Little Girl

While in Hiroshima in 2010, I stayed at a hotel not far from the train station. On the day I arrived, I dropped off my bags and headed off in the direction of Hiroshima Castle.



Photo my Mark W. Laughlin

The Tower at Hiroshima Castle.

 

The next morning, still rung out from my visit to the Atomic Bomb museum, I slept late. I ate breakfast and prepared to head back to the station to catch a mid-day Shinkansen train to Osaka. After I packed my things and prepared to move out, I took a moment to sit by my 10th Floor window, and gaze out at Hiroshima.

Looking down and across the street, I noticed that the roof of a two story building was painted green. Studying for a moment, I figured out that the building was a Day Care Center, and that the roof was the playground. Not so surprising in a place like Japan where real estate is at a premium. All around the edge was a high chain-link fence, and there were Jungle-Gyms and other climbing structures scattered around. It had taken a while to figure out what I was looking at because at that late morning hour, none of the kids were out playing.

But as I rested and looked out, I noticed a few kids begin to come out and spread around the roof-top play area. Off to the side was an arching set of climbing bars with some heavy pads on the deck underneath it. A little girl stepped in under the arch and raised her arms, with a jump she was able to reach up and grab the bars over her head. She was small, maybe 4 or 5 years old. As I watched, she picked up her feet, bent her knees, and while hanging upside down, put her knees up through her arms as she flipped over backwards, finally letting go of the bars as her feet came down toward the ground.

A “knees-through-the-arms” back-flip! Over and over she did it, feet plopping down on the mats, quickly steadying herself, then jumping up again to grab the bars. Over and over again, pigtails twirling, celebrating her new trick. I don’t speak Japanese, but I’m pretty sure when her mom came to pick her up that day, she was met with “Mommy, come see !”

- M. W. Laughlin



Photo my Mark W. Laughlin

Castle Entrance.