A lot has been happening these past few weeks besides all of our explorings.  A couple of weeks ago we got our “express” shipment.  It contained mostly the rest of Chris’ work clothes, his office/work supplies, and best of all BIKES!  At least Chris’ bikes – 1 road bike, 1 fixie bike and our tandem.  Chris very quickly hooked up with the local bikers, all seem to be fellow engineers in the facilities group here on the base so in between rain storms he’s gotten to go out for a couple of rides.  I can’t seem to catch a good picture of him ’cause he takes off so fast.

Off on another ride

Here’s Chris doing a little cycle cross as he traverses a small landslide with his new riding buddy after one of the recent deluges.

Cycle Cross in Japan

Another accomplishment of ours is that we both passed our driving test and have our Japanese drivers licenses.  And we bought a car.*

The Cube

This was an accomplishment as driving is on the left side of the road and the steering wheel is on the right side.  The secret to remembering how to stay in your lane especially when making turns is to “Keep your hiney on the liney.”  We practiced driving on the base a bit and then ventured off base.  We even drove north yesterday to Otake to check out a  bike shop which we never found but we did have some great oysters at the Oyster Queen.  Even with the American name no one spoke English and the menus were all in Japanese.  Where would we be without Google Translate!

Oyster Queen

Then it was back to Iwakuni to do errands.

Later we had dinner with biking buddy Bill and his family at their favorite Italian restaurant here in Iwakuni.  It was very good but so interesting being in an Italian restaurant with the menu’s in Japanese and an Italian decor with Japanese lanterns and other touches of Japan.

Italian Restaurant

We’ve also found a house to rent.  Tomorrow we sign the final papers and pay an exorbitant amount of money upfront and move in on Tuesday with temporary furniture from the base.  Our household goods should arrive sometime in mid September.  So stay tuned for more house pictures.

*We just took the car back to the dealership to have some work done on it since it wasn’t running very well by the end of our travels yesterday and we weren’t sure if we’d make it home.   Just thought you’d appreciate the maintenance department.

Maintenance Department

Last night we took the train south to the town of Yanai to experience our first Japanese Festival – The Goldfish Lantern Festival.  There seem to be festivals happening all the time all over Japan.  When we got off the train at 1745 we were greeted with this street scene.  Lots of people gathering, vendors selling trinkets and lots of food on a stick.

Yanai Goldfish Festival

Many women wore their summer kimonos which were very beautiful.

Kimono Girls

There were goldfish everywhere.

Then came the goldfish parade.  This consisted of about a dozen goldfish “floats” each representing a sponsor.

Goldfish Floats

As it got dark the town lit up with wonderful goldfish lanterns made of washi paper and bamboo lining the streets.

Goldfish lanterns lining the streets

Then the floats came by again. As they paraded by, there was a Japanese drumming group who kept a strong rhythmic beat and an announcer chanting something.  The fun, crazy part was when each float got to the main intersection there seemed to be a competition to see who could spin their float around the fastest and the longest and still keep it in the center of the intersection.

Getting ready to spin and then spinning

Lots of good food to try.  Even octopus on a stick.

Our friend Steve eating chicken on a stick

Here are a couple more floats before we move on.

After the big festivities we had the amazing opportunity to wander through the old part of Yanai to meet the parents of a friend of Steve’s.  As we turned off the main road we walked up this very narrow cobblestone street, again lined with goldfish lanterns.  I wish I knew how to take better night pictures, but hopefully you can get a feeling of how magical this street was.  This part of town is well over 300 years old with very small shops and restaurants.

Old street

What an amazing festival.  So much fun with lots more festivals to come.

There’s so much to see in Hiroshima it’s hard to fit it all in this blog.  After visiting the Peace Memorial Park we headed off to find one of the popular riverfront cafes. We popped into a nice little place and had our first pizza in Japan.  It had cabbage and chunks of ham on it with a really good sweet sauce.

It tasted way better than it looks in this picture

We also got fresh oysters that were really good.  From here we wandered the streets of Hiroshima.   Through the Hondori Shopping Arcade

Shopping Arcade

where we passed this high end hair salon and a bike shop.

Interesting poster above and interesting bikes below

As we wandered around the city we came upon subtle reminders of that fateful day in 1945 like this sign next to a bridge.

Streetcar Tracks

The text on the sign reads  1.35 km from hypocenter

The rails of the streetcar bridge were twisted in all directions by the blast from the first atomic bombing in the history of mankind and the rail ties were scorched by the heat rays.  The bridge was used solely for streetcars but since the Yanagi Bridge downstream had been destroyed by fire, many survivors crossed here to escape to the outskirts of the city.  Survivors rushed beneath the bridge in search of water, despite the fact that numerous dead bodies were floating in the river below.

We checked out the Hiroshima Castle which was destroyed in the wake of the Atomic Bomb but was restored in 1958 to mark the 400th year of the castle’s existence. It now also houses a museum of the history and culture of Hiroshima.

Hiroshima Castle

Not far from the castle we came upon this site tucked away in the trees.

Underground Strategic Command Control Room

The plaque nearby reads   700 meters from hypocenter

In and around Hiroshima Castle were a number of military facilities including the partially underground strategic command control rooms and the communication room of the Chugoku Regional Military Headquarters.  In the communication room soldiers were assisted by Hijiyama Girls High School students mobilized for the war effort.  The atomic bomb destroyed telephone and telegraph lines, but the students, using the barely intact military phone system, managed to relay news of Hiroshima’s destruction. Theirs seem to have been the first report of Hiroshima’s suffering.

Back to our wandering the streets of Hiroshima we passed a gas station where the attendant was washing this old car.  Very cool.

Citroen

Then there was the metered bicycle parking.  Lots of metered spots on this block.

Bike Parking

We passed by another 7-11.

They’re everywhere.

After a long day of exploring and a nice train ride back to Iwakuni we stopped at a grocery store on our walk home and picked up some deli food to take out for dinner.  After 1700 they often mark down the prices quite a bit.

10 different sushi samples

What a deal and what a great day of exploring Japan.

Since the big typhoon wasn’t so big after all and since it wasn’t raining on Sunday morning we decided to take the train to Hiroshima.  It’s much faster to travel by train in Japan even with the stops along the way because the speed limit on the highway is 60kmh or 37mph.  In town it’s 40kmh or 25mph and on base it’s 30kmh or 19mph.  Hard to get used to but it’s a very good thing for us all to slow down.

Train to Hiroshima

Along the way we saw some of the islands off the coast and lots of oyster boats. Hiroshima is Japan’s leading oyster producing area with the big Miyajima Oyster Festival in early February.

Oyster boats

The trains in Japan are spotlessly clean and always on time.  And if you miss one you can just hop on the next one.  It was a very pleasant ride to Hiroshima.

Welcome to Hiroshima

From here we took a streetcar to the Peace Memorial Park.  This is the site of the August 6, 1945 atomic bomb blast.  As a reminder of this event Japan has created a very lush, green, beautiful park around the former Hiroshima Prefectural Exhibition Hall.  As one of the few remaining buildings left standing after the blast of the atomic bomb, the dome, a registered World Heritage Site, stands as a symbol to the world to seek peace and the complete abolishment of nuclear weapons.

A-Bomb Dome

This is what it looked like before that fateful day.

Pre August 6

And here it is after the bomb blast.

Post August 6

This Peace Memorial Park in the middle of the city is huge and beautiful.

Peace Park

The Children’s Peace Monument can also be found in the park as well as this Children’s Peace Tower, also called the Tower of a Thousand Cranes.

Children’s Peace Tower

Young Sadako was two years old when she was exposed to the A-bomb. She had no apparent injuries and grew into a strong and healthy girl. However, nine years later in the fall when she was in the sixth grade of elementary school (1954), she suddenly developed signs of an illness. In February the following year she was diagnosed with leukemia and was admitted to the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital. Believing that folding paper cranes would help her recover, she kept folding them to the end, but on October 25, 1955, after an eight-month struggle with the disease, she passed away.

Sadako’s death triggered a campaign to build a monument to pray for world peace and the peaceful repose of the many children killed by the atomic bomb. The Children’s Peace Monument that stands in Peace Park was built with funds donated from all over Japan. Later, this story spread to the world, and now, approximately 10 million cranes are offered each year before the Children’s Peace Monument.

Beautiful Cranes for Peace

To be continued.

Well, the typhoon pooped out so we just got rain and some wind on Saturday and Saturday night so nothing to worry about once again.  More on our weekend activities later.  For now you get to read more about Justin and Lauren’s bicycling adventure.

Yesterday, within sight of our hotel, we shifted into our granny gear for the first time and dropped the chain.   This broke a spoke that took forever to fix!  Getting the drag brake off was, well, quite a drag… but got the bike all fixed before dinner.

Today we rode from Enns to the concentration camp Mathausen, back tracking a little.  It is quite a hill up there, and we were pretty spent first thing in the morning.  Lauren hadn’t been to one, and this was just as moving, unpleasant, and important as we expected.

Concentration Camp Mathausen

After that it was a meandering day back and forth across the river and often away from the water through corn fields and farm houses.

We capped the day off with a grueling 5km climb up to Maria Taferl and the Hotel Rose.  I think the climb on the tandem earned us the best room in the house.  We’re on the top floor with a 180 degree view of the Danube valley a few hundred meters below us.

A Room with a View

We’re cooling off now, getting a glass of delicious gruner veltner and waiting for our bags.  We’re not sure how this tour doesn’t cost twice as much (and we would gladly pay it) because it is amazing!  The food, accommodations and riding are all incredible.

Since I last wrote we’ve had some nice-ish days, not rainy but very humid and hot.  All week there’s been a threat of a typhoon on it’s way – Typhoon Halong.  Since July 28, as it works it’s way towards Japan, it’s been called a Tropical Depression, a Tropical Storm, a Typhoon, a Super Typhoon, and back to a Typhoon.  There’s no way of knowing exactly when it will hit or how bad it will be but it’s predicted for today, Saturday with strong winds and lots of rain all day Saturday and Sunday.  Most people who have been here for awhile say the storms always veer off to the east right before they get here – but you never know.  We’re in Category 3 mode now which is like stay tuned.  Chris is on-call this weekend in case anything major happens.  So we’re spending a quiet day in our temporary lodge.

So as for flowers, here’s my first attempt at ikebana (Japanese flower arranging).

First attempt

I like this better.  It’s some left over leaves stuck in our favorite sake bottle.

Ikebana Sake

Many of you have asked if Chris is working.  We arrived very late on July 15 and Chris started work very early on July 16.  Here is his brand new office building.  It houses all of the Facilities Group of which Chris is the Director if Environmental Services.  Note the perfectly manicured trees and the interesting grass pattern.

Facilities Building

And here he is, hard at work even without a computer.

The Happy Engineer

Well, now it’s not just raining it’s pouring – buckets and buckets of rain.  It’s called a Tropical Storm.  We had at least 5″ of rain in 24 hrs.  And, coming from Southern California this is quite amazing to watch.  It’s like being on the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland which is the only place I remember seeing lots of rain when I was a kid.  Whenever I try to take a picture my camera lens steams up ’cause it’s so warm.  They opened the flood gates upstream so our lazy river is now a raging torrent of muddy water with lots of woody debris rushing by.

Since there’s not much to report on from us at the moment, I’ll tell you about our son Justin.  He and Lauren are celebrating their honeymoon/one year anniversary with an amazing bicycle trip in Europe.  You get to read their story today.

Lauren and Justin in Germany 

We received this email this morning.

Hello!

We just wanted to let you know we made it and are checked into our first hotel in Passau. It’s a neat old town.

We are catching up, but are still exhausted from staying up for 48 hours. I was taking an involuntary nap in the train station in Amsterdam, but the police informed us that wasn’t allowed. I sat up, but after he left passed out again on accident when Justin went to look around. We didn’t realize we would have to hang out in Amsterdam for 8 hours before our train and it was really hard to stay awake.

Our sleeper train car filled up with a loud middle eastern family… tons of women and kids with one man looking over them, maybe the husband for everyone? Anyway they thought they were in our car and we let them take it over while we hung out in an empty one until the train ticket person came to tell them they were wrong and in fact supposed to be in a whole different section on the train. Then finally we could sleep. I didn’t even wake up when German border patrol agents came to check our passports in the middle of the night.

Just had a wonderful dinner at the hotel after walking around town, and taking a nap. Bike is together and ready to go.

Another highlight so far was a big salty pretzel we got in Munich, sliced with creamy butter to go with our morning cappuccinos.

Oh yeah, and we decided not to bring our computers!

Last Sunday we decided to check out the Iwakuni train station and try taking the train somewhere – just for practice.  We headed out on foot on Sunday morning.  And to start off my blog with something pretty, here’s a picture of a manhole cover (or is it a personhole cover these days).  Anyway, they are quite lovely to look at here.

Kintai Bridge

It was fairly quiet when we got downtown.  The shopkeepers were just sweeping up in front of their shops.  Notice the yellow rumble strips on all the sidewalks.  These are to help blind people find their way.

Downtown Iwakuni Sunday morning

Here’s the train station.  It’s the low brown roofed building in the middle of the picture.

Iwakuni Train Staition

A close up of the station.

Iwakuni Train Station

Just to be clear.  There are two train stations in Iwakuni.  This is the station downtown and there’s another station outside of town somewhere where we can catch the Shinkansen which is a whole ‘nother story.  For all you enginerds out there check out this great youtube video.  Well, I don’t know how to include a link so go to google and look up Japanese High Speed Bullet Train – Documentary.   It’s pretty impressive.

After studying our map of Japan the night before Chris had a pretty good idea of where we might go – west.  But looking at the board we couldn’t find anything that remotely looked like what we wanted.

Train Schedule

While Chris was trying to figure out the trains I came upon this helpful map.

Maps of Rome

Too bad we weren’t on our way to Italy that day.  How often can you find such a map of Rome in Iwakuni?

Another sighting while in the train station.

I’ve got to get some of these great bike socks!

No train ride for us that day.  Back outside this is the view of Iwakuni as you leave the station.  Note yellow rumble strip again.

View from train station

If you park downtown and don’t put enough money in the slot or stay longer than you expected, this is what happens to your car.  When you add more money the bar goes back down. No slipping out without paying.

Note yellow bar under car

After a long day of walking we had a lovely commissary dinner back at our little TLF.  Steak, baked potato, sauteed onions, broccoli, salad, and of course one gin and tonic and one beer.

Steak Dinner

Chris is very proud of his beer find.  At the exchange he can get a case of Dos Equis Lager Especial for $5.40.  That’s $.45 per bottle.  Of course the limes are like $1.30 each so it all works out in the end.  Life is good.

As we’ve been wandering around the streets of Iwakuni we come across many interesting sights.  I learned from my last post to start out with a pretty picture and not something like “Hydrate or die.”  So here’s a nice one.   This I took while watching Chris eat those noodles with his chopsticks.  It was on the window sill right next to us.  So very simple yet quite beautiful.

Bamboo Plant

There are lots of bridges here so don’t try to compare these views to the ones from our Temporary Lodging.  As we walk across a bridge to downtown Iwakuni we look to the right and see this.

View of Iwakuni to the North

And if we look across the bridge in the other direction we see this.

View to the south

As we walk toward downtown Iwakuni this is what we see.

Downtown Iwakuni

We don’t have to worry about getting lost because there are often maps posted like this one.

Map of Downtown

And if we get hungry we can just pop into a market and grab something to eat.  There are lots of choices.

What could it all be?

And if Chris is looking for a beer?  No problem.  Again, lots and lots of choices.

How do you say IPA in Japanese?

Everyone talks about how polite the Japanese people are.  And it’s very true.  Everyone is bowing back and forth to each other all the time.  I thought this sign said it all.

Even the signs are polite

So how do we end a perfect day of wandering around town?  Thanks to Scott Helmers advice, we stop by 7-11 and pick up dinner.  They’ve got great rice balls, fried rice, ramen, all kinds of fresh Japanese food and some really good sake.

Fresh from 7-11