©1986 Lawrence I. Charters
Off Duty, November 1986, pp. 12-14.
You’ll find the old city of Iwakuni and the rugged countryside surrounding it alive with historical interest and scenic beauty.
Late fall and early winter is the holiday season in Japan, just as it is in the United States. Yet there are more differences than similarities in how the seasons unfold. In the U.S., this is the time of high-pressured advertising, of holiday sales, of boisterous office parties, and of religious holidays often buried under nonreligious trappings. Japan has more than its share
of obnoxious commercialism, and traditionalists complain that true Shinto and Buddhist faith is crumbling before modern pragmatism. Even so, this is the time of the Great Quiet, when the country puts the old year to rest and prepares for the new.
One of the best places to see this transformation is in “old Japan,” such as the area around Iwakuni. Though a U.S. Marine Corps Air Station has been located here since the early 1950’s, Iwakuni is a surprisingly well kept secret, a gem known to few Americans not assigned there. Area residents are just as industrious and innovative as their big-city cousins in the Kanto area around Tokyo, but there is a less frenzied pace to life, and time for more contemplation, observation, and reflective thought.
Climbing towards a temple on Miyajima, “Shrine Island.” Photo by Lawrence I. Charters, scanned from a print.
lwakuni translates as “craggy country,” a reference to the surrounding rugged hills and valleys. Dominating the old section of the city is Iwakuni Castle, a strong, graceful fortification located on a forbidding mountaintop. On any given day, if the weather is even halfway decent, dozens of visitors ride a ropeway to the restored castle and see the entire area at a glance.
At the foot of the mountain, crossing the rocky Nishiki River, is Kintai bridge, Iwakuni’s most famous landmark and one of the most photographed sites in all Japan. Almost 700 feet long, the wooden bridge is formed of five graceful arches, built without the use of a single nail. Standing in the middle of the bridge, with the river flowing noisily underneath and the castle far overhead on the autumn tinted mountaintop, you can feel whole centuries slip away, and begin to appreciate the great subtle depths of Japan’s past.
The stillness and serenity of Peace Park in Hiroshima. Photo by Kathleen G. Charters, scanned from a print.
Not far from Iwakuni (just 15 minutes by local train) is the ferry terminal to Miyajima, “Shrine Island,” one of Japan’s greatest wonders. Crossing the Inland Sea to the island, ferry boats make a point of passing in front of Itsukushima Shrine, the oldest institution on the island, dating back at least to A.D. 593. Dedicated to the sea, seamen and fishermen, the shrine is built on pilings and at high tide appears to float on the surface. The ferry boat offers a particularly good vantage point for viewing the massive vermillion torii (gate), set 500 feet from shore in front of the shrine.
lwakuni Castle dominates the old section of the city. Photo by Lawrence I. Charters, scanned from a print.
Other religious institutions, both Buddhist and Shinto, crowd the rugged island. When their bright enamel paints blend with the brilliant fall colors, it takes no effort at all to see why the island is one of the three Nihon Sankei, the three most beautiful views of Japan.
Miyajima is also famous for its wildlife. Wandering down every street, joining every picnic and generally making themselves at home are the hundreds of Sika deer. While they aren’t exactly tame, they aren’t very wild either, and their dainty gracefulness makes them a startling contrast to the Japanese macaques, Japan’s native short-tailed monkeys. Concentrated mostly on the island’s peaks, the monkeys divide their time between delighting children and stealing food and bright objects from visitors.
The full scale replica of a Mitsubishi Zero fighter plane housed at the visitors’ center at Iwakuni Marine Cops Air Station. Photo by Lawrence I. Charters, scanned from a print.
Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni is not equipped to serve as a major tourist resort, but it is a splendid base of operations for visiting Iwakuni, Miyajima, and Hiroshima, just two Shinkansen (bullet train) stops away. Early this summer the air station even added a tourist attraction of its own; a unique visitors’ center located a short walk away from Iwakuni Lodge.
Before the Marines came, Iwakuni was a Royal Air Force base and just before that it was a training base for the Imperial Japanese Navy. One of the few buildings left from this time is an old concrete hangar, once used to house a Mitsubishi A-6 Zero-Sen, the famous Imperial Japanese Navy’s Zero fighter of World War II. Since June, the hangar has once again served as home to this legendary fighter plane.
The Zero is a full scale mock-up, built by Mitsubishi from the original blueprints for Toho Film Company, Ltd., and used in the 1984 feature film about the Zero, Zerosen moyu. After the film’s release, Toho donated the plane to the Marines and after being turned over at Atsugi Naval Air Station outside Tokyo, the plane was placed aboard a cargo plane and flown to Iwakuni, where it was carefully watched and pampered by aircraft maintenance personnel. When repair work on the hanger was completed, the Zero was moved in, and the visitors’ center dedicated by a distinguished group of U.S. and Japanese officials, including many former Zero pilots.
If you don’t live in the area, visiting Iwakuni may seem more trouble than it’s worth. On a personal note, however, my visit last November, while suffering from a cold of epic proportions, will always be one of my favorite memories of Japan. Strolling through Iwakuni’s Kikko Park, visiting the old samurai house and kicking the gold and red leaves, I forgot entirely that I was miserable, and worried only about running out of film.
Around Japan
Two Japanese holidays grace November, Bunka no-hi (Culture Day) on Monday, Nov. 3 and Kinro Kansha no-hi (Labor Thanksgiving Day), which will be observed on Monday, Nov. 24. Culture Day, as you might guess, is a celebration of Japan’s ancient and unique culture. In spite of its importance, foreigners find there really isn’t much for them to do: trains run on holiday schedules; banks, government offices and some businesses are closed; but otherwise life goes on as normal. There are usually big book sales in Tokyo around this time, but English books are rare.
Labor Thanksgiving Day has a background similar to that of the American Thanksgiving Day. From very ancient times until the end of World War II, this was the time of Niinamesai, the “Festival for the New Tasting.” At this time the Emperor made an offering of newly harvested rice to the Shinto gods of heaven and earth, thanked them for the year’s crops, and then joined the gods in eating the rice. Similar ceremonies were held at major shrines all over Japan, followed by feasts in celebration of the harvest.
Since 1948 this day has been observed as a national holiday, but under the new constitution the religious overtones have been mostly stripped away. Just the same, if you watch Japanese news programs on this day you will probably see the 85-year-old emperor symbolically harvesting a rice offering and presenting it before a shrine in the Imperial Palace. Most of the rest of the country looks at the holiday as an opportunity for one last day in the sun before the onset of winter, and a few impatient souls also see it as the start of the skiing season.
If you have even a few spare hours, rush off to a shrine on Shichigosan (“Seven-Five-Three”), Nov. 15-16. Adopted from an ancient Chinese custom, Nov. 15 is the time to “introduce” three and five-year-old boys and three and seven-year-old girls to the local gods. Modern transportation systems have made the major shrines in Kamakura and Tokyo “local” to everyone in the Kanto plain, so Meiji Shrine in Tokyo and Hachiman Shrine in Kamakura are particularly good places to be at this time, as hundreds of kimono-clad boys and girls are escorted to the shrines to be presented to the gods.
For the three-year-olds, this is usually the first time they have ever worn a kimono, and for the five-year-old boys, this is the first time they have worn hakama, a formal pleated skirt worn under men’s kimono. Childrens’ kimono are much more brightly colored than those of adults, so take plenty of color film. As long as you aren’t obtrusive, no one will mind you taking pictures of either the children or their proud parents.
Musicals are common in Japan, but musicals in English-particularly Broadway musicals-a rarer. Fortunately, Dreamgirls will be at Shinjuku Kosei Nenkin Kaikan from Nov. 7-19 and Dec. 13-21, and at Showa Women’s College, Hitomi Memorial Hall from Nov. 21-Dec. 10. Ticket prices range from ¥5,000 to ¥15,000. For more information contact your base tours outlet, or call (commercial): 03-237-9999.
December is just around the corner, and many people try to get away and do a little traveling. Base tours offices in the Tokyo area have been planning a variety of Christmas ski trips, around Honshu as well as up to Sapporo, and the Yokosuka tours office is even planning trips to Malaysia and Hong Kong. Because of booking deadlines, it is not too early to call and sign up; tours will either be overbooked or cancelled if you wait until next month. Give your local tours office a call today if you’d like to get away for the holidays.