The waitress carefully studied Betsy and I and came to the conclusion that Betsy was more Japanese-friendly than me (a grossly erroneous assessment if you knew what a closed-minded racist Betsy really is). The waitress proudly put a pair of chopsticks in front of Betsy and decided to give me a knife and fork. A knife and fork! Like I'm one of the lame gaijin (foreigner) who come to Hiroshima just to stand out and be obnoxious.
This lunch incident took place in a little place across the street from the Hiroshima Peace Park. Since Monday, September 19, was a holiday ("Respect for the Aged Day") I decided to take a much anticipated weekend trip to the big city of Hiroshima and see my dear friend, Betsy Herzog (UNC alum and NC native...currently living in Okayama-ken as a first year JET). I was dining on a dish called "mixed fried lunch" and reflecting on the sites and stories found around the site of the first atomic bomb. I had arrived in Hiroshima by the shinkansen (bullet train) that travels at speeds of 285 km/hr.
Hiroshima is a beautiful city with clean streets and green parks. The famous sites of the A-bomb Dome (one of the few structures that survived the bomb's blast), the Hiroshima Peace Museum, and all the monuments to peace in the surrounding area give visitors an opportunity to reflect on history and appreciate the value of living in a world without conflict (something we still are trying to achieve). Betsy and I toured around this area on Saturday and I found my mind wondering to the scenes of massive destruction that followed the atomic bomb's detonation and how amazed I was at seeing a rebuilt city. Hiroshima is an awesome place filled with gaijin tourists and Japanese people who can speak English (two things one does NOT find in Ajimu).
After the peace memorials, Betsy and I took a further step back in history and went to see Hiroshima-jo—a traditional Japanese castle made of wood and stone (complete with a moat!). The structure was very impressive and had some sweet katana for me to drool over (I love samurai weapons). At the castle we met three gentlemen from Louisiana who asked us if we were touring Japan and we told them, "no, we live and work here in Japan." We live and work in Japan. At that moment I realized I'm not just a tourist in this far eastern country, but I am a resident. I live in Japan! My time in this country is not measured by days of a vacation, but rather by months of my young adult life.
Anyway, next came dinner in downtown at an "okonomiyaki mall". Okonomiyaki is food made with vegetables and meat mixed in with batter and cooked to create a sort of pancake-omelet-like dish. Hiroshima is famous for the dish and Betsy and I found a mutli-storied building full of little okonomiyaki stands (complete with a few other gaijin!) to dine in. Food was really a focus for the weekend and I think Betsy and I were constantly eating something tasty.
Day one of the Hiroshima Adventure ended with a stroll through what may have been the red light district of the city. There were all these young girls dressed up like they were going to prom trying to get men to come into their establishments. At first Betsy and I thought it was prom night…but then we realized that Japan doesn't have prom and that these girls were only there to entice men to come into "snack bars." No one asked me, so we just got ice cream and called it a night. Day Two was soon to come and that meant more adventure, more food, and more laughter!
No comments:
Post a Comment