Hiroshima - Mar. 10

I woke up with my roomate around 5am this morning and we were waiting for the bus by 6:15 AM. A professor from the University has organized his annual field trip to Hiroshima and this year 120 students have decided to participate. The main event of this trip is the speech of a "hibakusha" or an atomic bomb survivor. I filmed part of the speech and hope to be able to put it on YouTube eventually. The speech was a retelling of the events that took place on August 6 1945 in Hiroshima in great detail, but especially with lots of emotion. The speech was concluded with a message that this story should never be forgotten and passed from generation to generation so that history does not repeat. The speech really had an effect on me, I felt deeply moved and concerned, and for the first time I could slightly have a feeling of how atrocious it was for everyone. I cannot put into words what was the feeling in the hall that afternoon, but many people had tears to their eyes during the story.

After visiting the Peace museum and the Peace park, we headed to Miyajima, an Island that is 30 minutes away from Hiroshima by train. This is apparently one of the top three popular sights of Japan, mainly because of the floating Torii gate in the water. It was cloudy today and it was starting to get dark so there was an eerie feeling to the island. Going to this island really felt like a unique experience and the residential area looked like ancient Japan with the very narrow streets and the traditional houses with no door numbers, no street names, but just the family name on the house. We stopped at a small restaurant where they were obviously not used to greeting foreigners. When I came in, the owner did not even say welcome (usually a given..) and I asked if they were still operating. Every time we would call the owner's attention to get one more beer (we asked politely, with a "sumimasen"), she would only look at us and listen to our request. Usually, to avoid ambiguity the store owner or the clerk says a heartfelt "YES"... Some people talked to us a bit and of course complemented us on our Japanese even if we just exchanged a few words and they even went to the extent that we could eat well with chopsticks! (I had read that this could be expected from Japanese people who have nothing to say to foreigners, but just want to be on goodterms (honne)). Wow, I was surprised, I had had the "Nihongoga jouzu desu ne" but the chopstick thing was the first time. I answered that I ate chinese food back home sometimes so I practiced a little before coming to Japan. (What can you answer?)... And the natural answer to "Your Japanese is good!" is a humble, no, not quite yet... no matter what is your level. I had a discussion with a friend here at the dorms about that, and if one's Japanese is truly good, then it is just taken for granted that you understand Japanese and they answer back in Japanese without passing a remark.

At the end of the evening, half an hour before the shop closes, the clerk told us something about the store closing and that we had to pay... this is also the first time it happens, and I thought it was pretty rude and un-Japanese. Maybe she had false beliefs, or prejudices about foreigners... Oh well, the meal was still very enjoyable and alot better than the Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki we had downtown at an impossible price.