and rebuilt in the 1950s, it was still impressive, and fun to walk across. Apparently in the old days, only samurai were allowed to traverse the bridge, but now anyone can enjoy the up-and-down stroll... for a small fee of about 200 yen.

After a leisurely lunch at a traditional restaurant where we sat on tatami mats and ate somen (cold noodles which are incredibly refereshing in the summer heat), we went to the tiny island of Miyajima, which is about 20 minutes away from Iwakuni, off the coast of Hiroshima-ken. It is famous for its giant torii gate built in the water, meant to look like it's floating, said to be one of the three most beautiful views in Japan. It really was incredible; the whole island was beautiful, with a charming little tourist town, and several temples and shrines. The biggest shrine, Itsukushima shrine was built over the water on stilts, so like the torii, the whole shrine complex also looks like it's floating during high tide. It was absolutely stunning.


In addition to the beautiful view and the quaint, shop-lined streets, Miyajima is famous for its large population of tame deer. It was really surreal to be walking around and pass by a bunch of deer, meandering along near the stores, or lounging beside the walkways. They are a little pesky, though, when they want food. Perhaps pesky is an understatement. Karen and I were walking towards the main shrine, when we heard thundering footsteps behind us. We both froze in place, not knowing which way to turn. A few second later, a man tore past us with a bag of food and a soda can in hand. He was followed by a deer... and another deer... and few more. It was like a stampede! Karen and I just kept completely still out of fear of getting run over by a deer, and watched as the not-so-bright guy kept running with his food. After our initial fear of getting trampled by deer passed, the situation was hilarious. I mean, the guy had obviously done something stupid to provoke them-- and then he wouldn't just drop his food, he kept running. No harm was done, though! Other than that, we had a very peaceful time walking around the little town and enjoying the scenery of the mountains and sea. The island is directly across from a very urban part of Hiroshima-ken, so it was a startling contrast to be walking along the streets of this picturesque little village, surrounded by a beautiful natural setting... and see skyscrapers back on the mainland- that's Japan for you!

So, the next day, I went to Hiroshima on my own, and spent the day there. In the morning I went to the Peace Park and Memorial Museum- a very moving experience. It is one thing to study about the atomic bomb, but it is another thing to really see the effects of it right in front of your eyes. They have preserved one building by the bank of the river that was left standing after the bombing... they call it the A-Bomb Dome, and it's just a shell of a building. It is quite a sight, with all these modern skyscrapers in the background, showing how Hiroshima was able to grow and rebuild so quickly. The Peace Park was very moving, with many memorials. Probably the most powerful one is the Children's Memorial, in tribute to Sadako, the girl who contracted leukemia as a result of the bomb, and believed that if she could fold a thousand paper cranes, she would recover. She died before she could finish this task, and to this day, thousands of paper cranes are delivered to the memorial daily from schools around Japan. It is really amazing to see them all heaped there by the statue. I wish I could have folded even one crane, but I am terrible at origami. Visiting the Peace Memorial Museum was also quite an emotional experience, with displays about the bomb... models of the city before and after, artifacts which survived, drawings by bomb survivors depicting their horrific experiences. It was really a worthwhile visit.

So, having spent a very somber morning, I spent the afternoon just enjoying being in a big city... I shopped, of course! The department stores are huge there, like eight stories tall... really amazing stuff! Hiroshima is very very urban, and it was a lot of fun to just walk around and see everything. For lunch, I ate okonomiyaki, a dish for which Hiroshima is famous. Delicious!

Altogether, it was a very enjoyable trip... I returned to Hiroshima twice more during my stay in Japan, and hope to see it again in my lifetime, especially the tiny island of Miyajima. It's one of the most beautiful, special places I've ever visited, and the image of the torii gate and the shrine floating over the glassy waters of the Inland Sea leaves a very strong impression in my mind.