Sunday, 28 November 2010

Japan

Kyoto
Normally whenever I hear the town Kyoto mentioned my mind automatically whispers “agreement”. Well, I am glad that my brain now is finally able to come up with a few more associations (p.s I do applaud the Kyoto Agreement).


Kyoto is a town that is more beautiful than you could ever imagine. It is the home of the Geishas, of many beautiful temples and of friendly, helpful locals. Unfortunately, we did not see any Geishas. You have to be rich to be able to enjoy their company! They are NOT prostitutes at all, but they are so highly considered that you really have to splurge just to be in the same room as these dreamlike creatures.


Luckily for us, the temples are more accessible. Our favourite temple was the golden one. It actually has real gold leaf in the painting. It must have cost a fortune to make! The nicest part of this temple however, was the bright colourful trees that were situated around it. Nothing can beat the colours of nature … not even gold!


Another thing that was very impressive about Kyoto is that whenever the bus has to wait for a while, for example for a red light to become green, the engine stops! Apparently this saves 10% of the fuel. We experienced this in other towns as well. Way to go Japan!

It is also worth mentioning that we had the most fascinating cups of coffee in our lives in Kyoto. This little old lady made us coffee from instruments that looked like a science project. The coffee was great, and she gave us a refill!


Hiroshima
While my mind thinks of “agreement” when I hear the word “Kyoto”, you probably know what I think about when I hear “Hiroshima” being mentioned. I must admit that it has been a while since we learned about the bombings in school, and I am ashamed that I had forgotten most of what happened. I knew that it was absolutely terrible and that the destruction the bomb did was unimaginable. However, I had distanced myself from the information. Maybe it had been to difficult for me as a child to take in the atrocities and really understand what happened? I still can’t understand what happened, but I am completely shocked and horrified by it. It brings tears in my eyes.


In the museum we read about children who had been trying to run home, only to drop dead from their burns moments later. We read about parents who had to watch their children die in their arms. Some people got burns that were completely black! The bomb was so hot that flesh was dripping from people’s bodies. Obviously the people who were in a close radius to the bomb died immediately. 140 000 people had died by the end of 1945! Hiroshima is now focusing on being a centre for peace. The town is actively trying to abolish nuclear weapons. Today I learned that there are hydrogen bombs that are 1000 times stronger than the bomb that fell over Hiroshima. How can that be? Who would EVER want to inflict that kind of destruction to anyone? Well, I am naive, but I seriously hope that a nuclear weapon will NEVER happen again!



Seoul
We have just arrived in the capital of South Korea. We have seen no signs of war, like you would expect. The place looks very similar to Japan. The food is a bit cheaper though, so we are really looking forward to treating ourselves for the next 2 days until we fly to China on the 30th. China is our last country!!

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