Travel by Bullet Trains – Japan Episode 7

By C.I. Sivasubramanian
Aged 96, Retired Director, Ministry of Commerce, New Delhi

Introduction by Venkat
In this episode Mr. Sivasubramanian continues sharing on Japanese life and culture with glimpses of various places including Hiroshima. Again the connection to religion, nature and monuments stand out as prominent features of the Japanese life. The narrative is as usual light and natural. One can sense the calm and deeper thoughts from the places described. Looking forward to the next episode on Japan. The previous episode links are available at the bottom of this article.

Travel by Bullet Trains – Japan Episode 7

To Nara

On the wedding anniversary of my daughter and son-in-law, the 23rd June, we took the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto, a distance of 513 km, which was covered in 2-1/2 hrs. From there we took a local train for Nara. The train moved at a leisurely pace giving us time to view the sights along the rail track. The houses were typically Japanese and old and there were large pastures of arable land. It typified the rural Japan, all neat and clean.

Nara is famous for its ‘Todaiji’ temple and the biggest statue of Daibutsu or Buddha (They call Buddha as Daibutsu here.)   Apart from Shintoism, Buddhism is largely prevalent in Japan, although Buddhism came later to the islands. The statue is located in a wooden hall and is reputed to be the largest in the world. The statue measures nearly 50 feet high. On the way to the temple we saw hordes of deer all over the place in the temple precincts. roaming about freely.  They were harmless creatures going around expecting you to dole out some food. The shops sell biscuits specially made to feed the deer. It was great sighting deer all around you. The weather was fine and we spent a couple of hours in and around the temple, before taking the train back to Kyoto.

Kyoto

Kyoto was the former capital of Japan for over 1,000 years. It houses the old imperial palace and a host of temples and shrines. The town preserves its antiquity. A visit to one or two temples and shrines would have been rewarding but unfortunately for want of time, we could not venture into this famous city.        

Kanazawa

Kanazawa is in the northwest of Tokyo on the seacoast facing the Sea of Japan. First we went straight north to Nagoaka, a distance of 270 km, by the Shinkansen. It was a picturesque route, full of mountains and tunnels – I think the number of tunnels on this route was far more than elsewhere. From Nagoaka, we went along the coast of the Sea of Japan tracing the way west and reached Kanazawa, a distance of 250 km from Nagoaka, by a limited express train. The sea on one side and the green pastures on the other and the leisurely speed of the train made the journey very pleasant. Kanazawa is one of the ‘sleeping towns’ of Japan. Everything moved on a leisurely pace. There is a very famous garden in this town, known as ‘Kenrokuen’, which was owned at one time by one of the powerful clans of Tokugawa Shogunate. We spent a couple of hours in this garden.

From Kanazawa we took a different route to reach Tokyo. This was via Lake Biwa to Kyoto by a super express and from there to Tokyo by the Shinkansen. This part of Japan had yet a different scenery with the lake as the centre of attraction. Wakura Onsen in the northern peninsula is said to be a more picturesque place. The train schedule was such that it was difficult to cover this place also on the same day. We had to leave it for our next trip, though we disappointed my daughter who wanted us to make this trip!

Hiroshima

The third day, we went south towards Hiroshima. In the south-end of Honshu Island, a distance of 850 Kms. from Tokyo. Before entering the city we went by a local train and a l0 minute ride in a ferry, to an island called Miyajima. The ferry ride was enjoyable and we could see some of the sights of Hiroshima from the boat. On the other side, we rested for a while and took our lunch among a bunch of deer, which made us run from one spot to the other to complete our lunch. The deer would not leave us in peace and ran after us. Though there was a slight disturbance in the lunch program, we enjoyed the fun.

Again by ferry and a short train ride (it looked more like a streetcar), we reached Hiroshima. There were several memorials in the central part of the city and in and around the Peace Museum. There was one dome-like structure – a skeletal structure now, after the atom bomb was dropped there– which has been left as it was as a reminder of the horrific days of l945. The atom bomb exploded just above this dome and destroyed everything in a 3-km radius. The remnants of the building materials, a watch, clock, clothes some of them worn on that fateful day were all on display in the Peace Museum. One felt moved by the horrors of nuclear explosion by seeing this museum. There were several small monuments built around the museum, notable among these were the Cenotaph for the A-bomb victims, and a perennial flame close by. The city has been rebuilt now with beautiful gardens and avenues and life goes on normally in this city.

To be continued…

By C.I. Sivasubramanian
Aged 96, Retired Director, Ministry of Commerce, New Delhi

Mr. Sivasubramanian hails from Coimbatore. He has been living in Delhi throughout life. He was employed with the Government of India, Ministry of Commerce and retired as Director in 1986.

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