Joban line, 0923 Minami-Senju to Ueno
Yamanote line, 0936 Ueno to Tokyo
Both suburban trains were pretty packed, though in each case the train before the one we got was much busier.
Tokaido Shinkansen, Hikari #467, 1003 Tokyo to Shin-Osaka arr 1303
The Tokaido Shinkansen was the first 'new main line', opened on October 1st, 1964, just in time for the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. That cut the journey time from Tokyo to Osaka down to four hours: today, the fastest trains do it in just two and a half hours.
Unfortunately the Japan Rail Pass does not permit travel on Nozomi services, which are the fastest services between Tokyo and Osaka and beyond; nonetheless, there are more than enough semi-fast (Hikari) and stopping (Kodama) services on the Shinkansen that you can easily make any journey you wish, it just might take an hour or so longer. In this case, our Hikari service took three hours to get to Shin-Osaka (the new station built for the Shinkansen to serve Osaka).
*This* is what trains are meant to be like: wide, spacious carriages; plenty of legroom and seats that recline; sixteen carriages so there are plenty of seats; and a top speed of 168mph (270kph). It didn't seem that fast, probably because the line has a lot of tunnels, many more than I was expecting: that says a lot about how many mountains Japan has. We stopped twice for about ten minutes each in stations to let faster trains tear past. Nonetheless, three hours to cover a distance of 343 miles is rather good.
I could niggle: a lack of soap (seemingly intentional, rather than by omission) was annoying, but this appears to be quite common among Japanese public toilets. The seats didn't always line up with the windows perfectly, either, but given how small the windows are required to be on a high-speed train I can understand. But these niggles should not distract from a superb train journey.
We arrived in Shin-Osaka, where we picked up some lunch. I also bought the pocket version of the Japanese rail timetable - 864 pages at 10x20cm apparently counts as a pocket book - for just ¥500 (about £4). Very good value for an excellent and nearly comprehensive timetable, with just one slight problem.
It's in Japanese.
Nonetheless, I perservered and have found planning journeys with it to be quite easy, once you learn the symbols for a few places - and you can figure that out from the excellent maps at the start.
We had just under 20 minutes in Shin-Osaka until our next train:
Sanyo Shinkansen, Hikari Railstar #563, 1322 Shin-Osaka to Hiroshima arr 1454
This was a shorter 8-car train, but with a top speed of 177mph (285kph). Inside, however, it was very similar to the previous train, and I won't say any more.
We arrived in Hiroshima, and got the streetcar (basically a tram) to our hostel, the Reino Inn, which Jonathan had booked for us. We checked in, but it was only 3:40pm so our room wasn't ready yet, so we left our bags and headed to the Hiroshima Peace Park.
Hiroshima became synonymous with utter devastation almost as soon as the first nuclear bomb detonated 160m above its centre at 8:15am, August 6th, 1945. Within just a few years, however, the city had been rebuilt, and its very existence is a testament to the strength of peace.
On an island between two branches of the river, a park was built in memory of the 140,000 victims of the bomb, only half of whom died on the day, the rest falling victim to complications of radiation sickness and burns. At the entrance to the park is a museum: Jon and I spent two hours looking through the excellent and very balanced exhibitions, many of which were quite graphic.
The whole experience was quite harrowing: there is a panoramic photo on the wall of the utter devastation caused by the bomb, which simply beggars belief; models of the city help to bring the point home. The most poignant exhibit was a pocket-watch, frozen in time at 8:15am, its owner dying a few weeks later of his injuries.
The details of some of the illnesses and injuries that the hibakusha - the survivors - had to endure was almost nauseating: that was the last exhibit, save for a photo of a flower growing in the dust a few months after the bomb, as a symbol of hope, with the words:
That autumn
In Hiroshima where it was said
"For seventy-five years nothing will grow"
New buds sprouted
In the green that came back to life
Among the charred ruins
People recovered
Their living hopes and courage
In a strange way, it was also quite optimistic: there is a real drive in Hiroshima and Japan to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Anyone who still believes that any country possessing nuclear weapons is a good idea need only visit Hiroshima: thankfully there is real hope that President Obama will try and push for an end of the most horrible weapon humanity has ever devised - for the good of all mankind.
The museum exits out into the main park, which is directed towards the A-bomb dome, the dome just 350m from the point of explosion whose shell survives intact. In the centre is a huge arched memorial: after going through the museum I couldn't help but drop to my knees in front of it, overwhelmed by emotion.
There are a number of other memorials dotted around the park: one remembers the Korean victims, who perished as slaves of war but who went unrecognised by Japan for decades; another remembers the children who died of illnesses in the years and decades after the bomb. The whole place is an incredibly serene and poignant place, and will stay with me for the rest of my life.
We returned to the hostel at about 8pm, and then headed to a nearby Japanese "fast-food" restaurant; I use quotes because while it is fast and cheap, it is very like 'normal' Japanese cuisine and doesn't feel as cholesterol-laden as anything like McDonalds. A curry (well, a Japanese impression of one) for ¥590 (about £5) each was pretty good.
After that, we returned to the hostel and played some Go before eventually getting to bed, ready for a day trip to the nearby island of Miyajima on Tuesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment