a day in hiroshima, or whatever

i woke up late and the first thing i saw was a bunch of fog rolling in like some weird ghost movie. it was maybe 7 degrees outside, which is way colder than i expected. i just checked and it's...there right now, hope you like that kind of thing. my socks were soaked by the time i got to the bus stop, but i didn’t care. the bus driver was yelling about something and the crowd was just me and a guy in a hoodie who kept checking his phone. i heard that if you get bored, there are other cities nearby, like maybe fukuoka or something, but i didn’t really care. i was too distracted by the cold and the fact that my phone battery was dying.

there was this weird place near the station where everyone was taking photos of a giant red bridge. i didn’t know what it was but it looked like something out of a anime. i asked a local and they said something about it being a symbol of hope or whatever, but i think they were just pretending to know. someone told me that the restaurant across the street is closed on Sundays, but i’m not sure if that’s true. i tried to go there anyway and the owner just gave me a weird look and said ‘maybe later, maybe not.’

i saw this girl in a yoga outfit doing stretches by the river. she looked calm, but i also saw a guy in a neon shirt dancing to his headphones. it was weird. i also heard that the local market is closed every third day, but i didn’t confirm. i just assumed it was a rumor. i paid for a coffee and the barista said something about the weather being ‘uncharacteristically nasty’ which i think was code for ‘it’s below zero and you’re an idiot for being outside.’

i took some pictures of the bridge and the grocery store. the first one was of a guy walking across it with a backpack, the second was a banana peel on the ground. i don’t know why i took them, but they’re there. i also included a map of the area, which is just a google map with a bunch of red pins. i don’t know what they mean.

i saw this post on a local board that said ‘best time to visit is during the snow season’ which sounds amazing but also terrifying. i don’t know if that’s true. i checked yelp for the bridge and it had 4.5 stars, but the reviews were all from people who clearly didn’t understand japanese. one said ‘the bridge is legendary’ and another said ‘i got lost for 20 minutes’ which is probably true. i also linked to a blog about hiking in the area, which i didn’t read but felt obligated to include.

i tried to find a place to eat and ended up at this tiny restaurant where the owner kept asking me questions in english that i didn’t understand. i ordered a bowl of noodles and it was okay. the waitress said something about the temperature being ‘7.29’ which i think was a code for ‘it’s freezing.’ i also saw this sign that said ‘no dogs allowed’ but there was a dog sitting outside anyway. maybe it was a local’s dog? who knows.

i’m leaving tomorrow and i don’t even know if i’ll remember this day. the weather was bad, the people were weird, and the bridge was red. i might have missed something. i might have heard something wrong. i might have taken the wrong photo. but that’s okay. i’ll just add more links next time. maybe to a map of the city or a blog about noodles. i’ll also try to remember to check the weather before i leave. it’s 7.29 now, which is weird because that’s the same number as my coffee cup. maybe it’s a coincidence. probably not.

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