6. If there are two things kids everywhere do, it’s waving at trains and chasing pigeons

Himeji Castle

Unlike Kyoto which is stuffed full of things to see, many cities have only one thing that we’re interested in and Himeji and Okayama were two of those places.  It has been a surprise at just how big many of the towns we visit actually are when on the map they just appear as a dot.  The two cities I just mentioned have half a million and three quarters of a million people respectively and many others we’ve visited have been even bigger.  One of the many great things about the rail system is that they still have bag lockers of varying sizes at the stations and for Himeji, where we rode in, locked our bags away, looked at the castle and went off to Okayama it was perfect.  Rather like the castle which really is one of the wonders of Japan and a magnificent spectacle, especially bathed in sunshine as we were lucky enough to see it.  As you turn around from the bag lockers

from near the top of Himeji Castle

there it is at the end of a long avenue leading from the station.  I nearly said it sits about a ten minute walk from the station but in fact it soars, rising up five stories from the foundation mound of rock.  It was built in 1580, is made of wood with a white plaster exterior which is blinding in the sun and it has all the extra bits such as a roof with decorative tiles and scrollwork that you would expect.   There was quite a crowd as we climbed steep staircases floor by floor in our socks to the top fifth floor.  It was full of huge pieces of timber and had the usual places to shoot arrows from and pour unpleasantly hot things onto any attackers.   I did think though that a few cannon shot or even European medieval siege engines would have reduced it to an untidy pile in a short space of time.  It survived WW2 having been painted black (to confuse the Americans someone suggested to me) although the city was extensively damaged.   

One of the highlights of Japan.

Himeji Castle

The Atomic Bomb Dome

We hear that another typhoon is on its way as we head towards a city we weren’t planning to visit but which you will all have heard of, Hiroshima.   Fortunately Heather had got us another hotel near the station and it wasn’t raining too much as we walked the 300 yards or so.  The typhoon blew through overnight and early the next day but we got out on the first evening to see the Atomic Bomb Dome and the Peace Park.  The dome was directly under the detonation point of the bomb which was 600 metres above the ground.  Amazingly much of the walls and the skeletal dome survived and it remains to this day as it was on 6 August 1945 after the explosion, as a memorial.  Stark in a couple of ways.  The museum would wait until tomorrow.   We’d met an Australian travelling by himself when we were in Kyoto and as Heather sat down in the bus I noticed him in the seat behind.  So I greeted him in a manner which I understood to be polite Australian “bloody hell, Heather, there’s that Aussie we can’t get away from”.  I was right, we had a good long chat.  Our two meetings were closer than the distance between the two times we met Lizzie but even so Japan is a big country.

140,000 people died in the explosion at Hiroshima and an estimated 400,000 by the end of the year.   Many children were in the city clearing previous damage when the bomb went off and families streamed in to search so they got the heavy radiation doses of the first 48 to 72 hours.   The museum has artifacts, facts and photographs and it is a sombre place as you would imagine.   One image I do remember well,  probably because of my interest in photography was of a wall and some steps where the outline of a person is exposed on the wall like a photographic image as this unknown person vaporised in the intense heat and left a mere shadow behind.

We visited another building which survived the bomb but which doesn’t attract many visitors.  This was the Hiroshima Branch of the Toyko bank which stands about 400 yards from the Atomic Bomb Dome.  It and the vaults survived the blast although 45 people died inside.  The reason I mention it, is that the bank reopened for business on 8 August, only two days after the bomb dropped.  When it rained the staff worked while holding umbrellas because of course there was no roof.

model of Fat Man

Most of these blogs are in a rough chronological order but I’m going to write out of sequence about the place that I’m sitting in now, Nagasaki.   As the second city for an atomic bomb it tends to be overshadowed by Hiroshima and far fewer people were killed in the initial explosion with estimates putting it at about 75,000.  The bomb was aimed at the Mitsubishi dockyards and missed, exploding a couple of miles to the north where the hills of the city protected a lot of the city from the blast.  Not though the school a little further to the north where 1400 children were killed.  Hiroshima’s bomb was atomic with a Uranium core, Nagasaki’s had a Plutonium core and had a greater explosive force.  There is a peace park here and a museum which is if anything more horrifying than the one at Hiroshima.  The artifacts are set dramatically and it was very graphic with more photographs of dead and mutilated bodies.   Originally there was a list of eight or ten possible targets for atomic bombs which was gradually reduced.  When it was down to three or four, Kyoto was still on it.

While we’re here, trump, The President of the USA is visiting Japan having recently threatened to use nuclear weapons against North Korea .  The visit provides him with a great opportunity to visit somewhere like Hiroshima himself and learn something but no, he’s decided to play golf instead.  

On our way here to Nagasaki, we came through a place called Kokura, which is what you might call a lucky place.  This was the intended target for Fat Man, the second A-bomb, but cloud cover meant that the bombardier was unable to see the target.  Kokura was left and the plane flew on to Nagasaki.  Even at Nagasaki there was cloud cover and the mission was about to be abandoned when a break in the clouds doomed the city.

As a comparison, it’s believed that about 25,000 people were killed in the firestorm caused by the intense bombing of Dresden and 40,000 to 45,000 were killed in the London Blitz.  Of course there was no radiation to contend with.  Probably worth mentioning that the Hiroshima bomb was equivalent to about 15,000 tons of TNT and the Nagasaki one equivalent to about 20,000 tons of TNT.  The largest US test was called the Castle Bravo device and was equivalent to 15,000,000 tons of TNT.   

Nagasaki from the Glover Garden

the mushroom shaped conifer at Nagasaki Peace Park

I know it may just be my sideways look at things but I noticed two things.   As we were on the bus trundling around the centre of Hiroshima, we passed a fast food place called Little Boy with a picture of a chubby kid as a logo.  Now that may not seem bizarre to you unless you know that the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was called Little Boy.  Then in the Peace Park at Nagasaki, off to one side, was a conifer pruned into a globe which with the trunk looked just like an atomic mushroom cloud.

What doesn’t ever seem to be mentioned is that the Japanese had issued orders that if Japan was invaded all prisoners of war and civilian detainees were to be killed, somewhere over 120,000 men, women and children.  In addition to this and having seen the mountainous terrain of much of the country I’ve no doubt that a guerrilla campaign could have lasted years and many Japanese soldiers would have been extremely dedicated to fighting.  Some of you may remember the story of Hiroo Onoda.  He was the WW2 Japanese soldier who would not surrender unless ordered to by a Senior Officer and was in the Philippine jungle believing he was still at war until his Commanding Officer was flown out from Japan, managed to meet him and issued the order.  It was 1974.