Reflective Photoessay

Hiroshima Institute of Technology Polytechnic TripYap Shou Xuan Diploma in Electrical & Electronic Engineering

On the first day, upon our arrival in Hiroshima, we were immediately ushered to our accommodation.

These are views of our accommodation, Hiroshima Shinkin Bank Training Centre. The surroundings are very clean and tidy.

This is an advertisement of a drink at the supermarket, which features the famous anime, Evangelion.

I seldom see this kind of advertisement in Singapore. I think that fans of the anime will be attracted by the advertisement and this will increase the sales of the product.

This is the street view of Inokuchi town, Hiroshima.

Due to autumn season, the humidity at Hiroshima was low and the breeze was refreshing. On that day, the sky was totally blue and there were no clouds.

This is one of the parking lots beside the train station. The parking lots are multi-storey.

I also observed that in Hiroshima, a lot of private land is used as parking lots for daily or overnight use. The fees are really different depending on the area.

This is the map of the JR line within Hiroshima area.

The maps are labelled with the station name and the cost. Inside the tram of Hiroden, which is a tram line in Hiroshima, the travel cost from station to station is clearly labelled.

In Singapore, the MRT maps are only labelled with the station name.

This is the Hiroden tram line in Hiroshima. We take this tram almost everyday when travelling in Hiroshima.

The platform of the tram in Hiroshima is quite narrow.

Singapore MRT stations are equipped with automatic doors that will only open when the MRT has arrived. Both tram and JR stations in Hiroshima only have the yellow warning line on the platform. It is more dangerous when compared to the MRT in Singapore.

These photos depict the main entrance and the meeting room of Hiroshima Institute of Technology Polytechnic (HITP).

HITP is just a building. When compared to Singapore Polytechnic (SP), it is very small.

However, they make use of basement for some purposes such as canteen.

On the third day, in the morning, I bought my breakfast at the nearby 7-eleven with my friends.

These are recycling bins outside the 7-eleven in Hiroshima. In Japan, I rarely spotted bins on the street. However, their streets are really clean and beautiful. In Orchard Road, on the other hand, a trash bin can be found every 100 metres.

The Japanese have a really good culture when handling their rubbish. They will always classify their trash first and dispose it to the corresponding bins.

This is Hondori street in Hiroshima.

It is a very big, sheltered shopping street in Hiroshima city, with shops on both sides. Unlike Singapore, most of the shops close at 9 p.m.

One of the good points that I observe is they ban vehicles and bicycles in the street at peak shopping hours to prevent accidents.

The photos show the very first ramen and okonomiyaki shop we went to in Hiroshima.

Okonomiyaki is the most famous food in Hiroshima. In Hondori, there is one building called Okonomi-mura, which means the village of Okonomiyaki. There are many okonomiyaki shops inside the building.

Most of the restaurants will serve a cup of free tea or water before we order food. Some of the drinks are more expensive in restaurants as compared to retail price.

This is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The museum exhibits artefacts and data related to atomic warfare in Hiroshima.

There are replicas of the atomic bomb and some effects caused by the bomb.

After the exhibition, there is a place where visitors can sign the peace declaration.

The photos show the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the Atomic Bomb Dome.

It is dedicated to the legacy of Hiroshima as the first city in the world to suffer a nuclear attack, and to the memories of the atomic bomb’s direct and indirect victims.

These photos depict the Yachiyo facilities of Tsuru Gakuen. It is located on a mountain. Light rain greeted us when we visited. The air was very refreshing.

We did some woodwork there. We made a pizza for lunch with HITP students.

Next time, when visitors come to our school, I suggest that we can have a section like this. Instead of giving them a souvenir, they can make their souvenir.

We tried traditional Japanese culture activities like rice cake making and wearing yukata.

We used our full force to hit the rice so that the rice could become solid enough. We ate the rice with 3 different types of toppings, such as sugar, peanut and red bean.

We had a chance to wear yukata, which is a traditional costume during natsu-matsuri (summer festival).

We had a chance to choose one out of three traditional Japanese sports which are Judo, Kendo and Kyudo.

As a member of Singapore Polytechnic Archery Club with around10 years of experience in archery, I really wanted to try kyudo, which is Japanese traditional archery.

The focus point of kyudo is training the mind while modern archery is mainly for getting higher scores.

The first day with my host family, Takahashi-sensei.

Takahashi-sensei is a teacher of electrical engineering and I am also studying electrical and electronic engineering. At the same time, he is also a kendo teacher. Thus, I had the chance to try both kyudo and kendo.

It was a very good experience to try different sports.

I went fishing on the second day with Takahashi-sensei, Kyoko-san and their grandson, Jinichiroand Sojiro.

I had never tried fishing before this trip and we managed to catch around 30 fish in 2 hours.

Such coincidence: Takahashi-sensei has the same birthday as me, which is 6 November.

I really appreciate and thank them for their hospitality.

Hiroshima Institute of Technology (HIT) is a private university under Tsuru Gakuen. It has a football field and baseball field. Baseball is really rare in Singapore.

We played dodge ball with HITP students in the HIT indoor stadium. Japanese dodge ball has different rules as compare to dodge ball in Singapore. For most of us, it was our first time playing dodge ball. Thus, when it came to ‘Japan vs. Singapore’, Japan had an easy win.

We visited Nagisa Koen Elementary school. The photos show the main entrance of the school and the students’ uniform.

From what I know in Singapore, teachers will always make decisions without asking the opinion of elementary school kids.

I felt very impressed that teachers will let the students, normally the class leader, to lead the class discussion about homework and sports. The others will participate actively in the discussion.

This is Hiroshima Nagisa Junior and Senior High School, which is just beside Nagisa Koen Elementary School. The school fee here is around 1 million yen (around 12,000 SGD) per year.

The uniform for their students will change according to the season. I found that they wear school coats in autumn. Due to our tropical climate, students in Singapore do not wear coats at all.

Their school facilities and events seem much better than my secondary school in Malaysia. They have overseas school trips regularly.

The high school lets the students learn, protect and touch nature. The school is surrounded by plants and the sea is just beside the school.

For example, the principal told us that they can turn PET bottle caps into diesel. The diesel can be used as fuel for generator (which they used to power their school concert).

Same as the elementary school, high school students will also clean the school daily so that the school will always be clean and tidy.

On the third last day, we went to Mazda Museum. Mazda’s place of origin is Hiroshima. Mazda Museum is linked to their production line of the car.

It shows the history of Mazda and some evolution of technology, for example, engine, car frame, safety system etc.

I realised that their production line is very efficient. They considered the location of the factory (and the assembly line for different car parts) to reach the highest efficiency to produce a car.

Yamato Museum exhibits the history of Japan during World War II.

The museum has a replica of 1:10 scale Yamato battleship, which is the biggest battleship in the world. They had used the latest technology to replicate this model.

The museum is not only about history; it also has an area to teach visitors how a ship works, and the future maritime technology.

The second world heritage site in Hiroshima: Miyajima.

The photos show the view of the torii and the entrance of the Itsukushima shine. The view is extremely nice. Omikuji (fortune telling) is one of the traditions when visiting a shrine.

There are a lot of deer on the island. The famous foods on the island are momiji-manjyu (maple leaf manju) and oyster.

Last but not least, thanks to our beloved HITP buddies, especially Takahamao-san and Daisuke-san.

They spent a lot of time accompanying us around the city, travelling with us, and showing us the attractions.

I really appreciate their help.

Photo Credits Genevieve Chen Clement Yeo Yap Shou Xuan