Number 6

Catherine and I went to a doctor yesterday. Nearest I can figure, it was the dermatology department of the hospital. One of the Japanese men that works with Dana and speaks some English went as an interpreter. Once we got through admissions and we got to see our names in katakana; we went to the doctors office. Nohara-san, our interpreter, had been told that there was a doctor there that spoke English. It turned out that the doctor spoke only slightly more English than I speak Japanese but there was a nurse who spoke English reasonably well.

The upshot of the whole trip is that Catherine has a bacterial impetigo on her neck from scratching at the rash. We were both exposed to poisonous worms. They look like caterpillars but their hair has poison on it. These things can get on your clothes while they are hanging out to dry or even if you sit on a seat that they have crawled across, they can affect you. We both have medicines to take and creams to put on the rashes.

After we saw the doctor, we went to pay our bill. I won't discuss how much that was, but it was about what I expected. At the pharmacy, each medication was put in a separate bag with instructions. They had quite a time trying to find an English word for their equivalent of Betadine to write on one of the bags. They finally came up with disinfectant when I told them that I understood what it was. Catherine's medications are single dose packets of powder that she swallows and then drinks something. She says one tastes good and the other tastes horrible. I received pills, thank Heavens! We are supposed to go back next week for a recheck, but I have seen improvement since last night.

On Sunday morning, we drove to Nagasaki. It is about 300 kilometers from where we are staying and took us about 3 hours and 15 minutes. We drove on the highway that is a toll road. It cost us about $61.00 each way. There are not exits very often, but there are places you can get gas and food and bathrooms, like roadside rests with restaurants. I don't think there was more than 10 exits the whole way down there. (Don't miss yours because it is a long way back not to mention expensive!) The train for all of us would have been more and we wouldn't have the same flexibility as with the car. Besides, the drive was very beautiful.

For those of you not up on your Japan geography, the city we are staying in is Yamaguchi. It is on the western end of the main island of Honshu. Nagasaki is on the island just West/Southwest of Honshu called Kyushu. There is a bridge between the two that is pretty short, but the view is incredible. The area we were traveling through is mountainous with dense forests on both sides. There are small towns scattered along the sides and in the valleys in between. Their mountains aren't as high as US. I am not sure of their height, but I would guess the highest was only a few thousand feet at most. My ears didn't pop much! At some points we were very close to the ocean.

On Sunday going there, there was no traffic but there was a little fog. Coming back on Monday, it was beautiful. There was a little more traffic, but it still wasn't bad There were some places they were working on the road. They are so efficient (are you reading Chris who works for CALTRANS?)! One crew does the first step of the repair and immediately, the next crew does their job and so forth. The highways are not left torn up for very long at all.

We arrived in Nagasaki at about 9:15 am our first priority was to go to Mass. When we found the Urakami cathedral, it looked as if people were heading in for Mass, so we found a place to park and made it just as Father made it to the sanctuary. That was the last mass of the day there.

The Urakami Cathedral is very large and was pretty full. I was one of the few women not wearing a mantilla. Of course, we were also the only ones who were not Japanese. Mass was beautiful. Even though we don't understand Japanese, we are able to follow along pretty well. The reading from the Bible and the homily are the only parts we cannot understand. We try to make sure we read the readings in English before mass.

After mass, we were looking around the church. It is very beautiful. When the atomic bomb was dropped, all but the very front of the church was destroyed and that was shifted from the foundation. It is less than 1 km from the hypocenter. The church was rebuilt as it had been originally. This church was built after Christianity was allowed back in Japan, by a community of people that had continued to live as Christians even though if they had been caught they might have been killed. It was quite a testament to faith.

As we were leaving the church, two older women, came up to the girls and were talking to them and smiling at them. They gave the girls some money to buy something for themselves. I have discovered, that it is futile to say no. They suddenly act like they don't speak Japanese. The girls thanked them and bowed.

After church, we wanted to get some lunch. We ended up at a Chinese restaurant that was upstairs from a jewelry store. The food was very good. When we were looking downstairs after lunch, another person bought us a cake called a Kasutera. It is a tradition in Nagasaki that was introduced by the Portuguese in the 16th century. Once again, all you can do is smile and say "domo arigato gozaimas" and bow.

After lunch, we went to the Atomic Bomb museum. I don't really know how to describe the museum. I did purchase a book that contained many of the photographs we saw, but we also saw steel frames from a water tank that had been totally contorted by the force of the bomb, a clock that was stopped at 11:02 when the bomb exploded, and pieces left from the stain glass windows of the church that were no bigger than the size of a dime. I was very touched by the photograph of a mother nursing her baby. Both were injured severely.

As you walk around, you can't help but feel embarrassed to be from a country that was responsible for such devastation. I don't know if I understand the reasons we dropped the bomb, but standing amidst memories of the results makes it difficult not to feel remorseful. It also makes you want to pray for peace, so that no one will have to experience the tragedy of any war.

Christina had difficulty believing that the Japanese people we were around could forgive us and that they were somehow angry at her/us for being American and having done this. We talked about this being a lesson in forgiveness. I reminded her of the way we have been treated by the Japanese people and that they did not seem to be angry at us, but welcoming. The example of forgiveness we have seen from the Japanese is really unbelievable even for me. Somehow, they have put aside all that was lost, forgiven and rebuilt.

At the many memorials around town, we discovered that the making of the 1000 paper cranes is still very common here and that there are special places to hang the ones people bring. I am beginning to look at it as a Catholic would light a candle, except there is much more personal effort that goes into the gesture.

Our hotel was right next door to the museum and across the street from the Hypocenter memorial not far from the museum. We walked down to the hypocenter park and went in search of the streetcar to take us into downtown Nagasaki. After wandering in a lot of wrong directions, we finally found it. We stopped in the area of the Dutch village and saw a miniature version of the community. Dejima Island was used to seclude the Dutch traders from 1641-1854. This was the only point of contact with the outside world during that time.

From there, we got back on the streetcar and went in search of Oura Catholic Church. This church is a National Treasure and has beautiful stained glass. It was completed in 1865 under the supervision of a French missionary, in memory of the 26 Christian martyrs. We found it and enjoyed it's beauty, then, decided to skip the Glover Garden next door because the girls were tired and my feet were very sore. We took a taxi back to our hotel.

The only other place I would have liked to seen on Sunday was the 26 Christian Martyrs Monuments, but it was way up a big hill someplace off one of the streetcar stops and none of us thought we could make it after we had done everything else. We did see the church nearby it from a distance.

We ate dinner in the hotel at a buffet that had the best steak I have had in Japan. It was very good and I think we were in bed before 9:00pm.

I neglected to mention earlier about our experience parking the car. We did not have an easy time finding a parking spot. We found a sign indicating parking, but no lot. About a block down the street, I remembered something Dana had said about how they use lifts to park cars in crowded areas. I went back to where we saw the sign and there was a very tall building and it looked like pulling into a mechanics garage. A man waived me in and I drove the car in and he gave me a ticket for it. The way this thing works is like a sandwich vending machine that turns on a conveyor belt so you can pick which one you want, except really big! When you pick up your car, he dials your number in the computer and you see this thing move around and other cars pass until your car gets there. I guess it is like the dry cleaner things!

Monday morning, we went to the Peace Park. Once again there were many paper cranes hung. There were lots of high school groups there and many stray cats. Memorials have been donated from various countries as a reminder of Peace and the very large statue of the man seated with one hand pointing toward the sky as a reminder of the threat of nuclear war. The only memorial from the United States that we saw was donated from St. Paul, MN. St. Paul and Nagasaki were the first cities to participate in the Sister-City Program.

This trip was very personal for me and I believe it had a profound affect on Dana and Christina as well. I know I don't do this trip justice by describing what we saw and the feelings it brought. It is like trying to describe the colors and beauty of a rainbow to someone who has never seen color before, only the rainbows colors aren't so beautiful.

The following is an excerpt from a funeral address for the victims given by Dr. Takashi Nagai: "Is there not a profound relationship between the destruction of Nagasaki and the end of the war? Nagasaki, the only holy place in all Japan--was it not chosen as a victim, a pure lamb, to be slaughtered and burned on the altar of sacrifice to expiate sins committed by humanity in the Second World War?"
The rest of his address is equally as profound, but I will simply suggest that if you are interested read the book called The Bells of Nagasaki by Dr. Takashi Nagai. His book is known as one of the best accounts of August 9, 1945 and the results of the A-bomb on humanity.

When we came to Japan, I had intended on keeping a journal for myself and maybe later the girls, but now I have realized that my journal is these chronicles. It makes me feel rather vulnerable to share as I am trying to do but I think this is God's plan for me at this time and I pray it will inspire, amuse and touch you as the experiences have us.

I can tell we have started to settle here in Japan at least for the time being because when we drove back into Yamaguchi I felt like I was home. I also have started looking to the left side for my rear-view mirror! Today, Tuesday, has been a beautiful day. The best one we have had since we arrived in Japan.

Forever in the Trinity,
Marion