3 posts tagged “japan”

This is a crosspost from hello! yoshi. You can comment here or there.

So, feeling nostalgic about living in Iwakuni, I decided to take out my super old Geocities website that I had, that got some pretty decent hits in the old hey day. It even got reviewed and received 3/5 stars (read: crappy) in some Internet magazine. (Jeff remembers that one I'm sure.) Anyways, this portion is what I wrote about Hiroshima so long ago (1997 or so - that's the geocities days right? And sorry the image is so small! Even the clicked on image is a bit small.):

If you were to go north of Miyajima, taking the JR for about 6 or 7 more stops (don't quote me on that one), then you would arrive at Hiroshima. Hiroshima is historical worldwide not for it's commerce, or industrial power, but because it was the first city to have a nuclear device used upon. On August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay dropped "Little Boy" upon the city of Hiroshima, and an estimated 200,000 people were killed that day. It is truly sad to know while we would walk through Peace Park that not so long ago, people were fighting to survive this catastrophe. Surely, as my friends and I, as part of the United States Navy, were very guilty to be walking through the park, feeling rather remorseful. However, we know that we did not do it, and that made it feel a bit better. But walking through the hallways of the Peace Park Museum, it was very hard to not feel somber. The displays had remnants of clothes, watches, uniforms, and other structures showing the effects of the A-Bomb. I would have to say that all in all, Peace Park and the Museum was a very sobering experience. There were people from all over the world, and in this one place, we could see what devastation such devices wrought. In some areas of the newly designed Museum, you can see the current growth of nuclear arms in the world, and it is by far rather sad. Though I have not been there in a long while, I'm sure it hasn't changed. War is not a good thing.

You can see me in the above picture standing in front of what is now called the "A-Bomb Dome". This is all that is truly left of 1945 Hiroshima, a reminder of those times of war. It is truly a breathtaking site, in the middle of this industrial city lies a now dead building, shown as a shrine would be.

This is a crosspost from hello! yoshi. You can comment here or there.

While stationed in Japan as I mentioned earlier, we would frequently go to Hiroshima. A trip to Hiroshima soon became a "welcome to Japan" tour from yours truly for any new clinic personnel arriving to Iwakuni.

I recall one time when one of our new Lab technicians arrived, we took her to Hiroshima. The week she arrived, it just happened to be the week that the Lucasfilm exhibit was in town. For some of us Star Wars nerds, this may have been the ultimate rush. My friend Jeff and I knew we simply had to go. Now, I remember I was very excited to go on this trip, and we had quite a few folks with us. One distinct memory that stuck out in my mind was while walking to the exhibit, the new Lab Tech asked me, "Does she have to walk so fast?" referring to our friend Swan. I just simply laughed and told her that you kinda get used to walking fast in Japan, but there's no need to keep up, she knows where she's going and so do I.

I'll discuss Hiroshima more in a future post.

It's memories like this that continue to make me smile. Keep on remembering..

This is a crosspost from hello! yoshi. You can comment here or there.

While I was stationed in Japan in MCAS Iwakuni (1993-1995) I learned a lot of things about Japan. First of all, I was 24 years old then. When I last stepped foot in Japan prior to that, I was 15 years old. A lot of things can happen between those years. Those are life changing years. Since I was much older, and an adult then, I got to go to places that I never would have went to. Places like hostess clubs, love hotels, and such. Although honestly I never did get to go to a love hotel, as they were a bit spendy, especially when the yen rate was so horrible. Although hostess clubs weren't any cheaper either!

But no, Japan is tons of fun. One memory I have while stationed there was what everyone called "The Chicken Shack." Now, I'm betting that most people in Iwakuni are still calling it that. And if not, I don't see why not! The Chicken Shack is actually a very expensive restaurant called Sanzoku. Now I'm betting you're wondering why it's called "The Chicken Shack" and you'd be of good mind to wonder about that. Because it is the place we bring all the new folks who get stationed there, and they serve chicken (which is always a safe food option in Japan), it's thusly called "The Chicken Shack." Nevermind that it's not the real name of the place. You learn that people give nicknames to a lot of places.

But The Chicken Shack was a very cool place. Very "Japanese-y" if you will. (forgive my Engrish.) The service was great, the people were friendlly, and although they didn't speak very well english, people always managed to get their point across and get the food that they wanted. I've really got to find some old photos of that area and post them, to accompany this post.

Hey Iwakuni-ites, are you missing it? It was way too expensive there though. I think most of us really preferred going just outside the front gate, and going to California Chicken. I miss that place, because you could pay in dollars there and the chicken was exceptional.