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April 2003 Timeline: May 2003 June 2003

After three days of constant rain and greyness....
Highlands, 1 May 2003 		Nice Trees
Kilmore, 1 May 2003 		Shapes
Kilmore, 1 May 2003 		Missed that city
London, 7 May 2003
Just some clouds, when we headed back from the Isle of Skye, which noone has ever seen without rain... One boring photograph of Eilean Donean Castle... It was a shame that Scotland didn't show itself from a nice angle... This is Scotland's most gorgeous castle, but I never get to shoot a decent photo of it...
So we cruised around a little bit more... but the weather never seemed to offer enough... so then we just went and headed back to Edinburgh....
 On our way back... This tree has a nice shape with the clouds above...
 On a daytrip to London. It was a gorgeous, fantastic day... People were hanging out in the various open parks in London, having drinks and lunch... It felt... somehow like New York. So lively and crowded... Great place!
Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices
Shinjuku, 13 May 2003 		Irrashaimase!
Shinjuku, 13 May 2003 		Leider total verbaut
Shinjuku, 13 May 2003 		Hachi-ko Exit at Shibuya
Shibuya, 13 May 2003
Tallest building in Tokyo...
Jetlagged, tired, I walked around in the afternoon in Tokyo, waiting for my hotel room to be ready... Went to the great Yodabashi Camera store, but the constant screams of 'Irrashaimase' drove me close to Insanity. I really love Japan, it is always an adventure, but I imagine if you are sick it must be a total nightmare.
Finally I was back in my hotel room and after a short nap, started loving Japan again. The fascinating thing about Japan is how much attention to detail and beauty is put into the smallest things, such as food and decoration, while in the big picture, function is key and ugliness doesn't matter. So Tokyo is a big messy place, ugly in its buildings and civil composition, but that is its charm.
 That's where Tokyo's young people meet up... So I met Markus there again!
Keanu watches over us all
Shibuya, 13 May 2003 		Terminator 2
Shibuya, 13 May 2003 		Getting quieter
Shibuya, 13 May 2003 		Looking up
Shinjuku, 13 May 2003
At Shibuya station... Great poster!
Meeting Markus again in Tokyo... We took a photo of us in a mirror.... The distortions on his arms remind me of Terminator 2....
 As busy as Shibuya is during the daytime, it gets quieter closer to the evening.... so we headed back to Shinjuku to get a good view over the city....
 Into one of Shinjuku's skyscrapers...
Japanese Food
Shinjuku, 13 May 2003 		Looking Down
Shinjuku, 13 May 2003 		Tokyo City Lights
Shinjuku, 13 May 2003 		Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices at night
Shinjuku, 13 May 2003
Up on the 30-something floors.... many different restaurants. God, I love Japanese food....
The core of this building is hollow....
 What I love is the constant red blinking of the skyscrapers....
 And Full Moon
TMGO at full moon
Shinjuku, 13 May 2003 		Shinjuku - Kabukicho
Shinjuku, 13 May 2003 		Pachinko Parlours
Shinjuku, 13 May 2003 		Side streets of Kabukicho
Shinjuku, 13 May 2003
Nice clean nightphotos. Thanks to a mini-tripod....
Heart of what some call 'Tokyo's nightlife', but which is mostly a red light district... If you are a westerner, you will get lots of African men come up to you trying to get you into strip-clubs. It's a weird place and gets annoying quickly, but I wanted to take some typical Tokyo night photos so I asked Markus to come along....
 I have no idea about the obsession with these.... Mix between a pinball machine and a Galton Board. But the Japanese salarymen sit in long rows at them and play all night....
 Probably everyone of these signs says 'Massage Parlour' in Japanese. After some women came up to us and used direct words, we decided to leave....
Elephants not Allowed
Shinjuku, 13 May 2003 		More of Shibuya's streets at night
Shibuya, 14 May 2003 		Gaijins of the world Unite
Roppongi, 15 May 2003 		Deja Vu
Roppongi, 15 May 2003
Whatever that means! (Actually it means, you must not allow your elephants to litter). Markus helps me to understand it with an impression of an elephant, while some drunk salaryman next to us was relieving himself right on the street.... Then we left.... Markus for home in Saitama and me for the Prince hotel.
Taken by the Elph... still a nice night photo....
 Going out with the ISMA crew to Roppongi, the entertainment district for Westerners (and Japanese girls who want to learn English)....
 I know the sign in the background... I have been here before....
'Eminem' and another 'Rapper'
Roppongi, 15 May 2003 		Another Gaspanic
Roppongi, 15 May 2003 		More ISMA folks
Roppongi, 15 May 2003 		Back in Kyoto
Kyoto, 17 May 2003
This clown gaijin on the left pretended to be Eminem to attract some Japanese girls.... Luckily for mankind he failed. He then danced with the barstaff dude on the right, who pretended to be a hardcore DefJam rapper.
Bring on the (badly) dancing girls.... In another Gaspanic. This place is more frequented by the Japanese actually. There was another load of rappers wandering around like straight out of a gangster rap video. Only that they bowed and apologized, if they accidentally got in your way.
 T'was a good night out....
 After three years I returned back to Kyoto on the Saturday during my Japan stay. As always I loved everything about it...
Buddha was a Diver
Kyoto, 17 May 2003 		Buddha Closeup
Kyoto, 17 May 2003 		Bavarian Tourist
Kyoto, 17 May 2003 		Kyomizu-dera in the background....
Kyoto, 17 May 2003
He does the international scuba symbol for 'I am okay'.....
Very nice Buddha statue to the side of the entrance of the '' temple... Next to that temple is also a cemetary, where I heard a monk sing a wonderful sounding prayer in the presence of a family visiting the graveyard.
It was hot and humid.... I got a massive sunburn... So the best day to have a nice cold Kirin beer while strolling around Kyoto....
 On this Saturday, everyone flocked to the Kyomizu temple, the most popular of Kyoto...
View from Kyomizu-dera
Kyoto, 17 May 2003 		Three Fountains
Kyoto, 17 May 2003 		Kyomizu against the Sun
Kyoto, 17 May 2003 		Buddha Statue
Kyoto, 17 May 2003
Very beautiful....
There are three fountains here at Kyomizu. They are claimed to help your life for health, wealth or wisdom... and you chose one to drink of.... This clever schoolgirl filled up a whole bottle of one of the springs....
 The temple photographed against the sun.... Digital isn't too good for this type of photo....
 I like the expression on the face of this statue....
Religion or Superstition?
Kyoto, 17 May 2003 		Hills of Kyoto
Kyoto, 17 May 2003 		Dragon Fountain
Kyoto, 17 May 2003 		Entrance to the Temple area
Kyoto, 17 May 2003
Lucky Charms are sold everywhere.... Japanese (and Asians in general) are almost as superstitious as Westerners :-)
View over the hills of the Kyomizu Temple....
 Another fountain with alleged healing powers...
 After the hords of people were gone, it got quieter in the area and I was enjoying it a bit more....
Maiko
Kyoto, 17 May 2003 		There's something....
Kyoto, 17 May 2003 		Somber Sunday
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		Rose 'Anne Frank'
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003
Maikos are apprentice Geishas. Kyoto and especially the area called Gion is famous for being the center of the Geisha culture.
...about these Maiko necks that I find really attractive....
 On Sunday morning I took the Shinkansen to Hiroshima. I have always wanted to visit the memorial site there. When I was a teenager and Pershing 2 were stationed and the arms race was at its top, I had frequent nightmares of the Nuclear Holocaust.
The flower park in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial: each respective flowers has a symbolic name given by their Cultivators.
Rose 'Friedenspark Hiroshima'
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		Sadako Sasaki's Story
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		Children's Peace Memorial
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		Origami Cranes
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003
A German cultivated Rose.
Sadako was 2 years old when the US dropped the A-bomb over Hiroshima in 1945. In spring 1955 at age 11, like many other children she became sick and diagnosed with Leukemia, which people from Hiroshima called 'the A-Bomb disease'. She heard a story that if you fold a thousand paper cranes a wish is granted. She folded more than a thousand, but her wish to recover was not granted and she died in October that year at age 12. Three years later the 'Children's Peace Memorial' was erected in her name.
Every day hundreds of school children visit the Hiroshima Children's Peace memorial to bring thousands of paper cranes that they folded.... Here you see a group of schoolchildren at the memorial...
The Cranes brought by school children from Japan and sent to Hiroshima from all over the world are exhibited in the glass cages surrounding the memorial... Sadako's legacy has made the paper crane known as a symbol of the desire for peace around the world...
Sadako holding a Crane
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		Memorial for the Korean Victims of the A-Bomb
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		The background of the Korean Memorial
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		Paper Cranes
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003
A closer look at the statue of Sadako....
Japan's society was (and still is to some degrees) very discriminatory. It is a shame how they treated the Korean victims of the Atomic bomb. In death (and especially in such a horrible death like the one of the nuclear bomb) we should all be alike... The story of the memorial is on the next photograph.... The central cenotaph of the Memorial park does not contain their names.
In some of the more recent plaques at the memorial site, Japan has started to quietly approach this aspect of their past in a more critical light... Their own 'Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung'.
Left at the Memorial for the Korean victims...
More Paper Cranes
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		The A Bomb Dome
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		Strange visitors
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		Faces of Hiroshima
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003
Also at the Korean memorial.... At some hotel rooms in Japan you will get a paper crane Origami on your bed next to a chocolate. From this visit on I will cherish them even more.
Formerly the Hiroshima Prefectual Industrial Promotion Hall. Probably the most well-known building of Hiroshima. Before and After.... Everything surrounding it was totally destroyed.... And all the people inside were burned to ashes at the instant of the blast. The blast came straight from above, which is why the walls were not blown over....
Not everyone has the proper mindset for the memorial. This is a peace bell and here are some Japanese tourists that stand under the bell while one of their friends tries to hit it the strongest. The person under the bell then would walk away with shaking legs. It would have been funny in a different place, but here it was just creepy.
Many entire families were eradicated. As Hiroshima's administrative buildings and official records were destroyed, most of the victims are faceless and nameless. Here are some of the faces that have been registered and where survivors submitted photographs...
Cenotaph
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		Selection of Hiroshima
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		8:15am
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		Before
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003
The Cenotaph holds the registered names of tens of thousands of victims. The inscription is 'Let all their souls rest in peace. For we shall never repeat the evil'. This inscription was contentious. But the authors of it refered to mankind never using nuclear arms again....
I know many people whose families come from cities that could have been chosen instead as targets. I would never know them. Kyoto is one of my favourite places with its old temples, shrine and history. It could have been evaporated as well. Of course the firestorm in Tokyo destroyed almost the entire city and killed 500,000 people - it was more devastating than the Atomic bomb, but the nuclear bomb symbolizes a perversion of technology creating a destruction far beyond 'conventional' bombing.
Time stood still....
 Just below the photo is the T-shaped bridge that was the goal of the bomb.... This was Hiroshima before... See the next photo....
After
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		Target
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		Hypocenter and the Hiroshima Valley
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		Wallet, School Badge, Company Badge and Tickets
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003
Days after though... When the rivers cleaned up....
This T-shaped bridge was the target of the bomb. You can also see the building now known as the A-Bomb Dome.
The white sign is the location of the museum. Around 1500 meters around the red ball everything was gone. The people further away got deadly burns and were exposed to massive radiation....
 Among the artifacts at the Memorial Museum many tell a story. Many stories sound similar. Children from the central schools suffered extreme burns and returned home blind and heavily injured to die just days later. Also heartbreaking are the tales of parents going to the central locations and searching for any trace of their children. Wallet, School Badge, Company Badge and Tickets 790 meters from hypocenterKimiko Nishimaru (then 15) was a third year student at Hijiyama Girls' High School. She was a mobilized student working at the telegraph office, when the atomic bomb exploded. Though her entire body was covered with severe burns, she managed to return to her home in Ushita-machi. Her parents did their best to care for her, but she died on August 10.
Name Tag
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		Female Student's Uniform
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		Peace Memorial Park
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		Mother unable to save her child trapper under the building
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003
Name Tag 900 meters from hypocenterSeiji Segawa (13), a student at Municipal Junior High School, was exposed at the site where he was working on building demolition as a mobilized student. His mother, Ayame, his older sister Mieko and his younger brother Masumi (who donated the tag to the museum) walked around the city searching for Seiji. On August 8, they learned that Seiji had been taken in at Takasu National School in the suburbs and rushed to his side. In a room crammed with severly injured victims, they recognized Seiji's shoes. Seiji's face was too burned to be recognizable. They found him and his mother called out his name and he responded by opening up his eyes. They brought him home and did all to save him, but he slipped away on August 11.
Female Student's Uniform 1200 meters from hypocenter Nobuko Shoda (then 14) was a second year student at Yamanaka Girls High school. She was expoed to the bomb at her building demolition work site. She suffered burns over her enture body, with especially severe burns on both arms, legs and her face. She was carried on her parents' back to Hiroshima's Red Cross Hospital, but received minimal treament. She was carried to her house, which was significantly damaged, where she passed away on the 10th of August.
 With its famous Cenotaph and the A-Bomb Dome in the background. Seen from the top of the memorial museum.
In 1975 a project began to let some survivors that were still deeply troubled by what they had seen release their memories in the form of drawings. These are some of them.Mother unable to save her child trapper under the building Shigeru Miyoshi (40 at time of bombing, 70 at time of drawing) 'If she were alive now, she would be a woman of 35 or 36.
Cremating my Old Child
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		All the School Students died as they stood in line
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		A girl who died while asking for water near Tsurumi Bridge
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		Watching a young mother flee with a dead child in her arms
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003
Cremating my Old ChildTamaki Ishifuro (35 at time of bombing, 65 at time of drawing)I cremated my oldest daughter Naoko (3). The tears flowed without stopping.'You go first, I'll follow you!' I joined my hands in prayer. My second son Tatumi (9) was still missing. I prayed that he had fled safely somewhere. As she burned, the oil in her body gradually flowed out. A huge amount, what a healthy child! So piteous. I couldn't stand to watch, I thought I would go crazy. How could this be the real world? It was hell....I have continued to live for 30 years feeling guilty towards my two dead children. Forgive me, I didn't keep my promise, a parent's responsibility. (I didn't have the courage).
All the School Students died as they stood in line Tojo Sera (43 at time of bombing, 73 at time of drawing) The Children at Ote Machi Elementary School were standing in line for morning assembly. Every one of them was knocked over and burned to black char.
 A girl who died while asking for water near Tsurumi Bridge Kazuo Matsumuro (32 at time of bombing, 62 at time of drawing)When I passed near her, she feebly asked for water. 'Don't give up, soldiers will be here soon' I said encouragingly, as I walked on by. When I saw her 20 minutes later, she was dead.Nearby stood a soldier whose face was half bandaged. Lots of body tags hung from his waist.
 Watching a young mother flee with a dead child in her arms, I began to cryHiroshi Yoshii(25 at time of bombing, 55 at time of drawing)Amidst crowds of people burned to tatters and fleeing desperately, a young woman came along carrying something important. Looking carefully, I saw it was a lifeless baby that looked like a large piece of meat. The face was such a hideous sight I couldn't look at it twice. But as I watched her fleeing in desperation yet carrying that baby's body, I was blinded by my tears. I saw the embodiment of motherly love, a tragic scene beyond any you might see in paintings of hell. That sight remains etched deep in my mind's eye even after 30 years.
A Mother who burned up trying to shelter her two children
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		Two little girls fanned their seriously wounded mother
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		The Storm
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003 		No trace of what happened 60 years ago....
Hiroshima, 18 May 2003
A Mother who burned up trying to shelter her two childrenKazuo Akiyama (34 at time of bombing, 64 at time of drawing)A mother and her two children had been swallowed by the flames they were trying to flee. She had dropped forward on the ground, pulling them beneath her and that is how they died. The children's fingers had dug deeply into their mother's skin.
Two little girls fanned their seriously wounded motherHiroshi Shindo (33 at time of bombing, 64 at time of drawing)Two little girls, one about five and the other about three fanned their seriously wounded mother.
 Quite a famous sculpture of a mother trying to protect her children in the blast. It is the entrance sculpture of the Memorial Museum in Hiroshima.
I had to leave quite quickly to meet up with Ken and his wife in Kobe. When I was taken the tram back to the station and mounted the Shinkansen, I was amazed at how the people from Hiroshima had built up their city from the ruins.
Kobe in the evening
Kobe, 18 May 2003
I met Ken and his wife and one her friends here in Kobe. I planned to visit the Phoenix Plaza museum about the Kobe earthquake, but it was closed. Nevertheless it amazed me how all of Kobe was rebuilt and no trace was left of the destruction 7 years ago....
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