04.01.05
Hiroshima Day 1: You know you’re jet lagged when…
…this doesn’t feel like a foreign country. Daryn in my Japanese class at SCU said I would adapt to the Japanese day pretty easily. And true, so far it hasn’t been too hard. I did want to take a nap today at about 3 p.m. JST, about 10 p.m. PST, but I fought it off by sightseeing. But this doesn’t feel like a foreign place, just a big city I haven’t been to yet. Somehow that has to be wrong.
For sightseeing, I visited Hiroshima Peace Park. The sun was setting, but I got some great pictures of the Atomic Dome with the sunset making it glow like like the wrath of the heavens. It was cool. When it got too dark, I went to a nearby street mall and found a restaurant to eat at. There were some very interesting shops.
Why do I feel like Japan should be more alien? Have I just not gotten to know it well enough? Probably. Is it an emotional detachment due to jet lag (and possibly anticipation)? Probably. Is it the Starbucks and American fast food (and 7-11) at regular intervals? Maybe a little.
Hiroshima and Tokyo just seemed like big cities I didn’t know, not foreign. I’ve gotten lost in Washington D.C., too. Yeah, OK, everyone speaks a foreign language, and everything is written in a foreign language. And I understand some of it, but certainly not all (or even that much- I’m getting by in pidgin Japanese). That’s why I think it must be jet lag. It’s just not sensible.
Also, in a weird way, I’m having anime and video game flashbacks. Just now I’m hearing a siren, which takes me into any number of anime. While sightseeing, I ran into a shop/arcade that strongly reminded me of the Gold Saucer Wonder Square play area in Final Fantasy VII. The tram plays the same rattling sounds as the little spirits in Princess Mononoke when a person enters.
As I said, I felt tired after my long train ride and hauling my suitcase to the Hotel Flex. At least I stopped wearing my coat. Once again this morning, I arrived at the train with both the coat and myself drenched because it trapped the heat of my efforts. I resisted the urge to lie down, and instead prepared to go out, even though there was only about an hour or so of daylight left. I had hoped to lock the computer to the bed frame, but all the furniture is solid and cube-themed. There is a small handle bolted to the back of the chair, so I attached the lock to that! I just hope if someone were to attempt the theft, that people would also notice them carrying a small chair. Hmmm.
After studying the maps and brochures the hotel staff gave me, I headed to the tram (lightrail?) station. There’s a stop very near the Atom Dome. In Hiroshima, you pay your fare when you disembark the tram. I arrived at the Atom Dome at sunset. The lights of the golden glow lit up the skeleton building, in a scene both beautiful and terrible.
This interesting memorial was to students who gave up their studies for the war. There were many similar monuments to the various sacrifices people made.
I wandered around looking for other park sights, especially the memorial to Sadako. Sadako was a little girl with cancer who heard that if she folded 1000 paper origami peace cranes, she would get her wish for a cure granted. Sadly she died after folding only 663 cranes. The other children in her class folded the remainder. The whole thing was so touching, they erected a statue in her honor and the hope for peace. People from all over the world, mostly schoolchildren, have folded sets of 1000 cranes, and they are on display around the statue.
(These photos are especially for Stacie)
I also saw the cenotaph and not-entirely eternal flame, which looked great at dusk. The flame is not an eternal flame because when all nuclear weapons are removed from the Earth, it will be extinguished. Sadly, it will probably by reasonably eternal. It got too dark for any more picures, so it was time to hunt for dinner.
I had seen a shopping arcade (fancy open-air mall term) off to the side in my journey, so I headed there for dinner. Now that it was fully dark, it was lit up like Vegas, especially the pachinko parlors. There were all sorts of shops and restaurants, and I happened upon the Gold Saucer Wonder Square-like arcade.
The first floor was all “catch” games. Crane game variants that take your money without necessarily giving you anything. I was drawn to the second floor which promised a print shop. I like those little photo stickers, so I went up to look. Wow. Although none of the booths made stickers, it was filled with photo booths of different types. You could take pictures with your friends and then draw on them. They even rented costumes so you could be a ninja girl or your favorite anime character. Sans-costume, I had to try it out. It was tricky figuring out the buttons, so some of my pictures are less than ideal, but I think it was great fun.
Dinner was at a Japanese version of TGI Fridays (but not an actual TGI Fridays). It had a variety of food from around the country at reasonable prices, and an extensive fancy drinks menu. I could tell I was jet lagged, because although I ordered a drink, I couldn’t drink it. Instead, I’ve been sucking down the Japanese equivalents of Gatorade: Pocari Sweat (sounds bad, but tastes like citrus Gatorade), Kirin 903 (who knew they made a lot of stuff besides beer?), and Kirin Amino Supli. I haven’t wanted caffeine yet either, but I have drunk some green tea. I’ll probably feel even better tomorrow.