travel on the bullet train

i went to hiroshima and himeji a few days ago.

hiroshima:


in hiroshima there is a peace park and in the peace park is one building from the time of the blast and is left there as a permanent reminder of what happened. also in the peace park is a museum which i went to.

in the museum is a model of the city before it was blown to smithereens. i see the one building that still remains. it has a big dome on top of it and is the only one of it's kind in the city. there is a model of the city after the bomb. very few things remain. i look again at the model of the city before and see an plastic orange ball hanging nearly above the dome. i read the plaque. it says it is the size of the fireball seconds after detonation above the city full of people. it looks about the size of a large house.

i've heard about the shadows of people burnt into concrete. i see a bank step where such a person once sat. i didn't know about the glass. as the windows smashed the force sent thousands of pieces of glass whizzing through the air at super high speeds. i see a concrete wall embedded with thick shards. i read stories of people being sliced to shreds by the glass. arms, legs, bowels cut and pierced. some people years later find bits of glass still lodged somewhere within them. by then it's not worth removing it.

after the museum i walk towards the dome to have a closer look. it's a skeleton frame of a burnt out exhibit hall. it's a sunny day, just like that day. i look up and i imagine a swirling ball of malicious heat; a mini sun expanding 600 meters above the place where i stand. i imagine that for a few seconds people will see a plane fly over. then it drops a white parachute. the white silk floats down. for an instant you see the unbelievable white light before your mind and nerves are vaporized to dust.

himeji


on the way to the tall white castle in himeji, that same castle in that james bond film, is a small stall. it's a hole in the wall and it sells bento boxes. the guy that works there looks like he likes eating. he also likes smoking. in the kitchen. he doesn't like soap or water.

outside restaurants in japan there is often plastic food that represents the menu. they show the best the place offers. this stall has plastic food that looks plastic food pretending to be food. my guide book recommends this place: my sense of smell and sight don't. we backtrack and go somewhere else.

on the way back to the castle we see someone buying a bento box from that stall. we wonder why the hell anyone would buy food from that place. the guy working there is still smoking. we look at the customer. in his hand is the broken spine of a very well used book.


it's a dog

gung hei fatt choi to all those out there that care about things like this. i hope you have a good one.