hiroshima/okimi

Right at the beginning of spring break, I took the train to Tokyo, and then an overnight bus to Hiroshima (it was cheap). I spent the first day looking at the Peace Park and the various museums and memorials. While it was definitely a sobering experience, it was almost too much to really register. I really felt almost emotionless looking at everything, and then feeling mildly guilty for not feeling worse about what I was seeing. Weird feelings.


Inside one of the memorials - the fountain in the middle represents a clock at 8:15 - the time the bomb hit. The pictures on the wall show various portions of the city as they would have looked from the spot the bomb hit.


The A-Bomb Dome - what's left of one of the few buildings to remain standing after the blast.

After that, I went to Hiroshima Castle - the castle was rebuilt in the 1950's - the original (and everything in the vicinity) was destroyed by the bombing. Interesting stuff, and nice views of the city.


One of the castle outbuildings and part of the moat.

I also had okonomiyaki, Hiroshima style. Twice. (Not the same evening).

The next day, I visited Shukkeien Gardens, which are supposed to be a miniature version of a small lake in China. Lots of beautiful scenery. There were also some couples having their wedding photos taken at the park, and I managed to get a few nice shots of them in their traditional dress.



Then I jumped on the train to Mihara, where my Uncle Tony lives - actually my dad's uncle. He moved from Canada to Japan in 1959. I met him once in Canada, about 17 years ago. But we were glad to see each other, and had a great visit. He also insisted on putting me up in a hotel in Mihara (their house is very small). We took a drive from Mihara to the smallest of Japan's four main islands - Shikoku and had a great Italian dinner (which included some interesting sashimi - seal, if I understood correctly.) The next day we drove down to Miyajimaguchi - and had lunch with his daughters. All in all, a nice little family reunion, even if communication was a bit limited!



I spent the rest of the day on Miyajima, which is a World Heritage site, famous for the Itsukushima Shrine and the "Floating" Torii Gate. I hiked all over the island, saw the monkeys and the deer, and took lots of photos.


I suspect the deer are more dangerous if you try to kancho them, like the girl in the picture.


The famous "floating" torii gate. (Only appears to float when the tide is in.)

The next day, I went back through Hiroshima, and caught a ferry to Nomijima. On Nomijima is the (very) small town of Okimi! I had read about the town before I came to Japan, and thought it would be cool to visit. There wasn't a whole lot of town, but there was a nice beach, so I took a bus there, and wandered around for a couple of hours. Then headed back to Hiroshima, and one more overnight bus back to Tokyo.


At the ferry terminal.


Part of Sun Beach Okimi

All in all, a good trip.

I should point out a couple things about Okimi - even though the pronunciation is the same, in Japanese it's not quite the same as our family name. The name of the town of Okimi is composed of two kanji (Japanese characters) which mean "ocean" (actually open ocean) and "beautiful." Our family name has the same first kanji, but the second one is the kanji for the verb "to see."

沖美 - name of the town

沖見 - family name

I'd known about the difference since around Christmas time, but since I was in the area, I thought I'd check it out anyway!