No More Hiroshimas, WTRD 23, September 26, 2017

First order of the day...wishing Russ, my wonderful husband and best friend, a happy birthday.  It seems that Russ's birthday is always in a special place.  Last year we were in Chefchaouen, the blue city, in Morocco.

This year we are in Hiroshima, Japan, a beautiful city today,

but a scene of terror, sadness and despair on August 6, 1945 when America dropped a nuclear bomb, the first of its kind 600 meters above Hiroshima, in an attempt to stop the Pacific War perpetrated by Japan.

The bomb claimed 200,000 lives in a horrifying flash.  Those in a 3 km radius of the bomb center incinerated immediately.  Those in outer areas suffered immense burns, wounds, and blindness, and those even farther away suffered from radiation illness. Hiroshima was leveled. The following week, America dropped another bomb on Nagasaki.  Japan surrendered.  The difference then and now, is that America was the only country in possession of such a devastating weapon.  Today several countries have this weapon and we have the capability of annihilating the entire planet.

Kim Jong Un and Donald J Trump are you listening?  Do you know your history?  Do you have any horrifying awareness of what the future could be for people around the world and especially in America and Korea if a nuclear war is initiated?   Are we so far removed from our history that we are doomed to repeat it?  What will it take for us to embrace peace instead of aggression?  Must we the people  suffer devastation of war for ill conceived and vengeful show of strength by two men trying to prove who has the the bigger D?    Let's have no more HIroshimas. Please let it not be the USA to perpetrate conflict with the misguided notion that a single strike will prevent damage on our own soil and keep our citizens safe.   It won't. It will be the beginning of a miserable ending for all of us.

Japanese children by the hundreds were visiting Hiroshima's museums, peace memorials, and museums, today.  Seems scary to introduce the horrors of war on children so young, but Japan finds it necessary to do so because they are committed to no more war or more Hiroshimas, and the only way to do this is to train the future early and frequently.

Remains of a dead child's clothing after the bomb.

One can only imagine what is going on the minds of these students.  

Here are photos of our sobering day today.

Surprise!  Our Japan Rail Pass covers us on the Hop on Hop Off Bus..

The Hall of Remembrance

Peace Memorial - bombed out shell of domed building  (commercial exhibition hall) in the background.

The only building left standing after the bomb. The artistically refurbished  dome is a reminder of peace.

We have lunch at the Okonomi Yaki Restaurant and enjoy regional dish.  Okonomi Yaki.

Lotus Root Tempura with Okonomi Yaki sauce.

Happy Birthday Russ!

Covered Street creates semi closed shopping mall

Hiroshima castle rebuilt after the Bomb.  Inside is a Samurai Museum.

Hiroshima Shinto Shrine

Shinto faithful, clean hands and mouth before approaching the shrine..

At the entrance of the Shrine, the couple bows twice, clap their hands twice, and reflect in silence.

We did end it on our day on a high note by spending time in a beautiful Shukkeien garden, celebrating a birthday dinner, and having chocolate cake.

First signs of Fall

Koi feeding

Bird and Turtle

All is Well With the Worrall Travel R's in Hiroshima

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Hiroshima, WTRD 22, September 25, 2017

Hiroshima Tea and Sleeping Room

We really loved our retreat in the woods, and it was hard to leave this lovely Japanese wooden house. But the time had come, so we packed up our gear and moved out by 8:30 am.  We sighed a collaborative sigh of relief when we brought the rental car back without any dents or scratches.  The narrow mountain roads, lack of shoulders, cyclists with nowhere to get out of the way forcing cars over the line of opposing traffic, and big fat buses and delivery vans taking up their entire lane did not make for enjoyable country driving.

We turned in the car, boarded the train from Hakone to Odawara.  We got to Odawara almost two hours before our train, so I sat in Starbucks having a long leisurely latte.  Russ used the  time to find a cola, some take out lunch, and reserve train tickets for the upcoming days.   It sure is nice having a Japan Rail pass, and we appreciated it even more after the goofy mistake we were about to make.

The trains roll through the station at amazing speeds.

They stop just long enough for passengers to disembark, embark, and the train  rolls out.  Trains run about 2 minutes apart.  We were on the right track lined up for car number nine, the reserved first class car.  Our ticket was for 12:08.  A train came into the station  at 12:02.  We boarded and failed to notice an important detail.  It wasn't our train!

We sat down in what we thought were our assigned seats in a car with only a few passengers.  The train sped out of the station and the written welcome announcement flashed on the screen telling us the train number and destination.  Uh oh!

Uh Oh!

Our train didn't leave until 12:08.   It wasn't early.  We were on the wrong train, and our train was probably rolling into the station on the track right behind us as we took off and is now shooting ahead of us.  Oh well, we will have to pay better attention next time, but what to do now?

This train was headed for Nagoya, but we didn't recognize any of the stops along the way.  We were going in the right direction, but with many more stops,  and we wouldn't make our connecting train to Hiroshima if we stayed on this train. We couldn't find a conductor, so we decided to get off the train at the next station.  There were two young men sitting in the last seat of the car where we were collecting our baggage that was stowed behind their seats.  While Russ was getting our luggage, I pulled out my ticket and pointed to it to confirm whether we were on the right train or not.  No he said, we were going in the right direction but much more slowly than the train we had booked.  He suggested, we get off and find a platform conductor.

So we piled out of the train.  I saw a conductor two cars down.  I ran down the track while Russ stood by the luggage.  In my non-existent Japanese and his non-existent English, he looked at my ticket and told me to get back on the train.  By this time, the young man who had advised us to get off the train, had thought better of it and had gotten off to help.  He ran up to the conductor and he got the same story.  So he helped us toss the luggage back in the train, and we got back on the train just as it was pulling out.  He advised us to find the in-train conductor.

Once again, we stowed the luggage and sat down in some vacant seats close to the exit and in front of the young man who had helped us.  Russ went forward and then aft looking for a conductor.  He came back with a look of bemusement on his face. The conductor speaking and understanding only Japanese, finally conveyed to Russ that he would come back to us and tell us when to get off the train. We made one stop after another.  Finally the conductor came back and in fast Japanese (not that we would have understood if had spoken slower) explained to us where and when to get off.  We didn't understand at all what he was conveying to us.  Once again, I asked the young man sitting behind us. "What did he say"?

The man asked the conductor for the timetable book he was carrying, thumbed through the pages and told us to get off at a station before Nagoya where we could catch a faster train that would take us to Shin-Osaka in time to make our original connection to Hiroshima.  We asked if we needed to go to the ticket station and get re-ticketed for the change over to a faster train. No, he told us the conductor could ticket us on the train since we had a Japan Rail pass.  We thanked him and got off the train where we were instructed.  Before the train left, the young man saw us standing where we disembarked.   He scrambled out of the train before it took off and told us to walk up the platform and board cars 1,2,3,4 or 5 second class cars on the transfer train since we would not have a reserved seat. We thanked him again for the 10th time and waved goodbye as the train sped off, and our new train sped in as we walked to car 5 gate.

We boarded car 5, second class.  It was nice, but many more passengers.  We took the last two seats in a three seat row in the back of the car near our luggage.

When the conductor came through, he re-ticketed us to a first car class car with reserved seats.  We were only going two stops on this train and weren't sure it was even worth our while to move, but since he had taken the time to re-ticket us, we moved back to the first class car for two stops.

After two stops, we disembarked hoping that our connection was just across the platform.  It wasn't, but it was close enough.  We just had to go down the escalator, under the track, and up the other side. On our original ticket, we would have had to wait 35 minutes between train transfers.  Now we had only a 6 minute wait. We boarded the right train on the right track, going to the right destination!.

High five!

So it all turned out fine. and we arrived in Hiroshima on the correct train and on schedule time.

Lessons learned:
1)  Pay attention to the clock.  The time on the ticket is exactly when it leaves.
2)  Pay attention to the neon sign on the side of the train to confirm the number and destination.
3)  Relax, there are so many options and frequency of trains, that it will all work out in the end even if you screw up.
4)  It is nice to have the rail pass.  Not sure how we would have quickly resolved a wrong train issue otherwise.
5)  The Japanese people we have met are wonderfully kind and helpful even if we don't speak their language.

We arrived in Hiroshima, found our way to our new digs.  Nothing compares to our wooded house in the forest, but our new Airbnb will work out just fine.

Another height challenged door.

It has all the necessities and two tea rooms or sleeping rooms, plus a dedicated bedroom with a queen size bed.

Internet is pretty slow, so not sure how many photos we will be able to upload the next few days.


I didn't think  we would have much to write about tonight, so I thought I would share a new packing bag I bought for this trip.  In trips past I have used packing bags to separate out underwear, short sleeve and long sleeve tops, pants and skirts.  This has worked fined, but it does require opening each bag to assemble an outfit and to repack fresh laundry.   To avoid anything that causes undo  travel fatigue, I wanted to try something more casual in the way of packing and repacking every night.

I found this hanging closet online, and I love it.  I pack my skirts/pants in a regular packing bag that fits in the bottom of my carry-on.  The hanging closet holds all of the other clothes and accessories (scarves, underwear, etc.), and a dirty clothes basket at the bottom.  It collapses into the suitcase

 and extends while in the closet.  My cosmetic shower bag fits on top.   Love it, love it, love it. Soooo easy.

All is well with the Worrall Travel R's who made it to Hiroshima.

Twice Lucky - Mount Fuji Sighting, WTRD 21, September 24, 2017

The ground shook beneath our feet as we ate breakfast this morning.  It took us a few seconds to realize there was an earthquake as the wooden house we are staying in creaked like a sailboat tossed in the waves.  Our realization evaporated in seconds when all was quiet again.  We turned on the tv. Nothing but golf, soccer, and Judy Woodruff on PBS Newshour with voice over in Japanese.  The Internet said that there are so many earthquakes in Japan, that unless it a magnitude 5 or over they pay no attention to it.  So we guess this one was under five.

We rolled out the door by 9:00 this morning as we had a a distance to go.  We weaved in and out of heavy Sunday traffic on narrow roads, glad to be following in the wake of a big bus.

Pampas grass grows everywhere here, so why this man in a pink shirt was choosing to risk his life on the side of this skinny road cutting pieces was beyond us.

The bus is not pulled over, it is driving this close to the shoulder.

Sunday motorcyclists were also out in in force.  Some of them trying to slip around us on the shoulder.  I think they must have a death wish.

Our plan today was to drive around the back of Mount Fuji to the Five Lakes Area.  We made it to lakes 1 and 2.  The first lake was Yamanakako.  The sun came out long enough for a quick photo of the brightly colored paddle boats floating on the brown waters of this lake.

 As I stood on the dock taking photos there was some thrashing going on at water level by my feet.  EEEgads!  Big wide mouth carp were swimming around looking for a handout.  I think this would not be a place I would want to go swimming.

Our second lake was Kawaguchiko.  We stopped in one park to turn around and get our bearings.  I photographed a man walking his dog with paralyzed back legs and a wheeled apparatus to support the hind legs and let the dog pretend it was walking.

Turned out we saw two other dog walkers during the day with dogs who had paralyzed back legs. One man was walking bent over, pulling up on his dog's tail, and another lady had a harness around her dog's middle that she could pull up to assist the dog's back legs.  I don't know that I usually pay much attention to dog walkers unless they are conducting their business on our lawn, but today was unusual in that there seemed to be so many dogs with back leg paralysis.

Parking at lake Kawaguchiko was difficult, and we found ourselves a little ways out of town to park the car, find a nearby geocache, and have lunch.  The neighborhoold park was a busy place.  We ate lunch and shared a table with a lady intently watching all of the fishing boats on the water.  Turns out there was some sort of fishing derby happening.  As soon as all the boats came in at 12:50, she packed it up and went to the water's edge to meet some fishermen, who were rushing their fish and paperwork up the hill to the finish line.

We did find a geocache and photographed our visiting travel bugs.

The log inside the cache was soaking wet from an earlier rain.  As the sun was out and we were enjoying the day, we decided to let the log dry out on the picnic table while we ate our lunch.  Three young women near the picnic table were having fun practicing a dance of some sort.  We watched with amusement, packed up our lunch stuff, and noticed that one of the three was taking pictures of the other two.  Russ asked if they would like to have all of their photos together and offered to take the photo.

They were excited.  I asked if they would actually like us to take a video of the dance they were practicing and they were both shy and excited.  Russ took the video and I played the music on the their smart phone.  It was really cute.  When they were done, I asked if I could also video their dance. By this time they were very excited....we told them we were Hollywood movie producers....haha....just kidding.


Anyway, we all had a good time.

Turns out the ladies are in a wedding party next month and are just getting their groove on before the wedding.  All college graduates, two worked in offices, and one was a middle school special education teacher.  The middle school teacher spoke the best English, but we all communicated happily with one another.

From here, we walked into town to find the museum.  We found it...it was a little store front with one nice man, one Shinto statue and some interesting branding irons that hikers up Mount Fuji can burn into their walking sticks.

Each branding iron is specific to a station of a certain elevation.  We asked the man who spoke very little English where Mt. Fuji was.  He walked us out the door and pointed in a direction into thick clouds. Not promising!

From here we walked another couple of blocks up to the Kachi Kachi Yama Ropeway...a tram,that pulled us up a very tall mountain.

Roller Coaster Theme Park in the City Below

The promise was a great view of the lakes and maybe a good view of Mt. Fuji.  Like yesterday, we weren't too optimistic about seeing the mountain.  

Dark rain clouds were gathering around us and the mountain was socked it.  And just like yesterday, we got to the top of the mountain and the clouds started to move away from Fuji's face long enough for some photos.

A little perspective of how Fuji looms over the valley.

For about a half hour the clouds separated long enough for some photos and then closed back in to shroud the mountain.   We would love to come back in the Spring with cherry blossoms and blue skies.

We met both a Swiss woman and a Thai woman who spoke some English.  We struck up conversations, offered to take their photos and they reciprocated.

Swiss Photographer

Thai Photogapher

So much better than selfies!

There was a Shinto shrine at the first lookout platform.  The Shinto religion believes that god is everywhere in the trees, stones, rocks, rivers.  Their shrines are very simple, usually a distinctive red gate.

Two statuary animals, real land mythical, protect the entrance of the shrine.  This particular shrine was protected by a rabbit (signifying luck and fertility), and one other creature (not sure what it was, maybe another rabbit with its paws over its head) guarded the shrine.  Little children and adults like to touch and pet the rabbit for good luck.

It was close to three o'clock by the time we tried the Mt. Fuji dumpling on a stick

and left Lake Kawaguchiko for home.  We stopped to pick up some dinner to go and got back to the house after dark.  If we thought the narrow roads were a challenge during the day, they were terrifying at night.

We got back, ate our dinner, watched some news on the internet, worked up the blog, and tonight is the night we are soaking in the big wooden tub in the bathroom.  First we wash down and clean our bodies, then we soak in the tub.  Grabbing my towel!  This looks fantastic.....

Oyasumi

and it was!

All is well with the Worrall Travel Rs in Hakone, leaving tomorrow morning for Hiroshima