October 2013

 Lovely little lady dressed in her Kimono!

 A special sumo event at the end of the tournament.

 

This month we visited three missions to give health training.  We started with Tokyo Mission. 

 Our ward missionaries are in this mission.

 Then we visted Tokyo South Mission.

 

 

 Fukuoka Mission tour started in Kumamoto.  It is on the Island of Kyushu one of the four main Islands of Japan.   

 Beautiful furnishings of our hotel.

 Annette standing by the Kumamoto castle wall. 

 Kumamoto Castle was very impressive. It was immense.  It had a mote, then high curved stone walls, then above those another layer of high walls.  On top of that was a 7-story castle. 

 Inside the castle are many beautiful works of art.  Furnishings are very simple.

From the top you could see a view of Kumamoto, including the active volcano called Mt. Aso and its smoke.   

 Castle guard.

 Rice mats cover the floors and paintings are on the walls and screens.

 Even the ceilings are beautiful.

 Two more guards.

 Kumamoto Castle wall and moat at night.

 

Our next stop was Fukuoka.  This view shows the harbor where the Japanese repelled the Mongolians.  Actually they were driven back two times by fierce winds.  The Japanese called them "God's winds" because they saved them from the Mongolians.  The English translation is "kamikaze," from which we get the name of the "kamikaze" flights during WW II. 

 

 A Buddhist shrine dedicated to children.

 Colorful "tori" gates  and statues of the shrine.

 Two former missionary companions at the Fukuoka Castle ruins.

 

 

 

 

 We climbed a high hill through a cemetery to see a Buddhist monument at the top. 

 From Fukuoka, we traveled to Hiroshima.

 

 

 Here is one of the buildings that was still standing after the atomic bomb was dropped. It is in the Peace Park in Hiroshima.  There is a museum there that talks about the dropping of the Atom Bomb on Hiroshima.  It was very sobering.  There were displays where they showed how the city looked before the bomb and how everything was basically gone after the blast.  Ninety thousand people died immediately and 80% of all buildings destroyed.  Many more died later from the effects of the bomb.  Many were children.  It was a terrible thing.  We were very sad to hear some of the tales of the losses and suffering.   In the area of impact, everything was gone.  It was a terrible disaster, but the bomb did end the war which was claiming many lives.. War is aterrible thing.

 

A model of the bomb.

 Hiroshima Peace Park

 

Hiroshima is known for its delicious "okonomiyaki," a type of Japanese pancake. 

It has a top and bottom sort of like tortillas and has noodles, egg, pork, mayonnaise etc. in the middle.  Then on the top are lots of green onions.  There is a special sauce that gives it all a wonderful flavor.  They cook it on a grill and bring it to your table which has a grill in the middle.  They keep in on the grill while you eat, cutting off parts and putting them on your plate as you go.  It was delicious!

 

Our next stop was in Okinawa--an island far of the southern tip of Japan. 

 Many beautiful orchids welcomed us in the airport.

 

Okinawa used to be the kingdom of "Ryukyu,"  independent, but trading with both China and Japan, until 1872 when Japan gained control of Okinawa.  Okinawans were forced to adopt the Japanese language and customs. 

 Okinawa is known for its glass artistry.  Here is a display in our hotel.

 

 One of the missionaries in our ward was from Okinawa.  Her parents took us to a restaurant featuring Okinawan food and entertainment.  Above is one of our hostesses.  We had many courses of food including sashimi sushi, soups, gurukun (an Okinawan fish that you eat bones, fins and all) and zenzai (sweet red beans with shaved ice).  During the meal girls dressed in Kimonos came in and took pictures with us.  Also a young man came and sang to us playing a shamisen (sort of guitar like instrument). 

 Okinawan fish dish.

 Our hosts.

 Fresh sushi.

 

 We visited the Shuri Castle on Okinawa. 

This castle was built in about the 1400s and was the capital of the Ryukyu Kingdom for 450 years until the Meiji rules annexed their kingdom into Japan.  The building was destroyed during the war but was rebuilt in 1992.  The décor of this castle had a lot of dragons and red paint that reminded me of Chinese décor.  There was a lot of Chinese influence in the Ryukyu Kingdom.  They had rooms similar to Japanese castles with rice mats, scant furniture, sliding doors, etc.  It was built up on a hill with a beautiful view overlooking the ocean. 

 The throne where visitors were received.

 The crown.

 Shuri Castle.

 View of the ocean from a modern bridge. 

 The ocean in Okinawa has such clear water, you can see many things in the water. 

 Delicious treat made with shave ice, fresh mangoes, mango syrup, and ice cream!  Okinawa has many tropical fruits.

 An interesting old tree and a bent-over woman.  We frequently see women bent like this.

 

Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum.  This is a monument where you can find walls with many names of the dead in Okinawa during the Battle of Okinawa.  It was very sobering.  Over 230,000 people died in that battle.  The Okinawan people originally were independent.  Then in about 1870 they became part of Japan.  The Japanese slowly required them to assume Japanese language and customs and punished those who spoke the old language. During the war they Okinawans were forced to fight with the Japanese—eventually everyone on the island including women and children were forced to fight or aid the soldiers in some way.   When the Americans attacked, many people hid in the caves underground where they died of untreated wounds, starvation, forced suicide, etc.  Also thousands of them jumped off the cliffs to die rather than be captured by the Americans.  In Japanese culture, surrender was worse than death and suicide was more honorable.  The monument is on the ocean where you can see the cliffs they jumped off (below).  

 Then we went to the Himeyuri Monument where a lot of school children went into a cave  (above)to hide, but the soldiers blew up the cave and they all died.  It was a difficult situation for both sides—Americans knew that all were working for the enemy and didn’t want to walk into a cave full of Japanese soldiers.

Chains of origami cranes--symbols of peace and flowers at Himeyuri Monument. 

 This is one of the rooms inside the underground Japanese Naval Headaquarters in Okinawa.  You can see bullet marks on the far wall where many soldiers were killed rather than surrender.

 Artist's depiction of the Navy Headquarters' tunnels with soldiers living there. 

Four thousand troops could live in there.  Eventually the naval leaders committed suicide. 

LImestone caves on Okinawa (below) 

 

 

 

In the course of our travels to these three missions, we heard many inspiring messages from the leaders of the missions and also the missionaries who were finishing their missions.  It is wonderful to be "United in So Great a Cause" (Tokyo Mission Theme).