I'm on a boat: Hiroshima to Busan by fast train and slow boat

I didn't make a seat reservation on the shinkansen to Shimonoseki: I simply showed up and sat in an unreserved car. The shinkansen is really expensive, but with the combination nikkan kyodo kippu ticket, the price was more reasonable. I also wanted to be able to compare the Shinkansen to the Korean (and possibly Chinese) fast trains. The train is fast and comfortable. In a flat and open environment the shinkansen would be OK for actually watching things go by, but in mountainous and cramped Japan, where there are few open vistas to enjoy, the sheer speed makes too much of the scenery a blur to properly enjoy. It's still a pleasurable experience —much better than flying, in my opinion—and like so much of Japan it's calm, quiet, and efficient.

Still in the station and already a blur.

The shinkansen doesn't actually stop in at Shimonoseki station. To get there, you have to either get off at the stop before (Shin-Shimonoseki, if coming from the north) or at the the stop after Shimonoseki (Kokura, which is actually in Kyushu), and then take the local train to Shimonoseki. From the station it's a short walk to the ferry terminal, on an elevated walkway. You will pass by a department store (there's always a department store next to a train station of any size), which is a good place to spend your remaining yen and pick up snacks (department stores always have supermarkets in their basements). But be sure to keep some yen to pay the port fee and fuel surcharge (the port fee is currently ¥610 per passenger, and the fuel surcharge is ¥1,200—when you buy your ticket you should clarify with your booking agent whether you'll have to pay the fuel surcharge when you check in), as they will only take cash. You could also check in first then go back to the department store to spend your remaining yen.

Map from Shimonseki station to port.

Ferries also run from Shimonoseki to Qingdao (close to Beijing) and Suzhou (close to Shanghai). If you have a Chinese visa and don't mind skipping Korea, these may be interesting options.

Second-class cabin for men. The wall on the right separates this room from the other second-class cabin, and is open at the top. I believe there is only one female second-class cabin.

I was the first in my cabin, and was later joined by two Koreans. On the other side of the room, across the partition that divides it into two cabins, are three or four Japanese. I suspect that they segregate passengers based on nationality: Koreans in one cabin, Japanese in the other. As a foreigner, the Japanese staff in Shimonoseki put me in with the Koreans. I wonder if I would be put in with the Japanese had I been traveling in the other direction (actually, I suspect Korean staff would care less, and might not even segregate at all, as Japanese strike me as more insular).

I don't believe the two Koreans in knew each other before the trip. Nevertheless, they somehow decided that it would be a good idea to get up at 3:30 am and have a loud chat. I actually woke up from this, and even me sitting up and staring at them had no effect. I finally had to point at my (non-existant) watch and complain that it was three O'clock in order to convey my displeasure at their conversation. Weird.

The Kaikyo Yume Tower, supposedly the tallest in Western Japan. I believe the word you're looking for is 'meh.'

The main island of Honshu (left) and the southern island of Kyushu are surprisingly close.

Looking back over the top deck of the ferry.

Leaving the channel separating Honshu from Kyushu.

Darkness falls.

The ferry was virtually empty. They had a restaurant, but I had managed to spend all of my yen before leaving Japan, and I had no won.Thankfully, I spent my last yen on food and drink.

The ferry has Japanese-style o-furo baths:large communal tubs of water, with spigots, stools, and hand-held showers surrounding it so you can clean yourself before getting into the pool to soak. I think I was the only one to use it. It was quite nice to soak in the bath and look out the window while the ship gently rocked.

The on-board bath.

If you wake up early enough, you'll find the ship laying in anchor outside of Busan harbour. The ferry must arrive in the middle of the night and then wait, allowing passengers to sleep, before entering the harbour and docking at a more sensible hour (about 8:00).
 

A cargo ship steams past as we lay anchor.

Entering Busan harbour.

Bridge in progress.

You're constantly reminded that this is an industrial port.

Near the dock.

Busan Tower looks more like bamboo than the Taipei 101 does.

Customs and immigration at the port was quick and easy, and the port is in the middle of town. It was a 30 minute walk to my hostel, and maybe 5 minutes to Busan station, and about 2 minutes to the nearest subway station—the port is very conveniently located.

Miyajima

The scenic island of Miyajima, considered on of the top 3 sights in Japan, is a short train and ferry ride away from Hiroshima.

Tram line #2 goes all the way from the JR station to the ferry station (and also stops in front of the Peace Park), but it takes over an hour; the other option is to take a train from the JR station and save yourself 40 minutes at the expense of an extra ¥150. There are two ferry options at Miyajima. One of them is run by JR, and accepts JR train passes. Both of them run every 15 minutes and charge ¥180. There are also ferries that run directly from the Peace Park to Miyajima, some take 50 minutes for about ¥1,500, while there may also be a fast ferry that takes 25 minutes and costs ¥2,400.

If you only have a day in Hiroshima, it's possible to see the sights around the Peace Memorial in the morning in Hiroshima before heading out to Miyajima for the afternoon. The ferries continue to run back to the mainland until quite late, so you could do both in a day. If you are going from the Peace Memorial to Miyajima, then it's actually faster to take tram #2 from the park to the ferry, rather than backtrack to the JR station and wait for the train. Catching the fast ferry from the Memorial is an even faster option if you don't mind spending the money.

Miyajima at low tide

Passing the JR ferry on the way to Miyajima.

The Great Tori (O-tori) from the ferry on a rainy day.

Young deer watching the world go by. Even the mature deer have spots.

The deer on Miyajima are tame, and will approach you if you're carrying food. Japanese treat them more like pets and less like wildlife. From a Canadian perspective it's disrespectful and sad. When I was her in 1993 I saw deer being shoved by tourists who were no longer interested in them, as well as deer eating plastic. Things seem better now, with fewer deer.

At low tide you can walk out to the O-tori.

Hiroshima Mon Amour

Actually, I don't love Hiroshima. That's not to say I dislike Hiroshima, because I don't. It's a pleasant Japanese city with surprisingly wide roads and a feeling of spaciousness heightened by the streetcars that (slowly) roam the streets.

Just as it forms the backdrop to Hiroshima Mon Amour, everything about our modern conception of Hiroshima is based on their status as the first place that an atomic weapon has ever been used against humans. That's what Hiroshima is, and what it means.

Hiroshima, nuclear weapons, self-victimization, and deflection

The Japanese have a somewhat strange relationship with Hiroshima (and Nagasaki). They are both the source of stigma, but also the source of a certain sense of moral authority.

Perhaps understandably, there was considerable discrimination after the war against those who had survived the bombing. People were worried about radiation sickness, latent illnesses, and genetic deformities, which led people to attempt to conceal their backgrounds so that they could be hired or get married (two common acts that frequently involve background checks in Japan). Survivors wouldn't discuss it with their kids, and it remains a pretty taboo subject even though the fears that initially motivated the bias has been shown to be baseless.

But at the same time that Japanese society continues to victimize survivors, they use their status as the only country ever nuked as a way to play the victim and deflect criticism over their own conduct during WWII. Japan aggressively pushes their status as the only target of nuclear weapons while pushing for international pacifism and the abolition of nuclear weapons. Of course there's some hypocrisy to this, as Japan has a large military force (though because Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution—written under US occupation—prohibits Japan from having an army capable of aggression, these formidable forces are technically Self-Defense Forces), and uses nuclear power to generate a substantial portion of its energy needs. More importantly, however, is the way this Japan-as-victim-of-WWII narrative displaces any real conversation about what Japan did during the War or conceptualization of Japan as the committer of atrocities.

Ground zero for this narrative is, of course, Hiroshima, and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in particular. With powerful exhibits and artifacts illustrating the breadth and depth of the devastation incurred on August 6, 1945, the museum is compelling but occasionally devolves into the maudlin. My impression is that it has improved significantly since I first went there in 1993, with additional (though limited) discussion of Japan's role in WWII, but it also remains true that it is a powerful tool to establish and affirm the prevailing narrative that Japan as been the only victim of the uniquely horrifying instruments of indiscriminate destruction that are nuclear devices.

The text on the right actually counts as an improvement in how the Japanese address their role in WWII.

The Peace Park and A-bomb Dome

The iconic A-bomb dome is about 150m from the epicenter of the atomic blast, and the was one of the few buildings in the vicinity not to be totally leveled. The Peace Park is on the northern end of the island across from the A-bomb dome, and the northern tip of this island was the original targeting point of the bomb.

Monument to the A-bombed Teachers and Students of National Elementary Schools.

Children on a school trip visit the Cenotaph for A-bomb Victims, with the A-bomb dome in the background.

Children's Peace Monument, inspired by 12-year-old Sadako Sasaki, who died of cancer 10 years after the bombing. She wanted to fold 1,000 cranes as part of her wish for recovery, but was only able to make 664 before she died; schoolkids today fold cranes for this memorial in her honor.

Literary Monument to Miekichi Suzuki.

A-bomb dome from the island Peace Park.

Cenotaph, peace flame, and A-bomb dome at dusk.

Kyoto, Part 2: Some Prefer Nettles

Day 3: Arashiyama

On day 3 I basically followed the route I suggested in my previous post.

Walking west from Utano, it takes about 10 minutes to reach Hirosawa pond.

Panorama of Hirosawa pond.

A fishing boat moored in the pond.

A small monument by the pond-side road.

Rustic buildings dot the far shores.

A villa on the eastern shore.

It's easy to forget you're in a city.

Farms and rice paddies lay between Hirosawa and Daikakuji.

 

The pagoda at Daikakuji.

Kyoto, Part 1: The Old Capital

The night bus from Tokyo dropped me off in front of Kyoto station early in the morning. As nothing was open yet, and the city buses were not running, I explored Kyoto station. The entire station is covered by an undulating glass canopy, under which lies not only the station building but a park built on the rooftops of the station as in stair-steps its way from the ground floor to the 11th floor. There is an open viewing platform at the top with nice views of the city.

Kyoto station schematic.

When the buses started running I hopped on bus 26 to perhaps my favourite hostel in the world, the  Utano Youth Hostel in northwestern Kyoto. It's a long ride to the Utano—almost one hour—but the bus drops you off right next to the hostel and you don't have to make any transfers so it's not that bad.
Utano is the second-last stop for Bus 26, "Youth Hostel Mae." After getting off at the Youth Hostel stop, simply cross the road and walk up the street leading north; the hostel will be the first building on your left.

Front of the Utano hostel.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi: Tsukiji and beyond

Tsukiji Fish Market

On my third day in Tokyo I woke up at around 3:30. This was my chance to visit Tsukiji and take the tour—I guess jet lag is good for some things, especially for non-morning people like me.

It will seem strange to many that the subways in Tokyo do not run 24 hours per day. Instead, the lines close around midnight and open around 5:00. As you need to get in line for Tsukiji tickets before they start giving out vests at 5:00, you can't use public transit to get to Tsukiji.

I ended up walking from Asakusa to Tsukiji. According to Google, it's about a 6km walk, taking 1:15. Taxis in Tokyo are hugely expensive, and I like walking, so this was OK with me.

Interesting design next to a koban (police box) on the walk to Tsukiji.

I was feeling a little nervous as I got close to the entrance, as it was after 4:30 and I was afraid I would be too late to secure a place. It turns out that I was fine, as there were only about 40 or 50 people lined up ahead of me in front of the entrance gates.

At about 5:00 they let you into a waiting room, and herd you into two lines. Each line gets a different coloured vest, corresponding to the two sequential tours they let in. When I went they let in 150 tourists per day, but that has been scaled back to 120 tourists per day. Although this may make it more difficult to get a spot, it probably helps the experience since my group was very cramped inside the Tuna auction area.

The Tuna auctions may or may not be what you expect. Basically, what you see is a bunch of frozen Tuna sitting on the concrete floor of a nondescript warehouse (contrary to popular belief, almost all tuna is frozen—even in Japan—while in the US it's actually illegal to sell sushi fish that hasn't been frozen). The tails of the tuna are cut, and buyers walk around with metal hooks to lift up the tuna and explore their flesh. There is no commentary or explanation, so you don't really know what they are looking for. You will see a few auctions but in all honesty it's impossible to see who is bidding on what, or how much is being bid. All of this will be seen from a narrow viewing area jammed with tourists, all of whom are intent on taking pictures and jockeying for viewing positions. After waiting 20 years for this experience, it was a bit of a disappointment.

On the way to the auction building, looking northwest towards the J-Power building's orange and white antenna.

Taking a break outside the auction rooms.

The auction room.

Inspect before you bid.

 Green-vested tourists watch an auction.

An auction in progress.

Once the tuna auction tour is done (it takes maybe 20 minutes), you're let loose on the market grounds. You can't visit the wholesale areas until 9:00—about two and a half hours later—so most people go to one of the sushi shops located near the west entrance. These have limited menus in English and maybe a couple of other languages, and you can also buy sashimi fish in plastic containers, too.

Multiple languages? How un-Japanese.

There are rows of tourist restaurants near the west entrance. These are some of the cheaper tourist restaurants.

A row of classier restaurants.

Less-touristy restaurant near the north entrance.

Freshly-bought tuna being broken down by band-saw in the wholesale area.

After being broken down.

The rare non-frozen tuna are broken down by blade.

Tuna parts.

Most of what you see in the wholesale area is (frozen) tuna, but you do see some other seafood, too. It's not that exciting, though.

The wholesale market.

Prepared octopus.

 Live squid.

Fruits and vegetables are sold in other areas of the market. The wholesale vegetable section was less interesting than this retail stall, unless you like looking at boxes of produce.

One stylish homeless dude lounging near Tsukiji.

The verdict

In all honesty, Tsukiji is pretty over-rated. You don't see that much during the early-morning auctions, unless you like to see a lot of frozen fish. In my opinion, there are many other fish markets that are much more interesting. For example, the Jagalchi fish market in Busan and the Aberdeen market in Hong Kong both offer a much wider variety of live fish. Heck, even the Rialto Market in Venice will be more interesting to most people. And just about any wet market that caters to the retail market (as opposed to the wholesale trade market) will have a much wider variety of fresh fish (and other comestibles, from meats to vegetables) for sale.

On the other hand, if you don't mind getting up early in the morning and making your way down there, there's no real reason not to visit Tsukiji. It's free, the auction occurs so early that it won't interfere with anything else you're planning to do that day, and even if you stay until the rest of the market opens to the public at 9:00, you'll still be done by 10:00. So there's no reason not to do it, just don't have extravagant hopes, and don't beat yourself up if you aren't able to see it.

A couple of helpful links for planning a Tsukiji visit:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3021.html
http://tokyocheapo.com/entertainment/9-things-you-should-know-before-visiting-the-tsukiji-fish-market-tuna-auction/http://tokyocheapo.com/entertainment/9-things-you-should-know-before-visiting-the-tsukiji-fish-market-tuna-auction/

Ueno Park

Ueno Park is home to the National Museum of Western Art as well as a large pond which is sometimes full of lotuses. I entered Ueno Park from the east, and after walking around a bit I suddenly knew the if I went down a courtyard and turned left, I would see Rodin's Gates of Hell. And so I did. It's a very weird feeling to have that sense of familiarity. It was also a little saddening to realize how much more pleasure I took in the experience twenty years ago. Of course, that was my first real experience outside of North America, and my first experience of relatively independent travel (my grandmother wasn't very mobile, even then, so I went to most places by myself), but in many ways it's much harder to impress me now.

The Gates of Hell

The Thinker

Hercules the Archer

Akihabara

South of Ueno Park is Akihabara, the famous otaku (geek) enclave where you can find maid cafes, shops full of manga, and all sorts of things we would associate with weird Japanese culture. Of course, this also means a lot of pornography.

Japan's approach to porn is very weird. On the one hand, they censor depictions of genitals, pixellating them out. On the other hand, a lot of their porn is very hardcore and very weird. In part, I suspect that they sexualize a lot of thing (like tentacle porn) precisely because of the prohibitions on more straightforward sex—a penis in the vagina must be censored, but a tentacle in the ass is just fine.

More problematic is the public acceptance of the intense sexualization of children, and even infants. You can go into any convenience store and find magazines dedicated to showing overdeveloped 13-year-olds in tiny bikinis, with both their age and cup size prominently advertised. In Akihabara you can find DVDs of pre-pubescent models in bikinis, conveniently located in the non-porn section. I realize there is a certain amount of hypocrisy in my saying this, as it is the West and not Japan that has normalized hairless pudenda and while sharing the Japanese fetishization of schoolgirl uniforms, but Japan goes beyond the pale when you can find manga showing toddlers and babies being penetrated and sexually abused. Despite the widespread nature of this kind of imagery, however, Japanese politicians, police, and experts always describe themselves as confounded when real-life cases of sexual abuse come to light. When I lived there, there was a case where a pedophile who had been in jail was released, and promptly re-offended. When asked why he didn't receive any treatment for pedophilia while in jail, the answer was that Japan doesn't have any experience with that kind of problem, so they didn't know how to treat it (or even diagnose it).

Maid advertising for a cafe.

Students go shopping.

Underneath the Chuo-Sobu train line as it leaves Akihabara station.

A Barbie-doll-size masturbator: the Dollho. Nothing weird about that.

Pre-pubescent girls in bikinis. Seems legit.

A dog waits outside for its owner. Dogs in Japan pay not attention to strangers, even if you bend down to pet them.

Trains are expensive: I'm taking the bus

 As I said earlier, trains are expensive in Japan. A ticket from Tokyo to Kyoto would be ¥13,720—about $140, at the time. Instead, I decided to take an overnight JR bus. JR buses have the convenience of departing and arriving at train stations, there are frequent departures, and I hoped that I would be able to sleep overnight. The bus ticket from Tokyo station to Kyoto station was ¥8,100, and if you factor in saving a night's accommodation, then it's less than half the price of taking the train. The bus was fairly full, but the experience was fairly pleasant and I was able to sleep pretty well. I'm not aware that we made any stops on the way to Kyoto.

JR isn't the cheapest bus service, and it probably isn't the best, either. There's a private bus company called Willer Express that offers service along the same route from around ¥4,600. I used them on my Osaka-Hiroshima trip and was very pleased.