JAPAN (1) - 1979

I was asked one Tuesday morning in March if I could fly to Japan on the Friday. It meant some juggling of things I was involved in with church and family, but I made it OK. My oriental experience began on the flight as I found myself surrounded by Japanese passengers in a Jumbo jet. My conversation was extremely limited in the 24 hours or so that it took us to get to Tokyo from London via Paris (where I got separated from my luggage) and Alaska. My one-night stopover in Tokyo was interesting, especially as I had to buy some necessities for a few days: standing at 6'-0" in my socks, there were few shops that stocked a shirt big enough! To make matters worse, I then left my parcel of clothes in another shop: I only realised this when I was in a taxi bound for the airport, with a driver who spoke no English. Somehow I persuaded him to stop (in a one-way street) while I went back to the shop to find my parcel exactly where I had left it. (A lesson in honesty). I finally reached my destination (Hiroshima) on Sunday evening. The hotel proved to be some distance from the city centre, and was small and uncomfortable; I didn't sleep well, due to jetlag. The following day I reported to Mitsubishi Shipyard, where I was to carry out a progress report on an enormous rig that they were building. I was very glad to be reunited with my luggage, and also moved to a much better hotel in the city centre. I spent a month in Hiroshima, where we worked around 12 hours per day, seven days a week. There was little time for sightseeing in this amazing city which only 24 years earlier had been devastated by the first atomic bomb used in war. I was able to visit the Peace Park and Museum, where graphic photographs and mockups depicted the horror of August 8th 1945. I was deeply moved as I looked around at the exhibits and realised that in the crowds of visitors I stood out as a Westerner, representing those who had inflicted such devastation and death on the city.