Floyd (Dad) does Japan.

Furoidu arrived on October 4th and stayed in Japan until the 7th. He charmed his way into the hearts of my fellow teachers, and turned out to be a great travelling companion.




Our first days together were spent in Gotsu, at the high school, where he was entertained by a group of seniors in a debate class. Then we found our way to Omori Town to view the shrines full of Buddha statues, and the great, incense smoke stained dragon painting on the temple ceiling.
Many moods of Buddha, many photos taken.
Brought Dad to Mos Burger. Where else? Fine Japanese onion rings.
That evening we were taken out for sushi by a nice doctor in town. The sushi and sashimi were delicious! Dad found a liking for Japanese beer and conversation.
After dinner, Kazu-san (the doctor) took us out for what he called a, "night cap". The bar is named, "Mac". Full of instruments, vinyl albums, blues festivals on the wide screen TV. It is small, cozy and in Gotsu! What a wonderful discovery! Kazu-san, the bartender and Dad spent the rest of the evening talking about Blues and their favorite artists. The bartender took an album off the wall to play for Dad. A young man drank and played the Beatles (poorly, but he had spirit!).
On Friday, my 5th day anniversary of driving in Japan, we headed south on the Chugoku expressway toward Hiroshima. I took the wrong "interchange" and wound up pulling over to ask someone for help. We pulled over at some kind of weigh station, and a gentleman explained to us, through gesture and pointing at our map, that we needed to get off at the next exit and get back on the expressway going in the opposite direction. When we arrived at the exit, a man in uniform (who clearly knew we were coming) flagged us down and told us how to get to Hiroshima. With my limited Japanese and his one English word, " left-o", we managed to come to a kind of false understanding. He blocked traffic and removed traffic cones so that we did not have to leave the expressway. Try to ask for that kind of treatment in the states.
Even though Dad and I had many Japanese expresswaymen rooting for us, we took the wrong exit again... but eventually found our way to Hiroshima.
Circles, trams, one-way streets, terrible maps of Hiroshima, busy downtown, lots of U-turns...after 40 minutes we found the hotel.
Hiroshima is very busy, very fashionable and very much alive!
August 6, 1945. The city was crushed, melted, burned, gutted, and life extinguished.
Hard to imagine. Milliseconds, one blast, one ten foot long bomb.
The city, as it is now, full of hope and monument after park after museum after plaque after sculpture after music after public art after bells that encourages hope and above all, PEACE. One section of the city is fully dedicated to peace and nuclear disarmament.
The rest of the city is a city. We passed posh restaurants and touristy shops and cafes. Huge, fairly ugly buildings, a blvd covered in nightlife hotspots, teaming with teenagers in tight jeans overflowing with shiny, chintsy accessories.
One could tour the city and never know that 61 years ago there was devestating bombing.
Small children drowned in black rain and glass jars melted into solid masses in their homes. Some images from the museum haunt my thoughts lately.
The most incredible monument was what is called the A-Bomb Dome. It was Hiroshima's Industrial Promotion Hall.
When the bomb exploded a few kilometers away, the building was ripped open and only 1/3 of it was left standing, including the steel frame of the center dome.
The city of Hiroshima has kept it exactly the way it was left standing after the attack. It is an amazing sight to see.
Being in its shadow and looking at the rest of the city, one can finally fathom a miniscule part of the kind of destruction they saw when the clouds lifted.

So Dad and I saw Hiroshima. We saw the museum, the peace park, the Dome, ate huge Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki pancakes, watched CNN, and Dad left around 6am Saturday morning.

I loved being with him. It had been so long since I felt at home, it was as if he brought everything and everybody with him. So you were there too.