Exchanging Fright for Flight

High places, do they drive you to sweat or to feelings of freedom?

"What makes you nervous?" Wow, tough question. It's made even more difficult by the contractual limitations placed on my honesty. Am I handcuffed in talking about my private little neurosis of walking through the metal detector at an airport? Even when I know I have nothing to hide, the seconds leading up to the breach of that well-guarded empty doorway are excruciating. It always seems like it's ten degrees too hot, and my brain's running in ghost mode, focusing all available attention on appearing like I'm not "trying to remain calm." And predictably, when I'm waved on through cleanly, the "safe" side of airport security finds me felling like that prisoner emerging outside the wall to the sound of silence...no alarm. I suppose my students wouldn't understand that, either for grammatical reasons or for cultural ones. Police in this country tend to have an attitude that's more, oh what's the word I'm looking for..........relaxed. Here I'm spoken to as if I'm an actual person, with a soul, not just a crime waiting to happen. And while the metaphysical side of it is debatable, it certainly makes them less imposing. More like a mild irritation that you're willing to put up with, a mere 20 extra yen ($0.26) surcharge on that beer for buying it at the combini instead of the market.

How about meeting a girlfriend's parents? Safe topic? It's not sex or World War II, so I suppose it's alright. Everyone has to do it at some point, right? I cringe at the thought of having to do it in Japanese though. My level's easily conversational, but the problem with gleaning an education through your (youthful) Japanese friends is that you never really learn the politeness level required for meeting 'her' father. It'd be like trying to court Kate Middleton and speaking to her relatives in ghetto slang. You'd have a better shot of just feigning inability. A closed mouth gathers no foot...

Superstition? Who among the western readers can honestly say they don't feel even a moment's hesitation when presented with a ladder to walk under, or when the salt spills, or when that last birthday candle has yet to be extinguished. And let us not forget that this month saw a Friday the 13th, unlucky indeed! Though for me that day, luck decided to take it's January vacation in Tokyo.

Excitement! The body's biochemical response usually starts with the movement of information; your favorite sports team wins, a messenger runs from your eyes to big brain boss man's office, the cranial factories start producing joy juice, and joyous fist-pumping ensues. Well much in the same way, I received a text on Friday morning reading, "dress in conservative business attire today, you're doing interviews." I won't admit to fist-pumping (I was in the middle of a crowded market at the time), but by god after that there was a noticeable skip in my step.

A little background: In Japan the social esteem held for flight attendants is somewhere on par with doctors, lawyers, or firemen. It's seen as a very good job, but like all good jobs there are prerequisites that must be met before attempting an application for this position. Some of these are practical rules like English ability or height requirements (tall enough to reach the overhead compartments and NO, you can't be measured wearing those ridiculous high heels). Others are unwritten for things such as beauty or appearance, but it's unanimous, no one in this country scoffs at person citing flight attendant as their occupation. With this in mind you can understand why competition is stiff. So accordingly, my company offers a class coaching women on how to put your best foot forward during the interview. At the conclusion of the course, these young hopefuls are given the chance to show what they've learned in a simulated interview with real, honest-to-god, (yep you guessed it that's me!) foreigner.


Guidelines? "Pretty much anything goes. See if you can't make them a little uncomfortable, a little nervous to simulate the real thing" my Japanese co-interviewer tells me just before we begin. I'm still in the throes of a braingasm, the words "paid to make these women nervous" echoing off the attic walls, when there's a knock at the door. It's gonna be a good day...

Pockets of Peace

In the early morning hours of August 6th, 1945, an industrial Southwestern Japanese port city was unknowingly prepping itself to bleed its way into the history books. Actually, back up a step, if I'm going to be accurate with my language I suppose "vaporize" is a better operating word. The bomb, dropped by the Enola Gay an American B-29 Bomber, was the first atomic device ever to be used as a weapon. It exploded about 600 meters above the city instantly killing around 80,000 people. That number, according to the Cooperative Japan-US Research Foundation on Radiation Effects, would effectively double by December of the same year. As many as 250,000 people (survivors) were exposed to significant levels of radiation during the atomic bombing of Japan, and every year, subsequent to explosion, some die of a radiation-related cancer.

Sixty six years, four months, and twenty one days after that atomic shit-storm rained from above, at about the same time in the morning, I arrived in Hiroshima. After a quick cup of coffee (night buses aren't the most comfortable place to sleep, especially if your twice the size of the Japanese standard) I headed for the Peace Memorial Park. The park was designed around the Genbaku Dome (原爆ドーム meaning Atomic dome) which was one of the only buildings left standing after the devastation of the bomb. This fact moves from "remarkable" to "oh, I understand....that's kinda shitty" when you find out that this building was pretty much ground zero for where bomb struck. Instead of experiencing the immensely destructive horizontal shock-wave that toppled the rest of the town, the former concert hall was sheltered in an impact shadow. Though the occupiers of the structure didn't fare so well against the heat, almost instantly sublimating into gas.

Hiroshima's Genbaku Dome is a gruesome reminder of the day the sky fell.

All along the river, and throughout the park are many independently financed tributes to those who lost their lives in devastation.

Here two siblings prepare to release the symbolic dove. On Aug 6th every year doves are released in commemoration. 

The Children's Peace Monument features a girl holding a giant origami crane, a symbol of health and longevity.

At the base of this monument are thousands upon thousands of origami cranes. The tradition was started by a young girl, Sasaki Sadako, who fell ill with radiation related leukemia in 1955. After her diagnosis, the 12 year old began folding these cranes in the hopes that if she reached 1000 she'd be cured. She died before reaching her goal but her classmates took it upon themselves to finish the job. Now it's become a tradition and every year school children from all over Japan lay their colorful creations at the foot of this monument. 

Strings of paper cranes at the Children's Peace Monument

Right in the middle of this clever alignment is the eternal Flame of Peace, which will be extinguished on the day the last nuclear weapon on Earth has been destroyed.

Primed with all of the somber information above, I expected this to be one of those "educational excursions" with glaring (and possibly shocking) reminders on every street corner. What I found instead was that Hiroshima (outside of the Peace Park) is a bustling modern city, full of spectacular cuisine, friendly people, a network of canals much akin to a Dutch city, and hardly any trace of being atomically panini-ed in the last 70 years.   

The local baseball team, the Toyo Carps, are the six-time champions of Japan's Central League.

Hiroshima's close proximity to the Inland Sea means the local food is loaded with fresh seafood. Sardines and oysters are the specialty. 

Nothing like 焼き牡蠣 (yaki kaki, grilled oysters) for breakfast!

Just outside Hiroshima, Iwakuni sports this famous bridge which was built without using a single nail.

Hiroshima also plays host to a castle. Although historically is didn't last long- being destroyed only 11 years after it's 1589 construction.

This 5-story pagoda towers proudly over Miyajima's Itsukushima shrine.

In the right light, at sunset Itsukushima is in the running for one of Japan's most beautiful views. Located on an island in Hiroshima bay, high tide here means it's welcoming torii gate is partially submerged below the water-line.