Miyajima.
After a fun and filling Thanksgiving dinner last week with about thirty other JETs and their Japanese friends, I headed off to Miyajima and Hiroshima for the weekend. Miyajima is most famous for having one of the Three Best Views in Japan, dominated by a massive torii (shrine gate) set out in the ocean. At low tide you can walk up to the gate; it really is gigantic and beautiful.
The momiji were in full color at Momiji-dani Park, where I witnessed this peculiar scene: a woman who seemed to be showing her cell phone to a deer and asking, "Mieru? Kirei na? (Can you see? It's beautiful, isn't it?)" over and over again. I thought, Oh no, this obsession with anthropomorphizing cute things has gone too far! But then, as she was running around wildly pointing her phone at various trees and asking no one in particular if they could see, it became clear she was on some sort of video call and was trying to show the person on the other end the autumn colors. I liked it better when I thought she was talking to a deer.
Hiroshima. The Atomic Bomb Dome can be seen on the left.
In Hiroshima, I was looking forward to visiting the Peace Memorial Museum and Atomic Bomb Dome, insofar as one can look forward to something so saddening and shocking. I guess I feel it is important, as an American living in Japan, to see firsthand the terrible legacy of the atomic bomb. To that end, the Atomic Bomb Dome was a powerful sight, a blasted-out building in the middle of the city's clean newness, a reminder of the singular strength of the bomb and the ruined city it left behind.
The Peace Memorial Museum was more factual than I expected, with a lot of information about what led up to the dropping of the bomb and the science behind it. The exhibits in the older wing focused more on the victims of the bomb; the display of stained, burned students' uniforms and belongings was especially moving. I learned that a large number of students were working outside at the time of the blast, helping to demolish buildings in an effort to reduce the risk of fire, and many died instantly or soon after. In some cases, the students' uniforms or lunchboxes were the only things their families could find in the wreckage.
One thing that made a strong impression on me was the complete lack of vengefulness or blame in any of the exhibits. More than anything, the message seemed to be: There was a terrible tragedy. This is how and why it happened. Please help us make sure it never happens again. It made me feel even more deeply embarrassed to remember the planned U.S. postal stamp commemorating the atomic bomb, which this store still proudly sells.
Several of the teachers at my school thanked me after hearing I visited the museum and dome. And all I wanted to say was, "No, I'm sorry!" But "sumimasen" just doesn't seem like enough.
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Comments (7)
Your photos are just beautiful. The blues of Miyajima are fabulous. I loved all the fall pictures of your previous post also.
Posted by Gayla | November 29, 2006 11:19 PM
I just cried a little...
(but thinking about the lady talking to a deer makes me laugh again)
Posted by persephone | November 29, 2006 11:22 PM
hiroshima is such a great city. i've never been there but a good friend of mine lived there for a while and always talks about the people and their strength. it's horrible what happened there. let's hope it never ever happens again.
Posted by gleek | November 30, 2006 2:12 AM
I felt the SAME WAY when I went to the Museum. I also was impressed (and surprised) by the lack of "laying blame" mentality it had. I found it facinating.
Posted by Sera | November 30, 2006 3:37 AM
hello and enjoying your blog. nice to see fresh and optimistic opinions about Japan. I always feel a little guilty and strange when I visit the museum in Nagasaki but here too I have never really felt the "blame". The museum seems to point out how horrible it all was and that it should never happen again. I know several people who were here at the time and survived and they have very open and friendly feelings toward me and seem to enjoy sharing memories...........
Posted by jan in nagasaki | November 30, 2006 8:24 AM
Lovly entry. I felt the same way when I was there. Now I am living in France and feel similarly when my (highschool) students ask about US foreign policy. Sorry's just not enough when the people are right there.
Posted by eireann | December 10, 2006 7:51 PM
hello Anjali !
I've been living in Tokyo for 2 years now. I just recently discovered your blog by accident. Don't really remember how... but most probably something food-related !
I really love the way you tell your stories and I love your sense of humour !!! That's probably also because I feel close to your impressions of a westerner discovering the japanese world.
Anyway, I've spent a long time reading through the archives...
Seriously, I lack the words to tell you how much I love your blog (and it's not a question of language, if I was to write in french it wouldn't be easier... mmh, yes, i'm french -I think it makes more sense if I mention it at that point, no ? ;)
Well, in many posts, I felt I wanted to tell you just that, and to say thank you. But I thought it was a bit silly and especially why react especially on that post or this one... They're all great ! Honestly. (don't worry I'll soon run out of adverbs and I'll stop congratulating you and that's better because you would start thinking I'm overdoing it !)
Anyway... Then I read this one, it really touched me - and that surprised me too because I'm not usually oversensitive with things concerning wars, tragedies, disasters. Of course that makes me sad. I visited the memorial in Hiroshima and I was shocked too, but, I don't know, it's your way of describing it, or maybe because it's a different tone from the usual posts...
That made me want to write something.
Well, I guess that's done by now !!!
(...mmh, that was just rambling on about my life !)
Thank you so much.
From what I understood, you're back in the States. I hope you're not too sad you have left Japan. I understood too that you love your life and friends in LA so that should be ok.
(They say in Japan that, as a foreigner, if you've been away for some time, you can't "come back" かえる to Japan because it's not your country. I think it's not true: you can come back if you want !)
気をつけてね !
(ah ah I'm just boasting with the 3 things I can say in japanese, I just thought you'd appreciate this encouragement !)
Oh, just one last thing:
If you miss something, if there is something I could send you by the post, I'd be very happy to do so !!! Really. (oups, I must have used that one already !)
Feel free to ask me.
Melanie
Posted by melanie | September 5, 2007 3:38 PM