Yesterday we meandered through several more parks (can’t seem to get our fill of these cherry blossoms!), but more significantly visited the Yushukan museum. It celebrates Japanese warriors down through the ages from the early Samurai through the Second World War. Those Japanese who died in battle are considered enshrined deities and their photos and mementos are archived here. On display are the uniforms, relics and letters of these men as well as the weapons of war. Everything from torpedoes and guns to bombers and ammunition.
There are also several rooms tracing Japanese military history up to the modern era. I found the account of Admiral Perry’s trip to Japan in the 19th century and his demand that the country be “open” particularly interesting and wondered why the U.S. thought it had the right to demand that. No reason was given here.
Also noteworthy for me was the depiction of Japan’s role in the Second World War, their decision to bomb Pearl Harbor, and the battles they fought in Midway, Guadalcanal, and the Philippines. I read in its entirety the emperor’s message to the Japanese people announcing the country’s surrender to the Allies. Without his assent and encouragement, the military leadership would have kept on fighting. The emperor valued the land and wanted to protect the Japanese people. It’s always enlightening to read about one’s country’s wars from the other side as we did in Vietnam and in Berlin last fall.
Visiting this museum, I was reminded that in 6th grade, I had two Japanese pen pals. This was a program through my school and I signed up to write to two students. One was a boy whose first name began with “H”and a girl whose full name I do remember, Setsuko Ito. I wonder where she is today. One of my sisters also had a pen pal. My letters were written on thin blue airmail paper and then mailed to the other side of the world, somewhere here, with a long wait for a reply. Nothing like the immediacy of e-mail or Facebook.
We were on foot most of the day and joined the throngs of Japanese individuals and families worshipping the cherry blossoms with their cameras and their picnics. We didn’t picnic, but did locate a small café in a park where we had lunch. Can you believe they ran out of rice? The small picture menu had five options including a curry and something else hot with rice. No rice, so we both ordered the spaghetti and meatballs. It wasn’t bad and served the purpose of refueling.
Last evening we finally had Japanese food for dinner. We ordered miso soup, chicken skewers or yakitori, and tempura. The skewers had bites of chicken prepared three ways and the tempura was in an exceedingly light and delicate batter and consisted of pieces of fish, shrimp, green beans, lotus root, and eggplant. There was a dipping sauce to which we were instructed to add a piece of the soft round white radish from its separate little dish. Delicious! Dessert was a soupy brown bean concoction served with a small dish of tiny matchsticks that tasted a bit salty and also like anise. Not to my taste, but worth the experiment.
[Source of Yukushan image: www.panoramio.com]
