No, Really, I Am an American

Lunch at the Asse, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, and the Peace Park
Thursday the 22nd of February 2007

We agreed to meet at 11:00 AM, as that was the given check-out time. I set the alarm for 9:45, figuring that I’d probably be up well before then, but just as a safety precaution I’d make sure I had enough time to shower and repack things. It turns out I was far more lazy than I anticipated because despite waking up much earlier, I was way too happy and warm right where I was; heck, I even drifted off again. I was quite reluctant to leave the bed ‘cuz it’s you know, a bed — like with a springboard and everything! Don’t get me wrong, I like my futon, we get along pretty well…but when I get the chance to sleep on something with more of a cushion I’ll gladly take it. It ain’t everyday that I get such comfort!

Anyway, taking a shower I remembered why I liked Japanese hotels like this one. Instead of little bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, they have dispensers of it so you can be as liberal as you want with the lathering.

Once I finished getting ready, I still had about a half hour before I had to meet everyone else. I read a little more, flipped channels one last time, then grew quite bored. I ventured out into the hallway to find out if anyone else was awake yet.

I knocked on Mike and Anna’s door first since I heard the TV through the door and what sounded like a hairdryer. Mike answered and Anna explained how my Kuya was being a pretty, pretty princess that morning taking about forty minutes in the shower before Anna finally kicked him out at 10:15. He made this adorably cute face like a little boy, and explained how he just liked taking showers. I couldn’t really begrudge him that because I’m the same way; if I’m having particularly bad day or something, I find I feel better after taking a shower. Darya used to say it’s where she liked to think things over or some such.

Anyway, I moved on to find out if Phil and Steve were functional yet. I knocked softly first, but then a little louder the second time. I listened at the door and didn’t detect a thing. I found it highly unlikely that they were still asleep, so Anna called them via the hotel line. Nothing. I ended up calling both of them on their cells to discover that they were already downstairs in the lobby. Knowing that Mike and Anna would take a little more time, I decided to join the others.

Steve was checking his e-mail, and Phil was reading my copy of Soulforge.
Fun thing about Phil and me, we have the same tastes in books. I blame him, Jacob, and Steve for getting me into The Song of Ice and Fire cycle.

Mike and Anna were not far behind me. While Anna turned in their room key, Mike went to the Internet to find out if hanging munchkin myth was true or not. (I had told them last night that it wasn’t, but they just wanted confirmation.)

We were back to Hiroshima Station after that. We figured we could just get lockers there so we wouldn’t have to lug all our stuff along with us. Thereafter, we decided we should probably eat something.

We were right by the Asse Store, so we decided to try our luck at one of the restaurants there. I’m pretty sure that it was at this time that all the “ass” quips began: eating out of an ass, checking me out in the ass, you get the idea. Naturally, this was mostly the boys’ doing — Anna and I just rolled our eyes for the most part, although Anna did manage to throw in a couple of her own choice remarks.

We ended up eating at a place called “Bom Dia”, which was really similar to a Saizeriya. All through the meal, well, the majority of it anyway, the assery continued. “It’s moments like this that remind me why I fancy women,” I muttered dryly.

Asside from the witty repartee of Joey “Eat Me” Donner, I mean the boys, it was a pretty standard lunch. Although, Anna and Mike ordered this wicked tasty honey toast thing that we all shared and ordered another of — seriously it was amazing! Soooo gooood!

It was off to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum after that. We decided to hoof it, since I needed to get some extra cash and I had seen a UFJ on the way. Besides, it wasn’t that far of a walk and we needed some exercise after all that honey bread.

During our trek, we came across various markers detailing some information from the bombing and the aftermath. I was reluctant to take pictures, but I had taught John Hersey’s Hiroshima for Contemporary Lit and wanted to send pictures back to Mrs. Clesson. While we were walking, Mike explained that he’d heard that while Hiroshima’s museum is about promoting peace and the dismantling of all atomic weapons, the one in Nagasaki is just plain bitter. There was no reason for the second bombing and the museum while not flat out saying it represents resentment towards America. It was hard to know how to feel about that.

The first major thing we came upon as we neared the museum and Peace Park was the Atomic Bomb Dome. It was the skeletal remains of Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, now simply known as the Atomic Bomb Dome. It was an eerie thing to be looking at, which pretty much foreshadowed the rest of what the afternoon was going to be like.

We were coming up to the museum the back way, so we came upon the Children’s Peace Monument. Looking at that reminded me of reading Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes when I was in elementary school. The monument was surrounded by thousands upon thousands of delicately folded paper cranes, some of which were woven together to make banners or posters. It was quite the sight to see.

We took pictures of the monument and read the inscription: “This is our city. This is our prayer. For building peace in this world.”

We passed the burning flame and we came to The Memorial Cenotaph in the center of the park. Just beyond that was the museum itself.

It only cost Y50 to enter the museum. At the beginning, it gave information about Hiroshima before and during the war. One of the things I had discovered in reading was the different targets for the bombs. I was shocked to find that Kyoto had been considered. It sounds awful, but there was this part of me that was glad it wasn’t Kyoto. I know it sounds weird, and believe me when I tell you it’s weird to admit, but Kyoto has too many historical and cultural treasures — the thought of all that being lost just doesn’t sit right with my mind. This ain’t to say I’m happy about what happened…it’s just one of those things.

The second floor was mostly where all the remains were located. The pictures of the victims seen in most all history books and on the Internet were there — the one of the lady with the kimono burns, the fellow with the strange spots, etc. I think one of the hardest things for me to see was the wax replicas of three survivors with the flesh melting off. It was one thing to read about it in the book, it’s another thing to see a more physical representation of it. I took a few snaps of molten roof tiles, fused bottles, and some other miscellaneous remnants, but that was about it.

I signed the guest book, scribbled some message about hope for peace, and was the first of our group to leave the museum. I’m not trying to be dramatic or anything, but it was just weird and haunting walking through that museum. I know it’s one of the horrors of war and that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not the only victims of the war, and that there were many heinous war crimes committed at that time, but it was another thing to know that it was the Americans who made this particular decision. And as an American citizen, it was…well, you get the idea. As a kid, I grew up thinking that we were always the good guys, the white hats. It’s just an odd thing when black and white ain’t so black and white anymore. Well, you know what they say about history…

The rest of the group trickled out as the hour approached 4:00 PM. Our shinkansen was scheduled to leave at 7:00 PM, so after taking a few last pictures of trees that survived the blast and Aioi Bridge, we decided to try our luck at the Hiroshima harbor.

When we reached the tram platform, it was discovered that it would take quite some time to get out there, so we figured it was best we just head back to the station and kill time there. I gotta admit, my stomach was starting to do this weird roiling thing; I don’t think it was related to the museum and I associated it more with the vast amount of honey toast I had consumed earlier.

Once we reached Hiroshima Station, we decided to go our own separate ways and meet back at the lockers at 6:00 PM. I followed Steve and Phil to the bookstore, only to be sorely disappointed. Hence, I went off in search of coffee or something. I had also decided to buy more momiji manjuu, this time the cream cheese kind (I had tried some of Anna’s the night before); hence I went back into the Asse Store. I made my purchase and then found a UCC Cafe. It probably wasn’t the smartest thing for me to drink coffee with my stomach bein’ all kinds of unhappy, but I just wanted to sit down somewhere and read. I was disappointed I wasn’t hungrier ‘cuz the menu looked pretty choice. There was this waffle thing with strawberries that looked particularly tantalizing.

After choking down the majority of my American Blend, I went to find the others. We retrieved our belongings and ended up going back to the bagel place we’d seen earlier while we were leaving Bom Dia. We introduced Steve to yet another rather American treat; he wasn’t so keen on this as he was say most everything else we’d had him try, but he did like it. I was once again amazed at my Kuya’s seemingly ever expanding stomach as he consumed two sandwich bagels and was still thinking about more food.

The shinkansen ride back to Shin-Osaka wasn’t all that exciting. I read most of the trip home and it wasn’t long before we reached our destination. I was still feeling a bit ill, so we all decided to call it thereafter.

It was a good trip, though. It was nice to get out of Kansai and I’m glad I got to spend this time with Fight Club. I freely admit that it was a bit odd not having Darya and Jacob with me to share in it…but I did think of them while we were all together at various points in the trip, and so did the others. Absent faces and poor reactions to honey toast aside, it was a great weekend.