Congrats Karin & Nilo!

Karin Harada from Japan!

Niloufar Rahim from the Netherlands!

We have elected the next two International Student Representatives who will each hold a two year term until the next World Congress! All of the Regional and National Student Representatives will be supporting them in the coming two years. This morning we all sat down to discuss the goals and plan of action. Get read world, we're coming!

Cheers,
Michelle

Experience an Onsen with me!

Experience an onsen with me: The Japanese style of bathing 
Saturday, August 11, 2012

How many health professionals can you fit in a van when on your way to the onsen?

Peeling off my sweat-filled cycling gloves, I dig around in my backpack for toiletries and hopefully some dry clothes. I walk down the mountain side to the camp ground's main building where one can find the toilets, showers, and even a traditional onsen.

 I remove my shoes before entering the building and place them in a small cubby hole. As I wait in line, the building already feels like a sauna and I must wick the sweat from my brow before I drip all over the floor. Yes! Someone has stepped out of the room. Pushing through the door, I place my belongings in a pale, green basked numbered 108. One women is skillfully stripping down and preparing her basket of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, razor, face wash, etc. before enter the main room. Another woman, a biker from our group, is in from the sink and mirror brushing her teeth. By now, I am completely naked and ready to enter the onsen.

The next door slides open and a bit of steam is released, ah so nice. I pick up a small pink, plastic stool, no taller than 10 inches (sorry, I'm still getting used to the different conversions), wash the seat with available soap, sit down, and grab the shower head. Turning the nozzle to cold, I begin washing myself very thoroughly like the two Japanese women beside me. The cold water feels great after a day of collected grime from cycling through cities, rice fields, and mountains. Now that I am squeaky clean, I am allowed to step into the onsen.

Depending on the location, the temperature can be 41-44 degrees C (well over 100 F, I believe) and the baths can be indoors or outdoors. This one was indoors. The small bathtub was running clear water filled with minerals good for the skin. Left foot in, right foot next, and sink all the way down to the neck. Mmm, what a great feeling after a long day of cycling. Muscles were relaxing, my mind was at ease, and I was able to rest my eyes for a couple minutes.

According to our Japanese volunteers along for the International Peace Bike Tour, most people take 1-2 hours in the onsen. Unfortunately, I did not have that option as I knew there was a long line of people trying to get into either the onsen or shower before the campsite's bathing facilities closed for the night. I then reluctantly got out of the tub, quickly rinsed myself and returned to the changing room. Once dressed, I hiked back up the mountainside, just in time for dinner.

 Best,
Michelle

Candle Ceremony

'No more Hibakusya, IPPNW'

After the first day of the Student Congress, we made our way to the A-Dome to remember the tragedy from 67 years ago. It is hard to believe Hiroshima has been rebuilt into such a beautiful city from the ruins I saw in photos while at the Peace Museum yesterday.

Cheers,
Michelle

We have arrived in Hiroshima!

The last leg of the journey from Nagsaki to Hiroshima; what a ride!

On August 20, we packed our van for the last time, fueled up with water and electrolytes, and planned our last 7/11 pit stop. Cyclists made the last push of 30 km to Hiroshima in the morning. Our welcome was filled with colorful signs and to celebrate, we tossed our organizers in the air.

As always, we had planned a tight schedule and had to rush off to meet the Mayor of Hiroshima. We walked into the room, most of us still wearing our grey bike tour shirts, and sat down in luxurious chairs with the press as we waited. Our meeting was brief, but well arranged as several of the cyclists were able to speak. Immediately after our meeting, we sprinted over to Hiroshima University to meet with student activists. They shared several presentations with us and vice versa. Our last agenda item was a planned dinner in a park. When Karin, one of our organizers said, “It’s just up the mountain,” our mouths dropped.  I thought, “Um, we just returned our bikes and now we’re going to hike up a mountain?!” Luckily, this mountain was far smaller than the ones we cycled up.

I realize it’s only been a couple days since the bike tour ended, but it already feels like a dream. The dream bubble of close friendships, intellectual conversations, sleeping under the stars, street actions to draw attention to our cause, and international cuisine made by cyclists will stay close in my heart.

John Loretz speaking at the ICAn Conference.

Now, we have already had the ICAN Conference come and go, and today is the last day of the IPPNW Student Congress. A handful of bikers have presented throughout and I will be giving my own presentation about ‘The Art of Storytelling’ this afternoon.

Tomorrow begins the 20^th World Congress and I am truly looking forward to meeting more health professionals. I don’t think I am ready to go back to the U.S. yet. I am fired up and want to keep up the optimistic enthusiasm to make change in our world.

Cheers,

Michelle

Arrived in Hiroshima

Finally we arrived! We were received by members of JPPNW at the peace memorial park at 12:00, dropped of our bags at the hotel, said goodbye to our bikes and now we are at the mayors reception! Look at Alex!
Greetings, alix

Last time packing the vans

A big thank you to our Aussie Misha who was responsible for the van packing the entire tour and fulfilled the task with Barbour and calmness!

last day before the end of bike tour

today is the last day before we are ending our bike tour so today we thought of making a short trip for sight seeing to miajima,a very touristic place
with many shrines and places of historic importance.we are now making a ｆｉｒｅcamp on the beach and making barbeque.we are making final talks about ending our bike tour.we will be attending the world congress at hiroshima from 21st.we are excited for that but equally sad about leaving friends of bike tour.overall,bike tour was a nice experience for all of us to share our activities and to work together for sustainable peace.we are comitted and motivated to work for peace forever.mohan

Miyajimaguchi, we have arrived!

What's this? I don't recognize it. It isn't a tent and we don't need our sleeping mats!?  How lovely, we have beds for a couple of nights as we stay in Miyajimaguchi. We arrived before sunset in this town quite close to Hiroshima. The day started off quite well with a flat ride along the coast. Lunch consisted of our very own handmade onigiri at a lovely park famous for the bridge nearby. (Sorry, we can't gt a photo up quite yet.)

Now that we are stuffed with udon noodles, some folks are about to explore the town by foot. Tomorrow we will visit the floating shrine before meeting with student peace activists! I am quite excited for what is in store tomorrow.

Time is flying. So much has been shared with one another and I still feel like I could spend another year with my new peers to grow as an activists, health professional, and individual.

Cheers,
Michelle

In the information center of a planned nuclear power plant

The next part of the program was stuffing the group in the back of our tiny vans and driving to Kaminoseki where the population wants to build a nuclear power plant. We had a meeting with the leader of the public information center of the planned nuclear power plant in Kaminoseki. Students from Hiroshima city university and inhabitants of iwaishima joined us for the day. The islanders have for 30 years fought against the construction of the nuclear plant. Both the Japanese and some of us asked many critical questions doubting the safety of nuclear power. now we are going to the site of the power plant all together.
Alix

Hikari visit with city officials

This morning, we woke up to a beautiful sunrise on the beach if Hikari. Some people took in an early ocean swim as others prepared an aboriginal Canadian breakfast. Then, ten of us piled into one of ours vans and drove into the city to meet with the mayor of Hikari.

Unfortunately, the mayor had another obligation and we met with three city officials. We discussed our Hibukashi worldwide poster project and learned what they were doing in their own community. The mayor is a leader in his community as he installed solar panels on his own home 15 years ago.even the City Hall had solar panels covering the roof. Then the officials explained their local movement within the community in support of stippling the new nuclear plant across the bay. All of us health proffesionals fully supported the model to work from the bottom up.

Now I must finish writing as we are about to begin on next part of the journey ink town.

Cheers,
Michelle

On top of a new hill

It's soooo hot!! Greetings, alix

rest day

today we are taking rest at akhiyosidhai after biking continuously for 7 days.Bikers are very glad to get this opportunity to rest after a long time and prepare themselves for further trip.today we went to the cave to freshen ourselves from a tiring journey.it was an hour ride from camping station.Now we are sitting on campfire and talking about the activities in respective countries.It's good to know the student chapters being very active in this regard.tomorrow we will head towards hikari a beach site and camp there for 2 days.we are also enjoying cooking food from different countries.we are continuing our talks on Hibakusha worldwide after dinner.the group is getting stronger and stronger day by day and we have turned into a family in such a short time.thanks to all

Making paper cranes

And the hill was..

... The worst mountain till now that we had to ascend to reach our sleeping place! Steeper than steep for around 3km!
We still haven't figured out why, but Japanese like to show us their mountains from closeby. Every night another mountain-campsite!

Now, People are very tired and/or hyperactive and we are so happy that self organized boathouse was on sea level last night and that we have a day of rest tomorrow!
Peace, alix

break after 60km of cykling

We are on our way to Ai kyoshi Do where we will be staying for two nights. For now the route was mostly flat but we don't know what is ahead of us the next 32km. Rumors say it's going to be steep!

Yesterday we never finished the planned 90km. Reaching lunch place after 65km no one wanted to continue as the planned camping space was 15 km off the road to Hiroshima. Karin had found a nice community house at the place where we were supposed to eat and everyone in the group asked the same question: why can't we stay here overnight?
Well in Japan things are generally a little bit more complicated. There are a lot of cultural/traditional factors that have to be respected, no second questions to be asked again and authorities to be respected. This means for instance that the younger staff of the community house couldn't simply call her boss and ask him to come and help but needed to call another person who was older in age than the boss to help her do that. After two rejections, though the woman understood us, the boss came back who understood us too and offered us several options of where to sleep. After checking out the options we went for a wonderful boathouse of a rowing club and stayed there for the night. It even had a washing machine!!!
So, when you are persistent enough and know who to talk to in Japan you will get what you want, because they all want to help if possible!

Now we need to get going, of course it just started raining!

Baibai, alix

Stars of the evening - sunday!

 After a very long day yesterday we allowed ourselves a long breakfast this morning and left the camping site on the mountain at ten. Heading downhill and through crowded Fukuoka, around 25km, took us longer than expected, one of the reasons being rain. Rain in Japan is very normal at this time of year and unlike the long, dark Scandinavian days of rain, it proves to be very short, strong and cooling in the extreme humid heat that we otherwise bike in.
When we arrived at our new campsite we almost immediately hopped on a bus back to Fukuoka congress center.
In honour of our Peace Bike Tour, the Japanese hosts organised a symposium in which Alex held a great speech on the Nuclear Chain. The steps in this chain are: Uranium mining, transport to country/place of use, enrichment, processing to nuclear energy or nuclear weapons and finally the nuclear waste. Alex told the audience that every single step of nuclear energy is harmful for peoples health. His presentation was well received by the audience and many interested and concerned questions were asked afterwards.
After the presentations, a panel discussion was held with Ryoma sitting in a panel with three other persons from completely diverse backgrounds. We enjoyed being treated as VIPs during the symposium. Entering the room with music everyone was clapping and we had to smile and wave. ;-) It has been a very fruitful evening for the audience as we perceived it and we enjoyed that they supported our cause. We are working on a proper internet connection to be able to upload pictures, but unfortunately for now you have to live with the text. Yours, Alix

40 individual activists, 20 nationalities, 13 days of cycling acrossJapan, and 1 mission to spread peace in a world free of nuclear weapons

 I'm losing track of the days. Our time together is filled with such incredible experiences, but it's all going by so fast! We are at the halfway point of our bike tour, then have a week after filled with the ICAN Conference, IPPNW Student Congress, and 20th World Congress in Hiroshima. Already, we have all learned so much from one another, as individuals, cultures, and best practices in people's respective countries to spread awareness. Renewed and new friendships can be found in our large group. I look around and see life-long friendships blooming. Being an Chinese-American and having had traveled to much of the world during my studies, I love seeing cross-cultural and multi-cultural learning and understanding. I encourage everyone to step out of their comfort zone and explore a new culture far from their own, and of course it must be done with an open mind. It is difficult to convey all of the personal sentiments people are feeling since we are just three bloggers. However, I can easily say that I overhear conversations about the pros and cons of different healthcare systems, factoids about nuclear energy and weapons that we can use once returning home, fun recipes, and invitations to one's country and home. I love this feeling; we're becoming one big happy family made of a voices from around the world. Cheers, Michelle

Rain, rain, go away, come back another day

One drop, two drops, one thousand drops. Yep, we have another day of rain. Today, bikers must cycle approximately 90 km. I don't foresee the weather letting up any time soon, nor do I expect that we will see any sun in the coming days. It's great that our skin in waterproof, but unfortunately our clothes are not. Whenever there is a second of sun, I can look around and see everyone pulling out their biking shorts, shirts, and knickers to dry on their bike or back as we cycle and create our own breeze. We're loving the grey skies as it means cooler weather to cycle in, but we also want a bit of sun so our clothes can dry. I'm quite lucky at the moment. I'm sitting in the van as Ichina, one of Japanese drivers, and I run around for group errands as well as the mission to get me a translated driver's license. We have several fabulous drivers, but we wish to be able to to let everyone have a chance to cycle so some bikers like myself have volunteered to take charge of driving our vehicles. We have three vans filled with our cooking supplies, bags, and medical equipment. I must admit, I have been looking forward for months to being able to drive on the other side of the road! I think that it will make for an excellent experience. But oh no! We just left the JAF, a building in which to get your license, and though they were able to translate it, I had to also take a driving test at another location! That's not what the Japanese Consulate in the U.S. said when I called months ago! Unfortunately, we do not have time to also go the the Driving Center as we must finish these errands and prepare lunch for the bikers for when they reach the park. Darn. I guess I will have to wait for another chance when I am needed as a driver in a country that drives on the left side of the road. Next time. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's ride, 80 km! I already miss my cycling group and have only been separated from them for a couple hours. Martin, a representative from Norway, and I sing show tunes for our group. Cheers, Michelle

3day

Today is our day 3 of biking and day 5 of our bike tour to Japan. We had a very ambitious aim of travelling 90 km so we set our journey early in the morning at 7:30 a.m. after having some yoghurt and fruits.We travelled along the clean green country side and reached the lunch hub after covering around 40 km. We travelled all the way through the saga city,a nice city i must say. The traffic was really huge here. We sat on the park and had a really nice lunch, bonito (rice balls with sea weeds or fish in the center), pears and some drinks. After a brief siesta for 1 hour we headed for Ikoino-mori,a 40km distance from here. On the way we had a heavy downpour but the bikers didn't stop, they rather continued with the greater speed. All the navigators (Alex, Misha, Andre, Yu Ku) were very good at finding the paths. Thanks to their geographical knowledge. Though it was a big distance today but we didn't felt like that because it was a plain road today and our muscle are already at the level of resistance since it the Day 3 we have been biking.As we travel more and more the view becomes more and more mesmerizing. Today we areP residing in a camping site in Ikoino-mori and we are sleeping in the tent,seems like a complete wilderness. The food today ( punpkin and Potato curry ) made by Michelle, Katja, Stephi and the group reminded me of my Nepali food and it was great to have a Nepali spicy food after such a long time. Thanks to the them. Tomorrow we are heading to Fukuoka,a big city and we are having a symposium there with the public.We are really excited to go there and i am very much looking forward to it.This will be our biggest symposium during the whole bike tour so please keep your fingers crossed to know about this event. I am very much delighted to my Japanese friends (Ryoma, Karin, and the others) who always think of our safety and have been busy day and night thinking of us. See you Cheers from Ikoino-mori Mohan

Nagasaki bombing commemoration day and first day of biking

Hello to everyone following our travel from outside!
Today you will have a Danish update about what happened in the past 18 hours and it has been a lot!

Today is the 9th of August and thus the 67th anniversary of the Nuclear bombing of Nagasaki. We were invited as VIP's to the commemoration ceremony along with many important people from Japan and abroad. After having packed our things we biked to the Nagasaki Peace Park where the event was taking place. Amongst all the other guests dressed appropriately formal we were feeling a little bit displaced in our biking outfits but nevertheless we were treated as important people. The event started with impressive Japanese precision at 10:35 with a song sung by a choir of the last remaining Hibakusha's (japanese word for the Nuclear bombing survivors). At 11:02 a minute of Silence was held with sirens howling and after that, a Hibakusha told his story about the day that changed his life when he was 15 years old. Many of us had tears in their eyes during the ceremony, including me. Imagine that we have been talking, hearing and reading about the Nuclear Bombing in Nagasaki and Hiroshima for years and years, but now we were at the hypocenter and saw it! We have seen the survivors and the new generation, especially many school kids, commemorating the death and suffering of hundreds of thousands of people. Seeing these people, our work for a world free of nuclear weapons got a real commitment. It must never ever happen again!
Interestingly enough, navigating through Nagasaki, our landmark was the hypocenter of the Nuclear bomb explosion. When we were driving with the tram or the bikes we always knew where to go from that point. Somehow strange, don't you think?

After the ceremony we got on our bikes and started with the first 10 kilometres to the lunch place. It was great finally to get on a bike and also to get out of the city where it was very hard to keep track of all the people. After a short lunch break we drove in three groups to our destination. The road is quite dangerous, no bicycling lane and many cars driving by, but they are usually very attentive and respectful towards us drivers. Moreover the route was not as flat as in Denmark, and many hills were challenging us during the trip but we never expected what was about to come… A mountain, supposedly short and steep, turned out to be 5km of very steep ascending. After pushing and fighting our way up, or getting a little lift with one of the vans, we finally arrived at our destination: a beautiful hostel located on the very top of the mountain and with an amazing view over the Nagasaki bay. Our king-cookers under the leadership of Stephi and Katja made a delicious noodle dish and now, after a short group meeting everyone is very exhausted and resting before a new day of long biking.

yours, Alix

The bikers have arrived!

Throughout today, bikers from around the world have arrived in Nagasaki.  We have all stepped in the beauty of Japan, a place also known as the land of the rising sun. As we take in the blue skies, lush mountains, we each wipe the sweat from our brow trying to adjust to the warm and humid weather. Despite jet lag, everyone is enthusiastic to meet one another. As I type, I can hear at least five languages in use. It is a great sight to see 20 nationalities coming together for a common goal of peace, nonproliferation, and our shared environment.

The highlight of today was meeting Mayor Taue of Nagasaki in the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Museum.  Ryoma Kayano (Japan), Alix Schou (Denmark), Alex Rosen (Germany), and Richard Denton (Canada) spoke on behalf of the IPPNW group to express their view about a nuclear-free world. Activists also focused on how nuclear energy could turn into a nuclear disaster as was seen in Fukushima. Mayor Taue wished the group a successful and safe bike tour, and if he had the time, would have liked to join himself. He inspired the young generation to take lead in the endeavor to collaborate across borders for world peace.

And this evening we were privileged to have the Vice President of the Japanese Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (JPPNW), Masao Tomonaga join us for our dinner. He was 2 years old when the atomic bomb dropped in Nagasaki in 1945. We will be hearing more from him and his life’s work once we reach Hiroshima.

In other news, bikers are ready for a night of sleep before learning the road and bike rules of Japan tomorrow. Now, we head to the Nanzan Elementary School. Until then, cheers!

-       Michelle (USA)

Photos from August 6, the day before the tour begins!

Picking up folks from the airport! Gyanesh from Nepal greeted Maie from Estonia and Mohan, also from Nepal.

Look at the delicious sushi! What a treat it is for us to be able to experience the find cuisine of Japan!

This was a welcome feast we had. For the remainder of our time, we will be eating very minimalistic.

Michelle working on our Facebook page! Check it out; quick updates will be more easily available there.

Introducing Alix, our Danish blogger

Tokyo... a city full of contrasts and similarities aaaaand above all >> lots of fun and strange things! 1 Day in Japan and I`m fully enjoying it already. Apart from that a 35million population shuts down all public transport, even to the airport after 7pm and so my getting to Nagasaki will be quite an adventure tonight..... ;)
I like adventures and I love travelling and experiencing new cultures! When I`m not travelling, I`m studying medicine in my fifth year at the University of Copenhagen aspiring for some great speciality.
IPPNW turned up two years ago, while I was searching on Google for a medical organisations that were more than "just" humanitarian and reading on Wikipedia about the organisation and its achievements in the issue of Nuclear Weapons and now also Small Arms was exactly what I wanted to be part of. Since then, I was participating at the last bike tour in 2010 through Germany, France and Switzerland, helped organizing a Congress on Violent Conflict and Health in Copenhagen and got European Student Representative of the student chapter of IPPNW.
The people, the travelling but most of all the goal has been motivating me a lot!

Now, if I get to Nagasaki tomorrow, I`m looking forward spending 2 weeks on bike for a cause that should bother everyone of us! :)

Alix

Introducing Michelle, our American blogger

Michelle from the U.S. here! As I write this, I'm already in Kyoto, Japan attempting to fit in some temple hopping and get over the 14-hour time difference before the bike tour starts in 5 days. I'm not the typical cyclist on this journey. I'm not in the medical school, but am instead on my way to a Masters in Public Health. I work closely with the Iowa Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility in the U.S. and am looking forward to meeting like-minded young professionals from around the world in Nagasaki as we cycle to Hiroshima and meet even more activists along the way.

So, a little about me is that I am a first generation Chinese-American. It's an odd feeling when I travel to Asian countries and notice that I am not the minority and can blend in,though definitely appreciate it when haggling at the market. Already, I have been mistaken as a local which has been an entertaining experience. I thought I'd stand out a little since I'm wearing athletic clothing and have a camera bag, guess not. At home, I enjoy rock climbing, cooking, talking about reproductive health, and planning my next adventure somewhere in the world. Traveling is a part of me, and I love immersing myself in a new culture. One day, I hope to visit all the continents, including Antarctica, maybe!

Lastly, one thing I always enjoy sharing with an audience is my perspective on the world and how with one change, it could be just a bit more peaceful. Everyone should thinks of himself or herself as a global citizen rather than an America Citizen, a Chinese citizen, a South African citizen, etc. We all share the same air, water, and world resources, so why not work together to sustain our environment?

See you next time!

Michelle