I debated for a long time whether to visit Hiroshima since I was already on my way to Osaka from Fukuoka. It would be almost a midway stop, breaking up the original 2h 40m bullet train ride nicely.
I just didn’t think I would have the emotional capacity to visit, yet I was curious to be in a place like this – somewhere that has suffered so much destruction. Some people say that Hiroshima is evidence of the indestructible human spirit.
In recent times every time I have such a dilemma I would ask myself, what would be the choice that would enlarge me? So here I am in Hiroshima. I am not sure if I’ll be visiting the Peace Museum because I am admittedly a coward. But we walked past the Peace Memorial Park today and we saw the Atomic Bomb Dome:
I cannot articulate my emotions. All I can say that it still makes me tremendously sad that we are still pretty much a violent species.
On a slightly brighter note we visited Okonomimura, a multi-storey building full of stalls selling Okonomiyaki.
We picked a stall and it allowed take out. While waiting for our meal we got to sit at the stall and experience the entire cooking process.
Fortunately there was a sitting area right outside the building so we sat in the cold eating hot, steaming Okonomiyaki. It was the hottest meal we have had so far:
The trams at Hiroshima are pretty retro and cool:
I had this epiphany (or re-epiphany) today on why I am less depressed when I travel. Apart from the obvious dopamine hits because there is novelty, travelling inevitably keeps my brain engaged because there is so much wayfinding, figuring things out, getting lost, decision-making, choosing of potential pathways, etc. At home, my country is so small and comfortable that I am living like a zombie, even if I consciously do not want to. My brain simply switches off because it is familiar with everything, it does not need to think. I seem to thrive in uncertainty even though it makes me very uncomfortable and anxious. I guess there’s different parts of my brain having different responses.
If I didn’t have motion sickness I could engage my brain with a game instead. But I do think there is some merit to the theory that we’re evolved to be very physical because that’s how our ancestors had to survive. I’ve become very active in recent years: swimming, cycling, running, and now strength-training – moving and using my body makes me undeniably less unhappy. Our eyes are not meant to look at screens perpetually, they are meant to process information from our physical environments. I can’t help but feel like I’ve accumulated so many chronic illness symptoms from all those years of doing nothing except look at screens – both for fun and professionally.
Maybe there is something about my partner’s theory that I’ll find my way out in the process of trying to escape from reality. Perhaps there is something wrong with that reality hence me wanting to escape from it, it is just that we are all so used to it.
related posts
related resources
Oliver Burkeman’s last column: the eight secrets to a (fairly) fulfilled life
When stumped by a life choice, choose “enlargement” over happiness. I’m indebted to the Jungian therapist James Hollis for the insight that major personal decisions should be made not by asking, “Will this make me happy?”, but “Will this choice enlarge me or diminish me?”