I went to the museum, but they donÕt have many photos of the burnt out city. The curator said they donÕt have many because pictures were not allowed to be taken during that period for fear of being called a spy. Pre-war pictures burned during the bombings. In fact, most family snapshots burned. The only photos that survived were formal snapshots kept in the bomb shelters.
MY MOTHERÕS EXPLANATION ON THE PRESERVATION OF PRE-WAR PHOTOS
During the war, the government told us to dig out shelters. Every house had an underground shelter in the yard. This was a hole dug in the ground with board framework. The top was covered with earth. You stepped down into it, and when you got inside you couldnÕt quite stand up -- IÕm 5 feet tall, so IÕd say the shelter was probably 4 feet high, and 10 feet by 10 feet.
When Tokyo was bombed, they found that the shelters did not protect people from the heat of the incendiary bombs. Many people in Tokyo died in the shelters, either from the heat of the fire or from suffocation because of the lack of oxygen in the shelters while the fires burned. So by the time Hiratsuka was bombed, they knew the shelters werenÕt safe.
We kept important things in the shelter, like the family photographs. Because we expected to be bombed any day, we slept fully clothed, and we had first aid kits ready. We even made protective hats, called bokuzukin. They were very big hats, stuffed with cotton batting. When the bombs came, we went to the pine forest by the beach.
They werenÕt bombing the beach, of course, so we were safe there. From the forest we watched Hiratsuka burning. It was a weird feeling, watching the city burn: strange and sad, worrying what would happen tomorrow. We knew that we were losing everything --for me, 17 years of life, all of my memories. I thought that my past was lost. But all of my family were okay, and that felt good. Some people in Hiratsuka had stayed in the shelters and died either from a direct hit or from suffocation.
BUS DEPOTS
The coordination of all forms of public transportation is notable. Most stations have bus depots or at least an array of bus stops for outlying regions near them. Buses, like trains, are on time and reliable, and are kept spotlessly clean. As a symbol of this cleanliness and professionalism, bus drivers wear spotless white gloves, and recorded announcements of every stop are duly played just in time. Bicycles too are accommodated; near buses and train stations, bike racks are provided by the municipalities, sometimes attended and sometimes protected from the weather, and along sidewalks there are bike lanes marked because the streets are usually too crowded.
