Barks in Japan- Kure naval museums

I took a 30 min train trip from Hiroshima, along the Inland Sea, to Kure. Kure became a shipbuilding town after the Meiji restoration of the late 19th century. It is most famous for constructing IJN Yamato, then the world's heaviest armed battleship, in the late 1930s.

Yamato Museum

The Kure Maritime Museum is better known as the Yamato Museum. It is a well-laid out museum with adequate English signage, following the history of Kure's shipbuilding from its earliest days, through early 20th century conflicts and pivoting to post-war merchant vessels. The highlight, of course, is the spectacular 1:10 scale Yamato model- 26m long! There are also many 1:100 model ships, and some WW2 midget submarines and a Mitsubishi Zero.

IJN Yamato

46cm guns

Yamato was sunk in April 1945 by aerial attack, on a one-way mission to Okinawa. Her wreck has been located and she lies in 350m of water.

Bow on the left, stern and mid-section flipped on the right.

Brace yourself for a lot of 1:100 model ship pics! We'll start with early 20th century and move forwards chronologically.

Dispatch boat Miyako

First Class Cruiser Tsukuba

Submarine No.6. This boat sank, and the trapped captain became a posthumous hero for his recovered notes.

Battleship Kongo

Battleship Nagato.

Aircraft Carrier Akagi

First Class Cruiser Mogami

I-16 and I-52. Note the midget submarine!

I-37 and I-400. Note the seaplanes and midget sub!

Postwar tanker Nisseimaru

Tanker Ihi

Even my eyes glazed over when faced with more ships...

All those models above are the same scale!

Mitsubishi Zero

Kamikaze submarine/ manned torpedo

1:3000 scale model of Kure

The Iron Whale

On the other side of the road from the Kure Maritime Museum is the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) Museum, better known as The Iron Whale, for obvious reasons.

SS-579 Akishio

JDS Akishio is a Yushio-class diesel-electric boat which was in service from the mid 1980s to the mid 2000s. She's 76m long, and has had holes cut in her so visitors can walk around without having to squeeze through hatches.

On the inside.

The JMSDF Museum is free, and has one floor devoted to submarines, and another devoted to minesweeping. Japan send the minesweeping tender Hayase to help clear up the Persian Gulf after the Gulf War.

Postwar submarines

Hayase- note the rotary cannon on the bow.

20mm rotary cannon from the Hayase for destroying surface mines.

Kure is a nice little day excursion from Hiroshima. Highly recommended for those of a naval interest.

Panoramic view out over the shipyards

Next time- notes on Japanese hobby shops.

Barks in Japan- Hiroshima

Shin was three and riding his tricycle when Little Boy detonated one mile away at 8:15am. He died of his injuries that evening. His father buried him with his beloved tricycle behind the family home.

Shin and his sister. Photo from the Museum

Forty years later, his father disinterred him and moved his remains to the family plot. He donated the tricycle to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.

Photo from the Museum

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is absolutely unmissable if you travel to Japan. It is a thoughtful and well laid out collection with multilingual signs. Many aspects of the atomic bomb are explored, from the dark science behind picking which city to target, through the harrowing aftermath and on to subsequent peace activism throughout the later 20th century.

The Museum is set in a commemorative garden, with a reflective pond, memorials, and a flame which will only be extinguished when there are no more nuclear weapons. It is adjacent to ‘the atomic dome’, an iconic ruin which thankfully wasn’t pulled down.

Memorial to the children

The bomb detonated about 150m behind the A-dome

A block behind the dome is the ‘hypocentre’, 600m below where Little Boy detonated in the sky above. It is in an unremarkable back alley by a parking lot.

The hypocentre 

Hiroshima now is a bustling metropolis again. It tastefully commemorates, but doesn’t linger in, the past. That fucking tricycle. Never again.

Barks in Japan- Castles and samurai

Panoramic view of an internal wall and moat, Edo Castle.

Whilst in Japan, I went to Himeji Castle and the Edo Castle grounds in Tokyo. These castles were not designed for heavy gunfire, and their architecture reflects that. They have a built stone base with a wooden superstructure. At Himeji, the wood was coated in thick (3cm) white plaster to withstand fire. Around the castles themselves were further outer walls covering many square kilometres.

Himeji and Tokyo

Himeji

Himeji castle was never attacked, and is Japan's finest castle. It is said to resemble a white heron taking flight. The wooden superstructure is not original- it has been pulled down and rebuilt a few times.

Main keep from an outer gate

At the railway station there is a nice model of the castle, showing the main keep and the western bailey. There was a smaller scale model inside the keep which was difficult to photograph, but showed the surrounding countryside and the extended defensive works.

From the south: keep at the right, western bailey to the left.

Castle from the east, showing key terrain nearby.

Approaching the keep from the south

Note the different shape of the firing apertures

Windows, with small square ports for firing arquebuses, and a vent for dropping stones.

Main keep

View from the main keep over the western bailey

A lovely garden just outside the castle grounds

I didn't take any inside pictures of the keep, but it is surprisingly roomy and light compared to European stone castles I have visited.

Edo Castle, Tokyo

You can't get around all of the Edo castle grounds in Tokyo as it comprises the current Imperial Palace. A portion has been set aside for the public, and has a charming garden. There is none of the original castle remaining except for the stonework, and it is hard to visualise what the castle may have looked like.

Outer wall, moat, and corner tower.

Diagram of wall construction- these walls are huge!

I found a marker showing the site of a corridor where, in 1701, Asana unsuccessfully attacked Kiro, and was ordered to commit honourable suicide the same day. He left behind his famous forty-seven retainers, who killed Kiro the next year before committing seppuku themselves.

Forty Seven Ronin began here

Pond, garden, lantern.

National Museum

Elsewhere in Tokyo is the National Museum. It has a good selection of artefacts- I've photographed much of the armour they had on display. I was never really sure what it was made of- my research confirms metal, laced together. A painter's nightmare.

Domaru style armour, 15th century

Saigabachi style helmet, 17th century

Helmet with hair, 17th century

Domaru style armour, 14-15th century

Gusoku style armour, 17th century

Gusoku style armour, 16-17th century

Quiver, bow, and arrows

Demons killing humans

Samurai drama

In the park around the National Museum, I was surprised to find a memorial commemorating General Ulysses S. Grant's 1879 visit, where he planted a tree. It's not too healthy now.

Next time- Hiroshima.