Risen from the ashes

So today's post may be less up-beat that others. I'm in Hiroshima, and it has affected me in many ways. At first glance you could say that a more sombre post would be appropriate when you think about the only thing that the rest of the world knows about Hiroshima. And sitting in the Peace Gardens opposite the A bomb dome (the only building that really survived with some walls intact after the atom bomb because it was pretty much ground zero), my mood was pretty low. I would like to challenge anyone who has ever thought that nuclear weapons could be justifiable (including our own Trident "deterrent") to come to Hiroshima and still believe there can be ANY justification for nuclear weapons.

That is one side of Hiroshima. Necessarily sombre. Monuments calling for world peace. The other side of Hiroshima was the group of school kids laughing behind me. The gentleman who came and talked to us in a shop, just to talk to a foreigner. The people who smile at my attempts at Japanese, and the city that gets on with the act of living and being alive, full of bright lights and chatter. Hiroshima has risen from the ashes, and is a great city as well as a poignant reminder of how fragile civilisation can be.

I have also been in Kyoto since my last post, geisha hunting, and saw some real geisha as they were chased down the street paparazzi style by groups of excited tourists. In true Japanese style they simply continue to smile and walk around the offending lenses. We had the fortune to be in Kyoto for a couple of festivals - the first the slowest parade EVER of costumes through the ages. the second in Kurama outside of Kyoto was a fire festival where boys and men carry ridiculously oversized torches up and down the main street, the men with bare backs and sumo style nappies, chanting what sounded like "sailor, sailor!". Cue a lot of photos of mens bums, accidental and otherwise.