Bullet Train to Hiroshima

After touching down in Tokyo at 5:30 last night I rushed through immigration and customs to the JR train terminal at Tokyo's Narita Airport, determined to travel as far west as possible before the trains shut down for the night. Until yesterday I had only seen bullet trains, or shinkansen as the Japanese call them, in pictures and TV shows. Actually riding one for the first time was a pretty good rush, and I enjoyed every moment as the train ramped up to speed after each stop and hauled along the wide banking turns. I passed through suburban Tokyo and stared out at the endless streets filled with neon signs and giant concrete apartment buildings. The train stopped in Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe, among other Japanese cities. As I headed toward Himeji, the stop I'ｄ get off at, I mapped out the route I was taking in my guide book. I added up the miles and divided by the number of hours it would take me to get to Himeji, and I figure the train I was on must have been traveling at least 150 MPH. Imagine a train that could take you from Salt Lake to Las Vegas in less than three hours and that's about what it's like to ride a Japanese shinkansen.

I forgot how much I love traveling. After my train pulled into Himeji I walked through the deserted city streets searching for a place to crash for the night. It's such a thrill to me to suddenly be half-way around the world wandering through a completely foreign city at midnight with no idea where I'ｍ going to sleep. As crazy as that sounds, things always work out. I found a cheap ｂusiness hotel　and for only ￥5000 I got my own room that was perfectly clean with a decent bathroom and hot-water shower. Even when things don'ｔ work out it's still an adventure. The worst situation I'ｖe ever been in was getting stranded in Pisa, Italy at 2:00 in the morning, and even that wasn'ｔ such a big deal. After wandering through the city to check out the Leaning Tower I spent a few hours sleeping on the concrete floor of train station with some friends I was traveling with, and by 7:00 the next morning we were back at our hotel in Florence.

Himeji Castle is widely known as the most spectacular medieval Japanese castle, and it was a great way to start off my month long trip through Asia. The castle was built in 1580 and features five stories, impressive tiered roofs and whitewashed walls, and countless features that allowed warriors on the inside to attack oncoming invaders. I spent about an hour wandering through the dark wooden interior. I stopped to look at several different exhibits, including ancient Japanese armor, guns and spears that were used at the castle during the 16th century, and artistic renditions of Japanese warriors defending their homeland. My favorite part of the visit was the amazing views that could be seen out of the windows of the castle. One particular room had giant windows on all sides, some of which opened up into an ancient courtyard and others that featured sweeping views of the city of Himeji.

I love Japanese food. In the US it seems like every last Japanese restaurant is dedicated to serving sushi, but there are so many other incredible things to eat over here. It's nice that there are cheap fast-food places in Japan that serve legitimate Japanese dishes. I stopped at one such place after visiting Himeji Castle this morning and had a giant bowl of rice, shrimp and vegetables covered in tempura, miso soup, and a tiny plate with a mysterious pickled vegetable that I could only bring myself to eat one bite of. Eating a cheaper meal in the afternoon means that I'ｌｌ be able to splurge on a real Japanese feast at night.

Another ride on the shinkansen took me to Hiroshima this afternoon. As I left the train station and waited for a bus that would take me downtown and old Japanese lady approached me and motioned that I was waiting for the wrong bus (everything was in Japanese, I had no idea). The lady pointed me to the correct stop, then made sure that I got on the right bus. Everyone here in Japan is incredibly friendly and incredibly respectful, and this lady was no exception. As I thanked her for helping me she smiled and bowed her head like everyone does over here. While riding the bus into town I realized that the lady was old enough to have been alive during the time when the bomb was dropped. She must have known I was American, as American travelers stick out pretty much wherever they go. I couldn'ｔ help but wonder if she lived near Hiroshima in 1945 and saw the terrible devastation that took place.

The Peace Memorial Museum, also known as the A-bomb Museum, is partly dedicated to campaigning for worldwide nuclear disarmament and partly dedicated to depicting the terrible effects of the atomic blast. One exhibit informed visitors that every time a nuclear weapons test has taken place since 1945 the administrators of the test have received a letter of protest from the mayor of Hiroshima. Copies of hundreds of the letters were displayed on the wall. Another exhibit depicted what life would be like during a nuclear war; informing visitors about ｎuclear winter, starvation resulting from food shortages, and worldwide radiation poisoning spread by radioactive soot circulating throughout the world.

Towards the end of the museum I passed several gruesome exhibits that candidly displayed the effects of the pressure wave, 3000-degree temperatures, and radiation caused by the blast. Some of the exhibits were relatively mild, including chunks of sand from ground zero that had been turned to glass by the blast, watches from victims that had stopped at 8:15 AM (the time of day when the bomb was dropped), and ceramic roof tiles that had melted and fused together like lumps of lava as a result of the searing heat. One exhibit was particularly disturbing for me. It was an old tricycle that had been disfigured and charred black during the blast. The father of the boy riding the tricycle originally buried the old toy with his four-year-old son, hoping that somehow he would be able to use it in the hereafter.

I spent about an hour wandering past several monuments in the Peace Memorial Park and circling the A-bomb Dome, a building near ground-zero that partially survived the blast and has been preserved in the condition that it was in after the explosion.

Dinner tonight was at a local restaurant called Kroud. I read in my guidebook that most restaurants in Japan aren'ｔ tailored to cater to tourists and this one was certainly the case with Kroud. My waiter brought out one of the chefs, who spoke some broken English, and with his help I ordered a plate of sashimi and a bowl of okonomiyaki a regional dish typically found in Hiroshima. I loved the fact that everything about the restaurant was authentic, from the food to the lack of English-speaking staff to the ambiance that reminded me of the interior of the medieval Japanese castle that I visited this morning.

I'ｖe always wondered how authentic Japanese food compares to what is served in the United States. Is the stuff I eat at Happy Sumo analogous to a Taco Bell variation of Mexican food, or is it more like Red Iguana？ After one meal at a real Japanese restaurant in Japan, I'ｖe decided that Japanese restaurants in America serve reasonably authentic food. With that said, the stuff over here is of better quality and there are plenty of dishes available that aren'ｔ offered in America simply because nobody would order them. I don'ｔ think I'ｖe ever seen okonomiyaki, for example, on a menu in a Japanese restaurant in America. Americans probably wouldn'ｔ order a bowl of shredded fried eggs over cooked cabbage topped with a tangy Japanese sauce. In Hiroshima, though, I thoroughly enjoyed my okonomiyaki and would probably even order it in the US if I could find it in any restaurant.