Today was the big day for the school trip! We left the I-house at an early 7:00 AM and made our way to Kyoto Station where we boarded a Nozomi Shinkansen bullet train (that’s the fastest service that you can’t even go on with a Japan Rail Pass) which zoomed us to Hiroshima. As soon as we arrived, we took a local train to Miyajima-guchi station for the ferry ride to Miyajima Island to visit the shrine there.

Sadly, we only had about an hour-and-a-half there in which time we were supposed to see everything and eat lunch (neither of which there was enough time to do). I did get to take a fairly leisurely stroll through the Itsukushima Shrine where I got lots more photos, video of some Shinto priests doing a service and a video of a new bride walking in her ceremonial Kimono.

But then it was back on the boat to a streetcar to downtown Hiroshima and a visit to the Peace Memorial and Museum. If you’ve read my 2006 journal, you realize just how much this place affected me, and it was the same this time. It’s when you are walking through the museum and see the ephemera left by the victims that it really hits you—the wooden geta sandal of a small child with her footprint burned into it by the blast; the rusted tricycle buried with a 3 year old killed in the blast because his father thought he’d like to ride it in the next life since he loved it so much; the singed school uniforms of those very few Junior High students who weren’t instantly incinerated in the blast. Glass bottles fused together into weird lumps; advertising posters with holes where the black letters were burned through because they absorbed heat where the white paper reflected it. Once again, it was really moving and I had my handkerchief in hand the whole time.

We stayed in a Ryokan-style hotel and I finally got to sleep on a tatami floor on a real futon. It was pretty nice, and late in the evening we watched the live Wimbledon Women’s final and saw Venus Williams beat up on her little sister Serena. Before that, we ate dinner and had some delicious Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki—yummy!

But before all that was an event that made this entire trip to Japan worthwhile. One of the University’s directors who is also from Hiroshima arranged to have two of the Hibakusha or Hiroshima Bombing survivors speak to us. These two sweet little grandmotherly ladies sat before us and told us of their lives before, during and after the bombing. They were actually there and lived to tell about it. Believe me, it was absolutely heart-wrenching listening to their story and my eyes filled with tears more than a few times. Paul was doing a live translation and he got choked up a couple of times and had to pause. I shot a video of the first 43 minutes of the presentation before my camera’s battery died, and it’s something I’ll always treasure. This is precisely the type of experience that makes such an impact on your life and I’m so glad we had the opportunity, no matter how emotionally draining it was.

But who am I to complain? I wasn’t one of only 2 survivors out of a 600-student Junior High School class from August 6, 1945—Mrs. Ito had that day off and wasn’t working in downtown Hiroshima with the rest of her classmates who were all instantly obliterated by the bomb. I also didn’t have to return to my school like she did where her dead classmates’ parents came every day and told her that if she had been doing what she was supposed to instead of ‘slacking-off’ then she would have died gloriously for the Emperor like their children had—and that they didn’t want to see her ugly face ever again.

I guess you can see why I cried quite a bit…

Today was our second of three written tests. After being sick yesterday, I was back at about 90% and if that’s what my test score turns out to be, great!

I think I did okay at least. It’s hard to tell sometimes. There are such subtle grammar points at this level that I tend to get them confused, but I probably did fine. I do think I may have mistaken a couple of Kanji, though. We’ll see on Monday.

Following the test was play time. We wrote some wishes for the Tanabata festival next week then played a few card games. It’s always nice to decompress after a long school week.

Tomorrow is the big Hiroshima trip! I dropped by the convini to get some snacks and something for breakfast since we’re leaving at 7:00 AM before the cafeteria opens. It’s going to be a fun time and I can hardly wait. We’re taking the fastest level of Shinkansen—the Nozomi— to Hiroshima. We’ll visit Miyajima Island first, then the Peace Memorial and museum. In the afternoon before dinner, we’re going to have a couple of Atomic Bomb survivors speak to us—a real honor since there aren’t so many left anymore. We’re staying at a Japanese Inn (Ryokan) which will be my first time.

On the way back on Sunday, we’ll stop and tour Himeji Castle which is also a great trip. I’ll write all about the whole excursion and post it on Monday.

Happy 4th of July weekend!

I woke up with a really bad headache this morning which I was going to just put up with, but then after breakfast I started to get sick to my stomach. I made the command decision to stay home and rest. The stomach ache went away after a couple of hours, but the headache spread down my neck, shoulders and back and I was fairly grumpy and uncomfortable all day. I think I’m getting better this evening and hope that another good night’s sleep (and Tylenol) will fix me up.

I did get some studying and the laundry done today—not very exciting, but at least the day wasn’t a total loss…

Today was a lovely short day from the standpoint of classroom time. Of course, we had a rather difficult set of grammar points to tackle—and 4 pages of homework.

The afternoon was spent enjoying a tea ceremony. New for me compared with two years ago was that they gave each of us a Yukata, or summer kimono to wear and keep. This was exciting because I was planning on buying one this time anyway. Now I just need to buy Geta (wooden clogs/sandals to wear with it).

I always enjoy the tea ceremony. It was a bit hectic with more than a dozen of us, but enjoyable just the same. It’s very meditative and the formality of the movements and steps are actually quite relaxing. Of course, sitting on your knees in Seiza position for an hour and a half is pretty tough when you’re old with bad knees like me. I really want to learn how to perform the tea ceremony properly someday so I can use the implements I’ve collected over the years. I’ll have to find a Sensei when I get back home—I heard there’s one in the San Fernando Valley.

We managed to get done a bit earlier than usual which was fine with me as it made it easier to get down to Shijo and do some shopping. I bought a couple of grade school books at Junkudo (they’re just my speed, actually) and then the Tomytec Shrine model I saw at the hobby shop. It’s N-scale so will look great with my trains and even with my 10 mm Samurai army (if I ever paint it).

So at least there were some interesting things that happened today. Dinner was the usual and I’m writing this during a homework break. Tomorrow should have a bit of excitement since we have to go out and do our interviews for research on our presentations. Always a fun time…

Just another school day.

We’ve spent 2 days now going over a rather difficult subject, the various verbs for giving and receiving (morau, kureru and ageru もらう、くれる、あげる). It’s something that I could probably study for months and still not get exactly right. I do understand it a bit better now than I ever have, which is a good sign that repeating the middle level class wasn’t a bad idea.

Lunchtime was spent chatting with my CPs (Conversation Partners) about a wide variety of subjects. I feel kind of embarrassed in one way, because I speak at such a rudimentary and probably uninteresting level; on the other hand, I’ve been able to converse on a wide variety of topics (today we talked about Italian cooking, sites to see in Kyoto and Ryohei’s presentation on New Zealand from yesterday). I may not be the most interesting person to listen to in Japanese, but I’m giving it a try.

Today’s weather was beautifully clear and sunny—which also meant hot. But, mercifully, it wasn’t humid so it turned out pretty well. I’ve come home, eaten dinner, finished my homework and thought I’d catch up on journal entries.

Sorry it was relatively boring…

Some days there just isn’t anything to write about—which is kind of frightening because it means that my life here is as ordinary as my life at home is…

But really, there’s not much to say: I went to class, spent the evening finishing up the last of my makeup homework from the first week and did some studying. While I find that I understand things better in general, it still isn’t any easier to study or remember things.

I will say one thing, though: the weather was really nice today. It was not humid at all and was actually cool all day. In fact, walking over to breakfast this morning it could almost have passed as chilly. Very odd…

So not a lot happened today.

I didn’t really have any specific plans for today other than visiting the new Bic Camera store at Kyoto station. It was pretty awesome, and reminded me of Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara, but only about 1/2-2/3 the size. After checking things out and since I was already at the station I decided on an impulse to go to Osaka to the Yodobashi Camera store there.

Now that’s the stuff! They had a big hobby section where I ended up buying a couple of model train items, looked at a lot of computer, electronic and other gadgetry and had a very nice Tonkatsu lunch/dinner in one of the 8th floor restaurants. That was about it for Osaka for this time, but I may come back. I priced the DVDs (which are outrageously expensive here) so I could compare them with Amazon (where they are a bit cheaper). I definitely want to get the new Evangelion movie and maybe some more of the Ookiku Furikabutte DVDs (though maybe not since FUNimation is going to be releasing it).

I came home, bought a couple onigiri rice balls for dinner at the convenience store and have been doing laundry, computer work and trying to catch up on my homework. If I were more motivated, I would have probably done a podcast (I’ve been too lazy for that!). Oh well, maybe I’ll get one done this week in the evening.

Even though I’ve only been here slightly more than a week, it feels like a lot longer. This is pretty good—it seems like I’ve always lived here. Of course, if I actually had been living here I’d speak Japanese better than I do, but it’s coming back…