Holiday in Japan (8): Hiroshima & Kyoto
Sunday morning was at the Peace Memorial Museum which I visited in 1998.
The museum consists of two wings with an overhead passageway between them. Since the Covid pandemic, the displays have been changed totally.
The first wing is dark and shows exhibits illustrating the terrible effects of the atomic bomb, especially the long-term illnesses and deaths of children. There are horrific pictures of some victims.
The second wing is brightly-lit and sets out the nature of atomic weapons including how they were developed and who now has them. It highlights post-Cold War reductions in numbers and the more recent collapse of disarmament efforts.
The problem with the museum in 1998 and the problem in 2025 is the absence of proper context: why the Americans used the bomb and what happened between then and the unconditional surrender (which took another atomic bombing and an announcement by the Emperor).
In 1998, there was a narrative leading up to the end of the war, but it was a flawed story, particularly as regards descriptions of the Nanjing Massacre of December 1936 & January 1937 and the attack on Pearl Harbor in December.
In 2025, there was no pre-war narrative but at least some acknowledgement that not all the victims were Japanese (10% were Korean). However, it is stated that the major reason for the use of the bomb was American concern at Soviet plans to invade Japanese territory.
While this was a factor, the main reason was not even mentioned: the appalling casualties suffered by the Americans in taking Pacific islands from the Japanese and the intention of the Japanese to resist invasion of the mainline which would have caused horrendous casualties on both sides.
Both in 1998 and 2025, the strong emphasis was on the Japanese as innocent victims rather than ruthless aggressors.
At lunchtime, we were on the move again with another experience of the Shinkansen bullet train, this time from Hiroshima to Kyoto, a journey of just under two hours. Ever since leaving Tokyo, we have been travelling broadly south, but now we went up northwards.
Kyoto is the former capital of Japan and Emperors ruled from here from 794-1869. Today it has a population of 1.5 million. The prefecture has an astonishing1600 temples with no less than 17 UNESCO World Heritage sites.
We had just an hour in our Rihga Royal Hotel in Kyoto before we were off again: this time for a walking tour of the Gion district of the city. This is the oldest part of Kyoto and where one can sometimes see a geisha and always catch traditional Japanese theatre.
Unfortunately, it was raining heavily and those who didn’t already have umbrellas had to borrow one from the library.
Remaining in the city centre for the evening, we made our way to Ponto-cho Alley, a lantern-lit street filled with authentic restaurants and shops. At a restaurant called “Pontocho Suishin”,we had our most traditional Japanese food yet which included tofu, raw meat, raw fish, miso soup and tempura.
I confess that this is not my favourite kind of food, but fortunately I had a packet of fruit & nuts to eat on the coach back to the hotel.