Daily notes and photos.
It’s a day of firsts: my first night in Tokyo and my first earthquake! About 10 minutes ago I’d just gone to be in my seventh-floor hotel room in Ueno and it started to wobble! There was a magnitude 6 (on the Japanese scale) earthquake in Chiba prefecture which was a 2 magnitude here in Ueno.
And as I type this post there was a bit more of a tremor.
So much for “more tomorrow”. Rather than get further and further behind, I’ll jump ahead to the present. Today I left Fukuoka and took the train to Nagasaki (though I think that the ticket counter guy at Hakata station gave me a seat in the green car, for some reason). I arrived and, rather than try to find the information centre that will help make accommodation bookings I decided to use the JR hotel near the station. Alas, the non-smoking rooms are fully booked so I’ve had to take a smoking room (and made liberal use of the air-freshener).
After a bit of a rest up I set out to spend the afternoon at the Nagasaki Peace Park, Atomic Bomb Museum and nearby sights.
While the main focus of the Nagasaki Peace Park is the Fountain of Peace and the Peace Statue, it also includes the “Peace Symbols Zone” with monuments donated by countries all over the world.
I really liked the statues donated by the USSR and P.R. China (below).
Not far away was the Urakami Cathedral, once the largest Catholic Church in Asia, it was destroyed by the bomb. Visitors are restricted (or, at least, I was today) to a metre or two beyond the doors, but the very contemporary stained glass was still quite nice. In spite of the quite different styles of glass and architecture, the preponderance of blue reminded me of the chapel at Buckfast Abbey. Alas, there were signs prohibiting photography.
The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and the adjacent Nagasaki Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims left me feeling, like those in Hiroshima, that these are amongst the most affecting and important museums in the world. The museum has an interesting display which combines a topographical model of the city with a projector mounted above it and a video presentation and voiceover. The projector is used to highlight areas and display effects on the model as they are explained, which I found to be very effective.
The focus of the memorial hall building is, unsurprisingly, the hall itself. It contains 12 “pillars of light” and a large column of shelves which hold the registry of the victims of the atomic bomb.
The Hypocentre Park is directly between the museum and hall and the streetcar station. There are more monuments and a cenotaph marking the hypocentre.
Tomorrow I’ll visit some of the sights related to the history of European contact with Japan, but this evening I’m going to sort through some more of the photos I’ve taken (12GB+ of iPhoto library, currently) and post them to the Flickr set of my Japan trip.
Today I moved on to Hiroshima after nearly a week in Osaka and Kansai so I thought I’d better get some of my notes typed up before the details start to elude me.
After dropping my bags at the hotel (on Saturday, April 2) I spent the balance of the first day at 四天王寺 (してんのうじ; Shitennō-ji), the first and oldest Buddhist temple in Japan. This was the first day of my two-day Osaka Unlimited pass so I the used the card on the subway to Shitennoji-mae Yuhigaoka Station and then the free entry coupons to enter the treasure house, garden and garan.
Some of the items will probably only be of interested to those with a background interest in Japanese Buddhism (I’m not familiar with it at all) but some of the art was fantastic. The garden was pretty and I think I got some good shots:
I also noticed people lining up with little books but had no idea what was going on. I later learned that you can get the temple staff (usually a monk/priest, I believe?) to record your visit in your book with the temple stamp and some calligraphy. I didn’t learn about this until Kyoto, but no I’ve got one of my own to “collect” the temples I visit for the rest of the trip.
The next day (Sunday, April 3 if you’re keeping count) I visited the Osaka Museum of History, Osaka Castle and surrounds, and the Umeda Sky Building. These were all included in the pass which expired on that day. The museum was interesting enough, but I don’t know enough about Japanese history to place the information in a wider context.
大阪城 (おおさかじょう; Osaka Castle) and the surrounding park was great and I took lots of photos, only to notice that my DSLR was configured not to complain when it doesn’t have an SD card. So most of the distant shots were gone into the ether. Luckily I was also using my point and shoot! I got a bento from a stall near the castle itself and ate overlooking the moat. This was when I realised that I hadn’t missed the sakura (I’d read somewhere that the peak was before I’d even left).
The Castle itself was, for me, best for the view from the top. Again, I don’t know enough about the context to get much out of the historical displays inside (though many of the artefacts were beautiful). After the castle I wandered through the park, saw the musicians playing in front of 大阪城公園駅 (おおさかじょうこうえんえき; Osaka Castle Park Station), wandered past the Panasonic Centre (3D Blueray is much better than the crap I saw in the cinema) and wandered back to the hotel.
Contrary to my plans, I spent Monday, April 4 in Osaka too, largely because it was too late to bother heading for Kyoto or Nara just to have a few hours before the sights started to close (those that weren’t already closed, it being a Monday). So I went and had a look at a few shopping places like 心斎橋, got bored and headed back to the hotel to sulk. A bit of a pep-talk laterI headed out to see some things I’d missed on Saturday: the Tempozan Ferris Wheel, Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan, and Cosmo Tower. The wheel was fun (though the rather long wait for one of the completely clear cars was a bit of a waste of time) but I couldn’t help but think that the aquarium was far too small for the Whale Shark and Manta Rays. If they were land animals, we’d call their behaviour pacing and probably view it as a sign of distress. Cosmo Tower was one station further up the train line and then short tram ride past that. The sunset was kinda normal but the view was pretty spectacular. I had a snack while waiting for the sun to set and, after, dinner at a restaurant in the lobby.
I’m bored of typing now, so more tomorrow.
My flight landed at Kansai International Airport at around 8:10 AM and quickly off the plane and onto a shuttle to get to the luggage collection area. That done it was off to passport control. I’m not sure why, but the inspector wanted me to add the name of my hotel to my disembarkation card as well as it’s address and phone number. Then it was time for the customs inspection where my suitcase was checked (literally: they unpacked it and checked both the contents and the case itself) and I was taken behind a screen for a pat down.
A few questions from the inspector — where am I staying, what am I here for, etc. — and I was through into the arrivals hall. I parked on a bench outside the SoftBank global rental place until they opened at 9:00 AM and rented a USIM card for my phone, just in case I need it. Then I visited the information centre and travel desk to buy a two day Osaka Unlimited pass and a ticket on the Airport Line to 天下茶屋 (てんがちゃや; Tengachaya) from where I’d be able to use my new pass to catch the subway to 長堀橋 (ながほりばし; Nagahoribashi) and then walk a few blocks to my hotel. Unfortunately, I’m not used to navigating without Google Maps on my phone so I walked a few block in the wrong direction.
I didn’t realise how far I was off track until I asked a mailman who happened to be passing (who else would you ask about an address) and he pointed out where I was on my map. I set out to the nearest station to head back to 長堀橋 but a woman from a hotel took pity on a passing gaijin and she helped by writing the address down and putting me in a taxi. A few minutes and a few hundred yen later I was finally at my hotel.
There were still a few hours until checkin opened so I dropped my luggage and set out for some sightseeing.
Two photos from PER and the flight to DPS. On this flight (or the next) Garuda Indonesia treated me very well and my luggage quite poorly. I’ll need to buy a new suitcase before I leave Osaka.
Source: Flickr / thsutton
Tomorrow afternoon I’ll be jetting off to Japan for a holiday. While the situation in Tōhoku is dire and there is still cause to be concerned about the nuclear reactors at Fukushima Daiichi and there is ongoing disruption around Tokyo caused by the power cuts and transport interruptions, I don’t think that these problems necessarily mean that tourists should stop visiting all of Japan. That said, I have modified my plans so I’ll be spending most of my trip in the west of Japan.
Here’s a brief outline:
There’s a few days of slack in these vague plans so I’m considering making my way to Tokyo via Shikoku. We’ll see how things pan out, I guess.
I’m not sure I’ll have Internet access after Hiroshima but I hope to post notes and a picture or two here every day. If I fall behind poke me on Twitter and I’ll try to catch up.
North Quay from the Victoria Bridge
Taken when I was in Brisbane, Queensland for linux.conf.au in January 2011. My other shots that night didn’t turn out too well, but I was pretty please with this one. It won the photography competition for that day which was pretty nice too.
Source: Flickr / thsutton
A Bird near Dartington Hall
Farmstead in the Hole of Horcum
A remote farmstead (now owned and maintained by the National Park Authority) in the Hole of Horcum.
Source: Flickr / thsutton
Scarborough Lighthouse
Source: Flickr / thsutton
