Hiroshima – RITs International Game Industry Course for 2023

day five: hiroshima

today was a lot both mentally and physically. mostly mentally, though. wow what a day. it started out with a two hour shinkansen to hiroshima. it was pretty cramped because i was sat in the reversible section facing cam, megan, and fabian. but the company was companionable and i enjoyed chatting with them.

when we actually got to hiroshima we went to a little center to get lunch. i got gyoza and rice which was really good. then we headed to the a-bomb dome. it was really surreal to see, especially considering how close to the epicenter of the blast it was. it was so close, within 600 meters, and yet there it stood still relatively intact. once we soaked that in it was time to go into the peace museum.

wow.

it was heavy. really, really heavy. reading the letters that parents wrote to their children, or older siblings to their younger siblings made me cry. they were such mundane letters, people expressing love and a wish to see each other soon, and yet it’s the knowledge of knowing that they never got to meet again. it’s such a tragedy, and seeing the horrors and atrocities that these people had to live through —less than eighty years ago, mind you— is insane. the suffering they had to endure, not only during the bombing itself, but for decades afterwards too is just-. i really can’t put it into words. and the fact that the u.s. decided to drop another bomb on nagasaki too??? horrific.

it’s weird to say that i ‘enjoyed’ the museum, because there definitely wasn’t joy involved per se. but it was an experience i’m glad i did, and it genuinely did make me stop and reconsider things. it offered pieces of history that i wasn’t even aware of, as well as modern history. i didn’t know that biden had been doing nuclear tests, but apparently the mayor of hiroshima wrote an official letter and implored him to rethink things, so that the atrocities that were seen in japan were never recreated elsewhere.

on a more lighthearted note though, following dinner me, belle, liam, esther, brody, vincent, megan, and skyler all went to the pokemon center. i managed to snag a really cool mug that had a bunch of dark types on it, as well as stickers of ditto and magikarp, a small dewott plushy, and a relatively large dragonite plushy for my older brother. but time was quickly running out and we didn’t have enough time to get a cab back to the station so all of us had to absolutely haul. ass. to get back the shinkansen station on time. it was rough not gonna lie, but so incredibly worth it.

the train ride back was a quiet one as we all kept to ourselves. i mostly reflected on the day’s events, and listened to my music. overall i did have a good day, but like i said by the end of the day i was both mentally and physically exhausted. tomorrow should be fun though since it’s our free day, and i can finally start spending a bunch of money!

that was a lot.

hey folks. i had a bad day. i’d rather not write about it but i don’t want to get in trouble or something.

i will first go over my thoughts on the hiroshima museum. i was already pretty well-educated on this event but of course it was a lot to take in. seeing the mundane, everyday possessions of people and then reading the graphic way their family members found them never got easier. war is probably one of my biggest fears and while i believe the existence of the museum is a necessity, this did make it hard to get out of my head for the rest of the day.

the next thing i remember doing was going to another shrine, but i was so dead tired from all of the walking over the past few days that i didn’t see much. i’m sure it was a lovely place but all i really remember was the koi in the moat.

[these fish were so cool. we threw ants from the wall surrounding the pond and they actually ate them.]

everyone went to the main building but i hung back to sit down for a bit. i looked up at the trees. had some empty thoughts.

[this is your sign to listen to entomongaku by chypho.]

everyone seemed to be in a tough spot so we pretty much went straight to dinner at the special okonomiyaki place. mine was very good but i wish i didn’t ask for pork, it didn’t add much. this wasn’t my first time eating this and every time i just kind of fail to understand the hype. like, this is a food. it’s fine. it’s not like it tastes bad, but it’s never an experience that inspires a repeat from me. i’m never thinking “man i would love an okonomiyaki right now.” but that’s ok. i think it’s good to have some foods that are only meant to be tried once.

[this tasted a lot like the okonomiyaki at my favorite japanese restaurant back at home. i’ve actually been learning how authentic that food is through this trip, it’s one-to-one with all of my favorites.]

anyway after that i lost my actual irreplaceable train pass and had a really sudden panic attack. steve handled it well but i hate that everyone knows what i look like when i cry now! really makes you just want to go in a room and never come out! haha. anyway bye :2

The Great Hiroshima Sprint

We woke up super early to prepare for our train to Hiroshima. To prepare for our 2-3 hour ride, I downloaded some episodes of the Queens Gambit, one of my favorite shows.

Going in the bullet train is one of my favorite modes of transportation just because of how fast it feels, and with a window seat this time, I could really experience the relentless speed first hand.

We got to Hiroshima and grabbed a quick lunch at a food court. Then we went around the Dome, which was a beautifully tragic sight to see. The fact that it remained so intact is still so fascinating to me. Afterwards, we went to the Peace Museum. It is incredibly tragic, yet optimistic in its goal to end nuclear warfare, and reading all of the stories and history was an invaluable experience.

After the Peace Museum, we went to visit a nearby castle, adding onto the many steps we’ve taken since entering Japan. We saw a lot of carp and koi fish, and another temple. For dinner, went to a unique place that had recently burst in popularity, but KCG was able to get us an impossible reservation, and it was a fulfilling and delicious meal.

After dinner, some of the group members and I split to go see the Hiroshima Pokemon Center, and as long as we were back at the station by 7:30 PM, we would be okay. After failing to hail a cab for 10 minutes, we finally got one and arrived at the Pokemon Center at 6:40 PM. After buying some stickers, it was time to go back. However, our group reached a point of indecision on how to get back: cab or station. With how difficult it was to get a cab, and our cluelessness with the subway, we wasted another 10 minutes. So, instead of wasting even more time, we decided to do what any sane tech students would do: speed walk.

It was a race against the clock and we were keen on winning. With our feet already straining from all of the walking throughout the past couple of days, our journey was made even more treacherous. The only thing motivating us was the fear of missing our train. It was a war between the ground and our feet; an unstoppable march towards the rendezvous point. Small disputes and skirmishes about directions caused tension, making it a mental battle instead of a physical one. After a long path of sweat and tears, we made it to the station at 7:31 PM, finding the rest of the group. This was an event for the history books.

Anyway, we got onto the train and it was a comfortable ride back to Kyoto, though Sten’s snoring might have broken some of the rules of the quieter, Japanese culture. After a long time doing laundry and a nice bath, I hit the bed and fell asleep faster than ever before

5/25 – Visiting Hiroshima

We visited Hiroshima today, and I learned a lot about the repercussions of that attack as well as the impact it has on the people of Japan even until today. We took the Shinkansen again to Hiroshima from Kyoto, and as soon as we exited the train we caught a bus near the station to take us to Peace Memorial Park. But first, food! I got a burger and fries from a food court area across from the park, and it was honestly one of the better tasting burgers I’ve had, if it wasn’t for its structural integrity (or lack thereof). The sauce, while sweet, also made the buns a little soggy, and so the meat slipped around and the burger was a bit messy to eat. It tasted good though, and had a fried onion patty on top of the meat patty. Overall, really good!

The burger even had a black colored bun!

After that, we headed into the park and saw the A-Bomb Dome, structural remains of a main showcase building that was virtually right underneath the point of explosion of the atomic bomb. It was shocking just how much of the building remained despite being in almost the center of the blast zone.

After that, we saw the Peace Memorial, and then entered the Hiroshima Memorial Museum. I’m not going to sugarcoat it: the museum was pretty heavy. The photographs were often graphic and the descriptions harrowing, but it was all real. It was insight and information that, although tough to stomach sometimes, was extremely necessary for context and learning. They even had a 1/100 bronze replica of the A-Dome, both before the bomb and after.

The bronze replicas, showing the sense of scale and impact of the bombs.

Once we had went through the museum, we then headed off towards Hiroshima castle to go see a Veteran’s Shrine. I learned from Yuuko-san, who we’ve been traveling on the Shinkansen with and has been our amazing guide on some of these trips, that the Veteran’s Shrine is actually a type of Shinto shrine, and that each prefecture has one, usually near their castles. This is because they originally were for praying for the soldiers who passed away during war, and now people use them to pray for the dead. I washed my hands and mouth at the entrance of the temple, and then performed the praying ritual, and it was cool to do something that the locals do often that I hadn’t really done before.

Hiroshima had some really cool architecture and buildings.

Once we finished there, we headed to a restaurant to have okonomiyaki! It was super delicious, and mine had pork, cheese, and seafood/squid in it, which was really cool!

It gave off pasta tortilla vibes, but even more filling!

Afterwards, we split up and I went into Bic Camera for a little bit, and was able to find the Nintendo Switch section by asking a worker in Japanese! I almost bought Fire Emblem Engage, and was shocked at how affordable the game prices were! The store was also huge with multiple floors, it felt like an extra tall Best Buy!

After returning to the hotel, I crashed once more and went to sleep. On to the next day!

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

Today we went to Hiroshima to visit the Peace Memorial Park and Museum. It was a really emotionally taxing day, but I think it was a really important thing to experience. We started the day by taking the Shinkansen to Hiroshima station and then bussing over to the A-Bomb Dome. This structure was almost directly below the bomb dropped on Hiroshima but it remained mostly intact. The structure was kept intact and not demolished due to people finding a little girl’s diary speaking on how important the building is.

After we were done looking at the A-Bomb Dome we walked across a nearby bridge to the rest of Peace Memorial Park. Here there was a flower bed filled with plants and trees donated by other countries, there were none from the United States. Next to the flower bed was a memorial to the children who were killed by the bomb. It depicted paper cranes and children flying around a bell. There were other small things scattered throughout, like a stone donated from Scotlands highest mountain. All of the trees in the park were donated by other countries, which was really interesting. The park itself is meant to symbolize peace and cooperation throughout the world, so the fact that so many countries and regions contributed to both its existence and preservation was really great.

After walking around the park and not letting Sten take a group photo next to the dead children memorial, we went to the Peace Memorial Museum. The museum was fascinated and also heart wrenching. The first floor had lots of information and artifacts on the foster children of the bombing. It also had a clock that counts the number of days since Hiroshima was bombed and since the most recent nuclear test happened. The latter was far too low, sitting at ~650 when I saw it. The clock also had gears that connect each other and are spun by a single gear at the top, which will have its speed increase whenever the earth is in danger. If the gear at the bottom of the clock is ever moved, the clock will self-destruct. This symbolizes that the earth is beyond saving and humanity has gone past the point of no return. The floors above the first showed all sorts of artifacts from survivors and victims of the bomb. There were sections on school chilren who died, parents who lost their children, fostered children, those who died from after-affects of the bomb, and what it was like when the bomb went off. After walking through all of those ‘exhibits’, we arrived at a large room that overlooked the first floor. This room contained a table that you could learn all sorts of information at. From how the city was rebuilt to how the atomic bomb was built. There was also information on the walls of this room that explained this information in greater detail. Overall the day was very difficult to get through emotionally, but it was a really important thing to do in my opinion.

Press Your Luck

I thought that today’s blog post would be super chill all the way through — we’re never that lucky, right? (Or unlucky, in my opinion!)

Today we took the Shinkansen to Hiroshima, the site of the first nuclear bomb dropped on Japan in the final days of WWII. While I was looking forward to a better look into the city’s history, I certainly didn’t think that I would be as affected emotionally as I was by this trip. After brunch, we first stopped at the A-bomb Dome, which is a building that was close to the hypocenter of the nuclear explosion that remained partially intact, miraculously. There was a man standing outside who was sharing information about his mother, who at 105 is currently the oldest survivor of the Hiroshima bomb alive today. He told us the story of how his mother developed bladder cancer twice due to the radiation caused by the blast, but that she made a full recovery and is still alive and healthy today. This was my first bitter taste of the overwhelming impact of this event.

Next, we headed to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, a museum close to the A-bomb Dome that houses many artifacts and personal accounts of how citizens were affected by the Hiroshima bombing. While I wasn’t prepared for this visit to be a particularly joyful one, I also didn’t think that I would find myself in tears twice while walking through the museum. Many pieces of children’s clothing that they were wearing when the blast occurred, as well as personal letters sent from parents to children and vice versa before and after the bombing detailing the devastation caused by the event were extremely difficult for me to read; as much as we are taught about the nuclear bombings in Japan and how much destruction they caused, reading from and listening to the accounts of children orphaned or severely physically damaged by the nuclear explosion makes everything feel a bit more real and all the more horrific.

To cool off after a pretty emotionally stifling experience, we decided to visit a nearby castle that also housed a shrine. We weren’t able to enter the castle itself due to the crowds, but we were able to walk through the gates and visit the shrine. The castle and the surrounding walls and buildings were incredibly beautiful (though not what you might have thought of when i said ‘castle’), and there was a river/moat with some koi fish and turtles in it that were very fun to look at! I personally didn’t pick up any mementos from this shrine, but there were some very cute carp figurines that held a fortune in their mouth that you could open, sort of like a more preservable (more expensive) omikuji!

For dinner, we headed to a local restaurant for some okonomiyaki, which was sort of like a noodle / egg / sauced up pancake that also included cabbage (and onions? i think?) that you could get a bunch of other toppings / fillings with. I only got pork added to mine, but Fabian and Skylar added seafood to theirs and said it was pretty good! Overall I liked it, but I didn’t like how the noodles on the edge were still somewhat raw and crunchy.

The original plan for post-dinner was to head back to the Shinkansen station and shop in that area for an hour and a half until we could jump on a train. I, of course, wasn’t happy with knowing that we had the opportunity to visit another Pokemon Center (yes, there is one in Hiroshima) and didn’t take it, so me and 7 others (Vincent, Brody, Esther, Chloe, Megan, Skylar, and Liam) decided to take taxis to the SOGO shopping center and press our luck. I had learned earlier that day that a TCG promotion had begun yesterday, which was why we were unable to get into the Pokemon Center in Kyoto yesterday, so I was worried that we would meet the same fate here. Thankfully, we made it to the Pokemon Center with plenty of time to spare and NO LINE!! So worth it!

The only problem with making this detour was that now we had to make it back to the train station with almost no time to spare. We wanted to take another taxi, but we realized that it would likely take too long, and finding the subway was a complete nightmare in the basement of Hiroshima. That left us with one option: to walk (or, more accurately, aggressively speed walk) for 30 minutes to make it to the station and avoid missing our train. And we did! And my legs were on fire. We technically made it there 2 minutes late, but that’s only because we made a wrong turn when trying to get into the station itself, which I think is pretty passable given that we were originally going to be 5 minutes late by Google Maps’ calculations.

Personally, it was 100% worth it. There ended up being a ticket issue last minute anyways, so we could have spared a couple of extra minutes, but I’m very proud of myself for taking the risk and making the trip a little bit more interesting (and expensive). The train rides back home were pretty uneventful, and I’m ready to just crash into my bed and wake up early tomorrow morning for another super busy day!

Food in Day 4: Hiroshima

I know on all of my other blogs, I tend to focus on food, but it does not feel right to do this on this day due to the experience we had. But to at least somewhat keep up with the bit, here are pictures of what I ate that day:

On this day, we paid a visit to Hiroshima and saw the Peace Memorial Dome as well as the Peace Memorial Museum. It was what I would consider a haunting experience. Seeing the dome, which seemed to be a beautiful piece of architecture in its prime, reduced to a skeleton of what it used to be surrounded by rubble is a scary image.

At the museum, the pain everyone suffered was immortalized with pictures and words, and it was nauseating to experience. How could someone morally do this to not just another innocent human being, but thousands of them? The thought itself is incredibly upsetting, but seeing it all before your very eyes brings it to a new level. Seeing all of the possessions the deceased had held dearly even during the bombing and the stories of people desperately trying to keep their loved ones alive was heart-wrenching. What may have been even more upsetting to me was the stories of those who submitted to their fates after fighting off disease caused by nuclear pollution for years.

The whole experience felt absolutely terrible, but I believe it was a necessary experience. We need to know history and why our ancestors were wrong to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes and lose our humanity as they did.

Next, we went to a Shinto shrine with hundreds of yellow lanterns.

Finally, a small group of us ran to and from the Hiroshima Pokémon Center before we hopped on the train back to Kyoto. That was the end of an incredibly emotionally draining day on this trip in Japan.