From Kyoto to Hiroshima
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Despite the onset of the rainy season, we are very lucky with the weather. A few times each day, we can transform our car into a cabriolet and enjoy the sun.
India, China, South Korea, Taiwan and finally Japan, we made use of the convertible top almost every day. So far, it has not been a challenge for our bearings to face dust, dirt, smog and extreme humidity.
iglidur® G, our all-rounder, replaced lubricated fibreglass-filled PA6 polyamide bearings and heavy metal bearings.
iglidur® G is the most sold igus® bearing. It is cheap, easy to assemble and has a long life. It is the perfect choice for applications with a high force and slow to medium motions. One of the customers that we visited as we ventured south, plans launching an electric car in the near future. He will make use of iglidur® G in several applications.
iglidur® G in the operation and sealing of the convertible top
Before I want to leave Kyoto and travel further on South, I would like to introduce you to some traditional dances and shows that we could experience there. We had the great opportunity to see the Kyoto Takigi-noh dance show. The dance, called noh, is the most ancient theatre dance in Japan, where no emotion is expressed within the body or voice. They have been performing the same show at the famous Heijan Jingu shrine for the last 65 years. As the show is only once a year, we really had luck to be in Kyoto at this time.
Another form of dance or music respectively, which comes originally from China, is Gagaku. Gagaku is a type of classical music that has been performed at the imperial court in Kyoto for several centuries.
After the end of the Tang-Dynasty, it almost completely disappeared out of the mind of people. Only a few people have kept Gagaku alive.
From the traditional centre of Japan we headed south towards Hiroshima. Sadly, Hiroshima is well known for a disastrous tragedy that happened there on the 6th of August 1945. In the wake of the second world war, the USA dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
This watch is kind of famous in Japan. It stopped working exactly in the second of the explosion
Hiroshima was the base of the fifth division and a logistical hub for the Japanese military. It has been the only use of nuclear weapons in a war so far. In the explosion and the following years around100000-150000 people died.
The red ball marks the centre of the explosion, which is located 600 meter above the industrial park
The majority of those who survived were children. In advance, they were brought to a city nearby due to the thread of bombings. With the assault Japan surrendered. This marked the end of the Pacific war. Nowadays, the USA and Japan are very close allies. As Japan was going a very pacifistic way after the war, thus has no real military, the USA guarantees their security.
Hiroshima was completely rebuilt. The huge memorial near the centre reminds people of the bombings and how the local population built up a city out of ashes.
It got proclaimed as a city of peace by the Japanese parliament. Many international peace treaties are worked out in Hiroshima.
Nowadays, it is a thriving port city with a population of about 1,2 million people. From Hiroshima we will continue driving south and at one point leave the mainland.
Yours, Sascha.
