Fukuoka Show and Hiroshima Peace Museum

Captured in a big 777 flying over Ulan Bator and bound for Amsterdam at this very moment, I have to turn back the clock so we can start again by the end of the last chapter I wrote before I arrived in Fukuoka. What a difference to all the japanese cities before. Right at the train station there´s only one way for a foreigner: the wrong one :-D All of us booked different hotels so we spread out and ended up meeting again 60 minutes later, of course at a place which wasn´t the right one for any of us. I first was told to grab a bus, which turned out to be totally wrong, since I had to go for the subway, and no question, located on the opposite side of the train station. Julia and Alrik booked a hotel near the station, but even they went in another direction at first. Tim jumped on a bus and I was wondering if I would ever see him again. Well, how could I, he was at the venue 3 hours later. So were all the others, funny, it all worked out in the end. What´s life without detours?! Mine started after the simple subway ride. Again I grabbed the wrong exit, there were only 16 of them. And going round in circles it took me another 40 minutes to find myself in front of the reception, facing the friendly japanese ladies who gave me a warm welcome. Jump into my room, quick shower, changing clothes and took a bus directly to the Zepp Fukuoka, arriving just in time. This time I got a ticket with a low number and I ended up in row 3, right side of stage.

Since Julia was still looking for a ticket outside, we decided that she should yell my name when she made it into the venue. And so she did. My responde was a loud screaming: Wiggle Wiggle! 3 minutes later she stood beside me, wonder how she managed it, but that´s how it happens. Not a bad place to see the show, and we had a great one of course. There was only one tall guy in front of us, on the rail, I mean, what´s going on with these tall people? Why aren´t they going to see a basketball game anyhow? When Bob finished the first set, I just shot this guy in the neck, so he felt right away and was never seen again :-D Now I can´t go to paradise no more ;-) In reality, he just didn´t make it to the second half, you need to be in good shape to survive to be trapped in the crowd, that´s for sure.

Went to bed early that night since we wanted to take an early train for our way to Osaka. That´s because passing Hiroshima, it would have been a shame not to visit that historic site. We must show our respect to all the victims of the nuclear attack! So Julia, Alrik and me met the other day at Fukuoka station and on we go up north again. Hiroshima! I decided to make an 4 hours break to go to the peace museum, and the others had booked a hotel in advance and stay for one day. No Bob show on that date. I left my luggage at a locker at the station and went with them to find the hotel. We got the right bus this time and the accomodation was beside the peace park. Unfortunately, there was no room for my friends: Alrik put a wrong date when he made the reservation. Things happen like that while you´re on the road and you hardly can name which day it´s right now. So the ability to change plans is essential. And so we did. Store the luggage in the hotel for a few hours, go to see the historic site, and then all three of us back to the station for the Shinkansen to Osaka. Visiting the peace park and the museum will impress you the moment you see the ruin beside the river. As it was early in the morning, not too many visitors had arrived yet. Walking through the scenery now with blooming trees and keping in mind what it was looking here some 69 years ago put you into a state of quietness and respect. When I got the first glimpse of the building where the museum is located, I thought that it must be designed by the famous architect Le Corbusier. Same lines and strict forms, I would have swear it was him who done it. Later I found out that it was made by the famous japanese architect Kenzo Tange who´s teacher worked together with Le Corbusier. Here you go, the master was definitely engaged. The entrance fee was the lowest I ever paid for a museum: 50 Yen! Can you imagine? Why is this so? Do they want that really everybody can afford it? It must be so, because this museum is the one you have to see, I never was more impressed before. Of course going to the Louvre or the MOMA is impressive too. But there you go to see fine art. This is a museum of one of the biggest man-made disasters of the world. And it is a place where one can clearly see, that only Love and Peace is the answer, if mankind will stay on this earth for future days. The exhibition leads you on a path through that day when the bomb was thrown. First explaining the history of the former wars of Japan, and not without telling you how the japanese put prisoners of war into slave workers and how it finally results in the engagement of the USA in WWII in the Pacific. Pearl Harbour, Potsdam Declaration not accepted by the Japanese Leaders. The decision to bring this war to an end. And you see models of Hiroshima before and after. Which means, before and after 8:15 am on a clear and sunny morning, where everybody just made a start in a new day, not knowing that there would be no tomorrow for the most of them. The sound of the engines of Enola Gay appeared and shortly after that the Little Boy changed the world with a blast. Now you follow the path through the building and pictures, descriptions and exponates such as watches, toys, household, clothes and many more turns back the clock until you find yourself stuck in that very day, that very moment. Slowly the scenery get´s harder to stand, since you were told the stories of the little girl that grew up after the bombing as a normal child, and then at the age of 13 shows first symptoms of Leukemia. As time goes by, things were getting worse, and in hospital she was told that folding paper swans could cure her disease. So she started folding thousands af little swans, but in the end it didn´t help of course. Until today, children all over Japan are folding this little swans in rememberence of Akito, the girl who died because of the bomb years later. And so did many of the survivors of that day in Hiroshima. And some of their stories are told too in the museum. If you sit down in the rest areas to get yourself the chance to recover a bit from this overwhelming impression, you can see how the other visitors react. Everybody is walking the path in silence. And looking in their faces you can tell that shame and deep mourning has captured their feelings. I almost felt like crying at some points of the exhibition. But shared no tears. Stepping out after hours, the sun finally found a way through the clouds, and we walked through the park back to the hotel to pick up the luggage. Hard to tell, but slowly we came back into the present. That´s how it is, we have to go on, but definitely in another way after Hiroshima. Directly after the surrender of Japan the era of the Cold War did start. The possibility of a nuclear war kept the world splitted in two parts for more than 45 years. But it endend as we all know shortly after the German Wall came down. But wonder why, 911 happened, and today there are again countries who try to get nuclear power into military use, such as rockets, warheads and so on. When will they ever learn? Getting on the train to Oska, rushed through the city to my hotel and find another one for Julia and Alrik. That day has passed, and it was one of the most impressive for me during my stay in Japan.