forever APE: hiroshima

ola amigos, i must apologise for the lack of updates. i've been cramming so much into the days, and haven't found time to write to y'all. my camera has been running red hot, and my mind has been storing as much of this "japan" thing in it as humanly possible. i'll bring you all up to speed on what's been happening...

we left tokyo on the shinkansen, bound for hiroshima. the shinkansen is a very fast train that covers most of japan, and boasts speeds of up to 400km/ph. with the japanese on average being alot smaller than us westies, we were pleasantly surprised that these trains had lots more space inside than those back home. tokyo to hiroshima by shinkansen takes precisely four and a half hours, and if i've learned anything at all about the japanese public transport, it's that they are always on time. we left tokyo in the rain, and were warmly greeted with lots of sunshine and greenery. hiroshima has a street car system, that is very much like the trams of melbourne. the hotel room we booked was quite cheap, so we didn't expect the stunning 180 degree views of the city with a mountain backdrops that we got. we decided to celebrate our good fortune by tucking into some of the duty-free vodka that we purchased back at sydney airport.

after a few bevvies, we went in search of dinner. we'd heard about the infamous hiroshima-yaki, which is sort of a pancake with noodles and vegetables, that is specific to the region. the guy working the hot plate told us that thorpie had been there for a sample too, which didn't impress us much. there was a tv playing in the background while we ate, with a show about rich japanese ladies and their trophy dogs, dressed identically (i don't think i'll ever understand dressing dogs in clothes. do they like it? do they care?) and doing yoga together. very japan. nj and i went for a few beers afterwards and only just made the hotel's twelve o'clock curfew by about thirty seconds. a good night's sleep was on the cards...

next day we woke and checked out, got some cheap treats from the supermarket, and sat in the park to collect our thoughts, and plan the day's activities. we decided that we'd go to the hiroshima museum and have a look around. i was really surprised by the attitude of the japanese, considering the bomb. it was a very anti-nuclear sentiment. they had some artwork from the survivors downstairs, with accounts of what they had gone though, and i must admit, i found it really hard to digest. i don't think i can really express in words what it was like but i found it all really emotional, and sad. i went outside into the beautiful park, and tried to collect my thoughts. i'd only been sitting for a few minutes, when i was joined by about ten japanese school girls on a volleyball trip. they all wanted to find out where i was from, and test their english skills, which were pretty good. they seemed to multiply when nj came over, and soon there were about twenty five of them. just trying to get out of the park and go somewhere else was really hard. we kept getting mobbed whereever we turned. we bumped into a old japanese lady who related us to american movie stars. nj was jude law (spoken jude raw), elise was julia roberts, and i was josh harnett, (whoever the fuck he is). her eyes glazed over a little, and then she told us that she'd like to kill george bush, so we decided to get the out of there.