Hiroshima, Kitakyushu

At the brisk clip of one city every day, the locations begin to blur. Culture I have a lot to comment on. On geography not so much. In post-War times these cities have rebuilt around a mega corporation, or what used to be a zaibatsu, a vertically integrated conglomerate. Hiroshima equals Mazda. Kitakyushu equals Nippon Steel Works. Kitakyushu was originally the second target, after Hiroshima, for the atomic bomb. But the locals defended. They burned coal and created smoke and steam so the pilot could not visually verify the target. So the pilot dropped the A-Bomb on Nagasaki instead. 

Japanese and Americans agree the atomic bomb was devastating. Everyone agrees there should be peace. No one yet has insulted our hosts by calling out their guilt, bad guilt in starting a ferociously lethal World War. There is a polite saving of face. The locals start their modern history round up with 1963. Our wonderful guide Joyama put history in perspective this way: “ We had to wait until 1945 for our democracy.”  Actually it was 1947, but there was a lot of chaos and rubble in those 1945-47 years. Women finally could vote, practically not just nominally, and hold down jobs and inherit property. Only 18 military leaders and 9 politicians were prosecuted for war crimes through the IMTFE, the International Military Tribunal of the Far East. General MacArthur, he of MacArthur Freeway fame, had a three-point plan: dismantle the war machinery, create a parliamentary democracy, and build a sound economy.  At first Japan was not allowed a military force, but with the Chinese Civil War 1945-1949 threatening, Japan was allowed to rearm. MacArthur wanted the Japanese to democratize quickly to create an ally with the West against Mao’s Communist Army. The occupying Allies gave Japan back, keeping only Okinawa for a US military base. 

There is a Japanese way of doing almost everything. When I described eeling at the Inari Shrine, we were marooned in a sea of gaijin, foreigners. On walkways Japanese walk left and pass on the right, just as when they drive. A milling, selfie-snapping crowd muddies the directional attributes of Japanese-style pavement walking. 

Sometimes I enjoy tidiness in places I don’t expect. I admired how organized the bus pick-up and drop-off zones are, with designated queues and lanes and  Hi-Vis Vested monitors helping drivers park. 

I also appreciated how well regulated traffic is. Pedestrians wait for the signal to change, even if there are no cars around. 

But I also note excessive adherence to rules at the expense of common sense. For example, our admission tickets are checked both at entrance and exit. Or we must proceed to the left of the dividing ribbon even when both lanes end up at the same place and no opposing traffic threatens. Japanese Border Control policies are too strict so the force on the ground enforces the policies arbitrarily. Who would enforce that cruise ship passengers should take all their Japanese shopping out of their cabins, display it for Customs and Border Control’s perusal, then march their shopping back up to their cabins again? No reporting threshold is specified. Border Control is looking for criminals where the best working conditions are, not where the crimes might be.