Hiroshima Mon Amour

The first official stop on our Gweek voyage, Hiroshima provided what was to be the first of many pleasant surprises. Although best known for the tragic events of some six decades ago and the enduring markers of that legacy (the Peace Memorial Park and Atomic Bomb Dome-to be discussed at length in the next entry), the Hiroshima of today is a very different place from the nightmare described by the likes of John Hersey, Oe Kenzaburo and Ibuse Masuji. Despite its tragic past, or perhaps because of it, Hiroshima has blossomed into a beautiful, vibrant, southern Japanese city.

As the entire area was literally leveled in 1945, the new city stands as a monument to modern city planning. Seated at the delta of the Ote River, Hiroshima is essentially divided into six islands by the seven channels that cut through the city and into Hiroshima Bay. An extensive network of bridges stitches the city together while a series of underground tunnels throughout the downtown area ensures that pedestrians rarely have to wait for a crossing signal. In stark contrast to the concrete jungle that is Tokyo, Hiroshima is full of vegetation; trees line almost all of the streets while wisteria hang low from overhead awnings, filling the sidewalks below with their fragrance. Hiroshima truly strikes me as one of the most pleasant cities I have ever visited.

Hiroshima is also the last city left in Japan with an extensive streetcar system. As the story goes, the city received numerous donations of streetcars from other municipalities who were eager to unload the old technology after capitulation. The Hiroshima streetcar network, or “Hiroden,” as it’s called, allegedly still runs four streetcars that survived the war, in addition to a number of more modern cars. A ride can be had anywhere within the city for a flat rate of ¥150.
Despite being a fairly small city, Hiroshima boasts a lively downtown, an extensive nightlife district and a large youth population. Here we see a crowd assembled for a street performance along a downtown promenade.
After living in Aomori for almost a year, I was pretty sure that Japan’s wildlife was limited to giant crows and stray cats. It seems that the youth of Aomori colluded with the prefecture’s animals to ensure that Honshu’s great white north was stripped of all signs of life. So you can imagine my surprise at encountering this snake crossing the sidewalk in the middle of downtown Hiroshima. Why did the snake cross the road? I’m sure I don’t know.
Like most other large Japanese cities, Hiroshima plays host to an impressive castle. And like most other Japanese castles, this one was destroyed during the war and later rebuilt. The area surrounding the castle has been turned into a large park, offering refuge from the surrounding city. Here we see a temple that has been built adjacent to the castle.

Here’s the actual castle, in all of its restored glory.
One of the true joys of this trip for us starved Aomorites was being able to gorge ourselves on all of the foods we’ve missed for so long. Normally I would scoff at the sight of Subway but having not eaten turkey in months, I was salivating at the mere thought of a foot-long sub. Interestingly enough, Subway seems to have joined KFC in hiring local talent to come up with the slogans for their Japanese packaging. That’s right, someone out there is being paid good money to come up with English slogans that don’t make any sense. Where can I send my resume?
Remember that extensive nightlife district that I was talking about? Well, we were lucky enough to be staying just outside of it. Our first night in town was a Saturday and the streets of Nagarekawa were thick with crowds bathing in the district’s neon glow.
The first establishment that we ended up at (recommended by Gweek member #6, no less) initially appeared to have been a bit of a misstep. Virtually empty when we arrived, it seemed to be anything but the happening watering hole it was advertised as. Still, Megan had decided to donate a crisp ¥10,000 bill to the night’s collective drinking fund (pressed onto her by relatives living in the city that she had met with earlier), so we were easily convinced to stay. By the time we left, the place was cranking the old school Motown jams and packed to the gills with a mix of dancing ex-pats and adventurous Japanese. Go figure.
Sunday night in Hiroshima proved a bit more elusive. The girls had decided to catch up on their beauty sleep, forcing Matt, Greg and myself to venture out alone in search of what the city had to offer. The streets of the nightlife district were almost eerily silent and everywhere we went we were greeted by locked doors and closed shutters. As a last ditch effort, we decided to head over to Kemby’s, the local expatriate bar of choice where we had dined on nachos and burgers the night before. Upon arriving there, we discovered that we would have to pay a rather hefty cover charge but would receive a free drink and complementary food in exchange. We relented, although mostly out of desperation (or was it a sense of duty?). At any rate, nothing could prepare us for what we were about to find inside: the bar, an anchor of the local gaijin community, was celebrating its seventh anniversary with a blowout party. Above you can see the juggling bartender, who performed a half-hour act featuring incredible glassware acrobatics, fire eating and any number of other cool tricks.
There were also a number of bands playing throughout the night, almost all of which were really enjoyable. The grunge band above played covers of Nirvana and Pearl Jam while another band dropped a cut off of Pinkerton. I’m finally old enough that bar bands are playing the music that I grew up with in an effort to tap into nostalgia and I think I like it.

We ended up having the chance to talk to a number of fellow ex-pats at Kemby’s that night and I couldn’t believe that more than a few of them expressed a desire to leave Hiroshima for larger cities like Tokyo. The grass is always greener, I suppose.
Our super-nice waitress even recognized the Gweek!

All told, Hiroshima proved the perfect starting point for our weeklong romp through Japan. Stay tuned!