Our five-day excursion was a great success thanks to the invisible hand of Dan and Yuki who spent many weeks figuring out all the logistics of moving us around by public transport which included shinkansen, tram, bus, local trains, taxi and ferries! The combination of visiting the Peace Park at Hiroshima, the ‘Art Island’ of Naoshima and the three hundred year old Chiiori farmhouse, 800 m. up in the wild mountains of central Shikoku, offered a rainbow of glimpses of the many faces of Japan; past, present and future!

In Hiroshima we were very lucky to hear a personal account of Mr. Keiji Matsuoka’s experience on the day the atom bomb was dropped sixty-three years ago. His positive and youthful energy toward life and people was truly uplifting after the emotionally draining experience of touring around the Peace Museum and learning about all the issues surrounding nuclear weapons. After his talk, we immediately plunged back into the moment and spent a number of hours exploring and tasting the delights of Hiroshima’s central shopping acrcade which stretches for over a kilometer.

The next morning saw us heading toward the coast of Okayama and a short ferry trip to the island of Naoshima, one of the thousand or so islands of the Seto Inland Sea that lie between the coast of the main island of Honshu and Shikoku.  Starting in 1992 with the vision of one man who wished to create a model location that would reflect the coexistence of nature, art and architecture, the island is now internationally famous for its two art museums and its ‘Art House’ village, where traditional homes and even a shrine have been converted into art pieces! At this time where many islands in Japan are facing depopulation it was refreshing to discover such a vibrant oasis where a sustainable and creative way has been found to preserve the environment and traditions of the island and to boost the economy at the same time. Our home for the night was three ‘yurts’, close enough to the beach that we could all doze off to the sounds of the waves coming in on the shore after a long and eventful day.

On our third day, just four hours of travel transported us from one world to another; from an ancient fishing port to up amongst the clouds in the steep and densely forested mountains of central Shikoku. Reputed to be one of the inaccessible areas where the vanquished Heike clan escaped to after their defeat by Genji, the Iya valley is now famous for its vine bridges and thatched houses, one of which was to be our home for the next two nights. Despite the rainy weather, we enjoyed wandering around and learning about the village’s history with Chiiori’s manager, admiring the ever-changing view and sitting around the wood-burning open hearth. Of course the heart-racing experience of walking across the river on one of the swinging vine bridges followed an hour later by a lie in an outdoor hotspring looking out over the forested mountains reached by the hotel’s  cablecar are memories that will remain for a long time!

Our journey back to Kyoto included a two-hour stop at Himeji to visit the graceful castle, often known as ‘White Heron Castle’ due to its brilliant white exterior. Walking around its six-hundred year old courtyards in the soft autumn sunlight was a befitting conclusion to our trip amongst a small part of this enigmatic island where past and future, ugliness and beauty, constantly exist side by side.

Student Images

Streets of Hiroshima
After an afternoon in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, a more lighthearted day of meandering through modern Hiroshima’s shopping plazas and department stores was a much needed break from the heaviness of the realities of war and peace. The Peace Museum’s exhibits of the effects caused by the atomic bomb that demolished the city on 6 August 1945 showed the true evil force of nuclear weapons. I am thankful I cannot imagine such suffering and pain, thankful that since Hiroshima and Nagasaki no nuclear weapons have been used in war, despite their existence. This is a testament to the kindness of the human spirit despite the sometimes overwhelming opposing evidence: that despite the development of more and more powerful nuclear weapons, they remain locked away. Japan, having been the only country to experience the world’s only nuclear bombing, saw in the face of death the true costs of war, and continues today to uphold their Constitutional Article 9 that abolishes an offensive Japanese military. If an entire nation can abolish the mind-set of war as necessary to society, then a path to world peace is truly being paved.
Visiting the museum that morning before making my way out into the city helped me see the contrasts of yesterday and today, war and peace. Wandering the streets of today’s Hiroshima, it was hard to imagine that those roads I was walking, the buildings I was shopping in, the parks and museums are all no more than 63 years old. That afternoon I saw photos of roads of ash and rivers of blood, models of a city laid to waste, whereas the streets of modern Hiroshima I was standing on were designed to embody remembrance and peace. That Hiroshima is now thriving and a world symbol of peace manifests the human spirit’s strength to rebuild and continue.
After the atomic bomb, people said the land was so destroyed, so contaminated with nuclear residue that nothing would grow for 73 years. Yet in the spring of 1946, not a year after the bombing, flowers grew in Hiroshima, and so did a human spirit for regeneration unparalleled by any other place I have visited.  (Sophie Vranian)



Children’s Peace Memorial: display cases of thousands of paper cranes.

A model of a decimated Hiroshima: the red ball shows where the nuclear bomb dropped.

Sophie and Kat being silly in a Hiroshima department store’s Halloween section.

The Chiiori experience touched my heart and mind in a way that I will remember all my life.  I love nature and beauty, anyway, so I expected to like it there, but the whole place feels as if many of the people who have lived or visited there through the years have had a deep and abounding connection with the universe via that amazing vista.  The building, itself, with its construction in such a fabulous spot and with such natural materials, speaks of those who love the land, love the mountains, love the mist and sky and do not mind making sacrifices to be in that place to experience it.   Certain places draw me to them with the feeling I get from the energy of the universe that exists such as ocean beaches with waves crashing against the rocks and waterfalls raining down in playful joy, whether natural or man-made.  Chiiori, to me, had this kind of vibrant energy of the universe that pulls at my heart and makes me want to visit again, bringing family and friends to share in the delight and joy with me.  (Roxanne Baldwin)

Back home to Chiiori!

View from Chiiori