Computers!

Back to a lifestyle post. Though I'm quite used to it now, one of the most difficult things to adjust to was the Japanese computer. The letters of the QWERTY keyboard that we know and love is the same in Japan, which is great, but some of the symbol keys are different. For example, the @ sign is not at a SHFT+2 position, but right next to the P, no shift involved. Many an extra minute have been spent scanning the keyboard trying to find where the @ sign has disappeared to. Another example are the parentheses buttons, on the Japanese keyboard the open and close parentheses are shifted over one position to SHFT+8 and SHFT+9 respectively. That one was particularly tricky to get used to because it was just one key over. !

One handy tool that is standard on Japanese keyboards is the "switch to Japanese" button, located next to the shortened space bar. It enables the user to phonetically type Japanese words in roman characters, which the program will provide various character translations for at the tap of a button, in Kanji, Hiragana, and Katana. It's also usually smart enough to figure out which alphabet to choose. Because of this function though, to enable caps lock, you have to hit SHFT+Caps Lock, which is now a little nuance that I have carried over to my own American laptop. Luckily it doesn't have any effect on the result.

In addition to the keyboard being different, on our computers at work, most of the programs are defaulted to Japanese language. This means all that your control panel, those help tabs in Word and Excel, even the icons on your start menu are all displayed in Japanese. Luckily, most of these things, having being adopted from English words, are written in Katakana so you can generally translate what they mean, though it will take an extra few seconds. For everything else, though, you resort to figuring out some sort of pictoral clue (ie: the third one-word option; the Kanji character that looks like a robot; the shortcut letter U)

Not a big change at the end of the day, but certainly a difference that I will remember. It took a few weeks to get used to, and I think it's going to take just as long to adjust back!

Atami

Atami is a town on the eastern coast of the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka about a 2 hours drive from Mt. Fuji and Tokyo. Atami is a pretty big transfer point between the shinkansen and local lines in Shizuoka. Historically renowned for it's hot springs, but it is now a popular beach resort.

Graphic from atami.furuya.co.jp

The natural hot springs are rather small alcoves located right alongside the road. There are seven main onsens highlight near the city center, collectively called Atami Nanayu (all shown by steaming coffee-cup looking symbols on the map above). The one shown below is the biggest hot spring, named Oh Ya. The little tombstone is for Toby, the unfortunate puppy of one of the British colonialists, who died after being burned by the scalding water. 

On a hot summer day, Atami turned out b quite a popular beach getaway. The shoreline was packed with families who were out enjoying the sun and sea. The well constructed marina and the aquatic themed decorations around makes it a very picturesque holiday location.

 

 

 

Atami's other claim to fame is Omiya no Matsu, a pine tree that is described in a story by one of Japan's most famous authors, Koyo Ozaki. "The Golden Demon" first began as a weekly serial in a newspaper, but it was so well received that it was turned into a novel that is still fairly popular today. There is a very famous scene from the book that has been recreated as a statue for tourists to look at. Complete with a sound box that plays a somber song written about the incident, it's a pretty neat monument in the literary history of Japan. Pretty cool.

Hiroshima - Part Two

Part two of my Hiroshima post. Hiroshima city has been rebuilt incredibly well since the atomic bomb disaster during World War II. Linked a short summary about the Hiroshima and Nagaski, if you want a little reminder about the basic details.

The city center has been reconstructed into the Hiroshima Peace Park is a large area that is a with various memorials and museums to the victims of the disaster. The first building you see is the Atomic Bomb Dome, the only building that survived the blast. There was some debate as to whether the crumbling building should be reinforced or completely demolished, whether it should be kept as a memorial or whether it is was a difficult reminder of an event that people would rather not relive. In the end it was decided that the building should be maintained as a memorial for peace and it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

There whole park is built along a river and there is lots of greenery and fountain which provides for a beautiful walk around the park though it is definitely a bit difficult to enjoy a nice walk when you think of the horrors that happened there in 1945.

 

One of the most touching memorials is the children's memorial inspired by the story of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who was diagnosed with leukemia ten years after the bomb was dropped. She believed that if she folder a thousand paper cranes she would be cured. Unfortunately, the cranes did not save Sadako's life, but they are on display, along with thousands of other cranes that children have made since, in hopes for a peaceful future.

 

The one thing that really stands out through the whole thing is that the people don’t want revenge, but they want to make sure that this never happens again. The phrase “NO MORE HIROSHIMAS”can be seen all over the town. The word peace is also seen everywhere, a gentle reminder of what we all hope to see in the future. 

Hiroshima: Part 1

Another two part post, this time for another interesting city - Hiroshima. A little bit outside of the Hiroshima city center is an island called Miyajima. Accessible by JR train or by street car, Miyajimaguchi is the port that will get you across to the island. There are two ferry services taking visitors to the Miyajima every ten minutes or so.

Though I realize I'm starting to sound like a broken record - the island is another nice little tourist town. There are street vendors lining the dirt roads selling grilled corn, yakitori, fresh fruits and there is lots of hustle and bustle in general. Like Nara, there are many deer roaming the streets, who are generally people trained.

 

The main attraction in Miyajima is Itsukushima, the floating torii gate shrine, there is a large torii gate built in the middle of water that often looks like it is floating if the tide is high enough. The rest of the shrine is built on a collection of walkways, almost like a maze-like pier, which is really cool to walk through.

 

The rest of the town has various other pagodas, shrines, and statues, as seems to be standard with many Japanese towns. It was a great day to visit and I think we there was some sort of ceremony planned for later that day because there were a ton of people camped out along the shore and many photographers with expensive equipment positioned precariously near the water.

In all, definitely worth the trip if you are in the area. Easily visited in a half day or you could easily spend a whole day here. Lots to explore and nice to walk around.