Kobe day 2

The weather was lovely so we thought we would go up Mount Rokko for the view of Kobe, Kyoto and Osaka. The Tourist Information people put us off hiking up - 5 had got lost in the last few months and we know from experience that signs are not the best. So we took a local train then walked uphill to the Ropeway station.

When we got back to Kobe we visited the Earthquake Memorial and Disaster Reduction Museum. First we watched a 3D film about the 2011 tsunami in Japan - it was horrifying to see people swept off the roof of a 3 storey building. Next we were ushered in to see a film about the earthquake and emerged from that into a mock up of a street after the quake. The displays were very well done and took us from the immediate aftermath to the rebuilding of the city and communities. A volunteer demonstrated the effect of a quake on structures and was delighted to learn Martin was a civil engineer.

In the evening we read an article in the Japan Times about John Kerry's visit to Hiroshima in which Keiko, the survivor who we had met, was quoted extensively. On the news was an item about a big fire in the Shinjuku district we had visited twice in Tokyo.

Kobe

We got a couple of trains to travel from Okayama to Kobe. The Japanese are very good at queueing for trains;

Sign at the station;

After dumping our bags we walked through Chinatown then down to the harbour. In 1995 there was a massive earthquake in which over 6000 people died and the city, harbour front and docks have been rebuilt.  One bit of the damaged harbour has been retained in the Memorial Park;

Along Flower Road which lives up to it's name, is a statue which toppled over. The clock still shows the time the earthquake struck and the photo shows the toppled statue.

Flower Road;

Later in the evening we heard that Kath had arrived in Hong Kong and met her friend who had flown out to join her for a week. We skyped Jess and Ryan to make arrangements to meet them in Kyoto.

Okayama bike ride

The hotel, besides free ice creams, had free bike loans. So armed with a packed lunch, a rubbish map and GPS on the phone we set off. Martin navigated us out of the city and we found the Kibiji trail. There are shrines, pagodas and burial mounds to see along the way. The signage on the path was terrible and we had one long diversion on the way which resulted in a few cross words being exchanged! Overall we cycled over 40km but most was flat easy cycling. Everytime we passed someone we said "kanichiwa" and nodded. We saw loads of herons, fields of rice and onions and carefully cultivated cherry trees. We had sore bottoms at the end of the day but it was good to get out into the countryside.

An uncomfortable but traditional pit stop luckily early on before the saddle soreness kicked in;

This little one's dad was trying to get her to eat cold rice but she was having none of it;

Beautiful calligraphy in temple souvenir books;

A car park at one shrine where people bring their new cars to be blessed by a Shinto priest;

Okayama first day

The bus from Hiroshima to Okayama took 2 hours - on the way out of the city I took this quick shot of plain clothes police getting ready for the G7 meeting.

The hotel was a bit tired and in dire need of redecoration but it had free hot and cold drinks 24/7 and free mini milk ice creams!

We spent the afternoon visiting a castle and the gardens - a repeat of yesterday's itinerary but different enough. I did complain in the castle because, unlike at Hiroshima castle there were no English translations on any exhibits. (I didn't really get anywhere.)

Okayama castle by the river;

The Koraku-en gardens are one of the top 3 in Japan.

This was weird - two young men photographing these dolls. They spent ages brushing the doll's hair and positioning them. I couldn't help but go and have a chat. It is a hobby which is big in Asia and growing in the west apparently. Photos are posted on Flickr and other websites and commented on. The dolls have 'manga eyes'.

Another entertaining evening meal - a quick ramen place where all the staff (including the potwash out the back) shouted a greeting when customers came in and a goodbye and thank you when customers got up to leave - at the top of their voices!

Last day in Hiroshima

Jess and Ryan left on the day bus to Kyoto and we had one more day in Hiroshima - a city I really like. We visited the castle - built in 1591, destroyed by the A bomb, now reconstructed. On the way three schoolboys stopped to chat with us. When we parted one told Martin he was a very handsome man!

The view from the top;

We couldn't resist the dressing up corner;

The Shukkeien gardens were our next stop which were originally built in 1620. The name means 'shrunken scenery' and valleys, mountains and forests are represented in miniature. There were at least 10 wedding photo shoots taking place - not surprising as the photos will be beautiful.

Some of the wedding couples;

On the walk back along the river two very nice ladies chatted to us and one gave me a magnet of Mount Fuji......it had JW.org on it....Jehovahs Witnesses.

For dinner we popped in to a small restaurant - you had to order from the menu using an electronic pen which transmitted your order straight to the kitchen;

Peace Park and an amazing encounter

The weather was forecast to be bad on our second day and it was; torrential rain. We met Jess and Ryan and headed straight for the museum which had excellent, but harrowing displays about the A bomb dropped in 1945. There were lots of police outside preparing for the G7 foreign secretarys' visit in a few days time.

We went to the cafe and 2 young students accompanied by an older lady asked us some questions for a school project. The lady with them was a survivor of the bomb and we chatted for a time and she left us her business card. We discussed what to do next as it was still raining. Meanwhile I went online to look up the lady; Keiko Ogura. It turns out that she is the 'go to' survivor for global TV networks including the BBC and journalists (later I was reading about John Kerry's impending visit and she was quoted in the article).

Keiko unexpectedly came back to join us at our table in the cafe. I bought her a coffee and the 4 of us spent an hour listening to her reminiscences and desciptions of life for survivors.

She was 8 years old in August 1945 and the family had recently moved out of the city centre in order to have room for a shelter from the 'everyday' bombs being dropped by the US. On the day the bomb was dropped her father had a premonition and kept the younger children home from school. Her older brother was in the city helping to clear bomb damage. He saw the B29 drop the bomb but watched the plane veer away so luckily his face was averted and that prevented his eyes from being damaged by the flash (however he did contract cancer later in life probably from the radiation and had died). Keiko's father was behind a sturdy pine tree so was uninjured.

Keiko is marvellous for her age - physically healthy despite being caught in the deathly 'black rain', but she told us how she had suffered psychologically from the whole experience. It was a moving but amazing encounter for us.

Jess and Ryan only had that day to sightsee so went off on their own. The rain cleared up and so Martin and I wandered through the peace park and spent time in the Memorial Hall.

That evening Jess and Ryan took us out for a meal to say thank you for our support and encouragement - they have had a fabulous year in New Zealand.