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I am so lucky that at the end of February my cousin Katie and her financé Brian were able to visit us here in Hiroshima, so here are some of the shenanigans that we got up to!
Atomic Bomb Dome and Memorial Park
We started with the Atomic Bomb Dome and Memorial Park. After the widespread devastation of the atomic bomb, the initial feeling was that preserving part of the devastation would be too painful for folks to see regularly. However, as the city rebuilt, there was a growing sentiment that the destruction might eventually be forgotten and overlooked, so this particular building was preserved. Despite being almost directly underneath the blast, it survived better than buildings further away, perhaps because the force of the blast was down as opposed to sideways. The rest of the park features plenty of green space and a number of other memorials. It is a complicated feeling walking through such a lovely park, which exists to memorialize such a tragic event.
Okonomiyaki Class
The other days were much lighter, and Katie found an okonomiyaki class for us to take which turned out to be a really fun time! Okonomiyaki is sort of a savory cabbage pancake with a lot of extra fillings. There are different techniques in different places but our rough steps went thusly. First, we made a savory crepe with the batter. Then we added cabbage, bean sprouts, and some fried pieces of dough for crunch and let them steam. In the meantime we cooked an egg separately to add on top of the lightly tossed and fried noodles which were also stacked onto the crepe. Somewhere in there we cooked some bacon, and a second crepe too I think? We finished it off by adding sauce and scallions in my case, but each of us had different toppings based on our menu choices. And then we ate it! The head instructor was Japanese, but there was an assistant translating for us in English, and demonstrating things at our table which was very helpful.
And we ended up with a delicious and filling lunch by the end of it!
Hiroshima Castle
We walked over to Hiroshima Castle to see what there was to be learned. This castle is a flat castle, meaning it was more a diplomatic meeting point and community hub, as opposed to a castle on a hill meant for defense in times of war. A number of the castles here no longer have their moats, (or if they are high enough on a hilltop or mountain they don't have much of a moat at all, just a large stone walls) but Hiroshima Castle still has a full moat complete with fish, and since we were there on a weekend the courtyard was full of food stalls and seating for folks to come and eat. There were a lot of oysters, and as I have learned at the local traditional crafts museum, they are somewhat of a Hiroshima specialty.
The museum itself was interesting. There was more English than many other museums which was nice and we learned more about the area. For example, at one point there were very strict laws around what types of art could be performed in Hiroshima, so the red light district moved to the local island of Miyajima. The castle, (like so many here) was destroyed around the time of the Second World War, but was rebuild. However, Hiroshima castle has been rebuilt twice. The first time was temporarily for a festival and the building was dismantled when it was done, but the second time is the permanent building which we see today.
Archery
When looking up things to do in Hiroshima, I came across another place that specializes in Kyudo, which is traditional Japanese archery. Unfortunately Jesse had to work so Katie, Brian, and I went to try it out. It was a lot of fun! Last time Jesse and I did it, the woman explaining had some knowledge, but not a lot. It was very obvious that this gentleman cared a lot and knew what he was doing. I was impressed that he could be standing off to the side (there wasn't room directly behind us) but still give us subtle corrections to our aim so that we would hit the target. The target was much closer than it would be during a proper competition, but we still missed on occasion! And even at that short distance the arrows curved so much that, we had to aim at the target of the person behind us (or in Brian's case at the wall) in order to hit our own targets.
Left: After some practice the instructor began keeping score the traditional way. Each column is one round, made up of two sets of 4 hits each. An X is a miss, and a O is a hit. He kept track from right to left, top to bottom. My scores are in the middle section. I was strongest in the middle but then the pressure to finish strong got to me!
Right: We had proper deerskin gloves this time. The instructor tied them correctly and removed them for us. It was even neater at the beginning, but this photo is from the end of our hour so the leather has shifted a little.
Miyajima Island
Hiroshima is nestled at the end of Hiroshima bay with a number of islands of varying sizes between it and the pacific ocean, so after the archery, the 3 of us took a ferry across to one of the islands with a special Tori gate. These gates are at the entrance to Shinto shrines, and represent the boundary and entrance to a spiritual location. Most of them are on land, but Itsukushima Shrine has a giant gate out on the sand flats. At high tide it appears to be floating at the entrance to an inlet, while at low tide you can walk out all the way out to the gate. We arrived as the tide was going out. (Below left: Katie and I, Below middle: The main prayer space (there are other wings to the left and right with additional spaces), Below right: Katie and Brian)
Haikyuu Movie
This is again probably of interest to only me and maybe like, 1 other person, but we went to see another movie! When we arrived in Sendai there was a pop-up store for my favourite manga/anime in preparation for a movie featuring the next part of the story. Well, the movie finally came out in early February and Jesse and I went to see it a few weeks later.
It was really good! I know the story since I have the manga at home, and this part of the story features the main character of the series, and my personal favourite character playing a volleyball game against each other at nationals, so I was pretty much guaranteed to enjoy it. Jesse has seen the earlier seasons of the anime with me (years ago now) but he hasn't read the books, and even he enjoyed it and was mostly able to follow along. I'm very glad we got to see it in theaters! 🥰
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