Hiroshima Travelogue -15- Final Episode

August 9, 2013

Before leaving Tokyo for Tehran, we went to the Iranian embassy and awaited Dr. Nazar Ahari, Iran's ambassador to Japan, in the public meeting room. After the conventional formalities, each of us voiced their concerns regarding enhancement of cultural ties between Iran and Japan. Mr. Ambassador listened carefully and, whether sincerely or respectfully, subscribed to the aired views. In the end, everybody thanked the embassy staff for their hospitality and received gifts from the ambassador.

We stopped by at the embassy yard to take some good-bye pictures. I took my last picture with Mrs. Koniko Yamamora (Babaei), mother of a martyr.

Iranian Embassy Yard

In the final lines of my travelogue, I'd like to touch on members of the Iranian delegation in their 10th cultural Hiroshima visit:

1. Ali Akbar Fazli: Injured war veteran; member of the Society for Chemical Weapons Victims Support - SCWVS. Such a kind man Fazli indeed is. He managed the delegation's spending. He seized his moments perfectly and slept well, a feature I envied so much.
2. Alireza Yazdan Panah: Chemically injured veteran; one of the group's chimneys with endless coughs and dysfunctional lungs; exceptionally modest and well-mannered. I could never figure out what made him so high-spirited.
3. Behrouz Abbasi: Chemically injured veteran; he was the epitome of almost all virtues one can trace in a provincial; his coughs are the only sound which one could remember of him; too reserved. Behrouz was the only one of us who purchased a radio.
4. Habib Ahmadzadeh: Writer, documentary filmmaker; he brought with him some CD packages bundled with thin strips that left stubborn lines on our fingers for carrying them. An enthusiastic activist that made up for our indolence; if I were asked to name a man who functions like a complete organization, my response would definitely be his name.
5. Parviz Parastouei: Actor; he is very easy to take no notice of his fame and privately spend that for his people. During this trip I learned that his art is not acting but remaining himself.
6. Morteza Sarhangi: Writer; he is the man I have made almost all journeys in the past 30 years.
7. Ali Akbar Dehbashi: Manager of Bokhara Magazine; it took him some days to set himself free of the agonies of being charged for publishing a poem in his magazine. He spends most of his money to buy stationery; probably to use for his crimes! He is suffering from various diseases and using Cortisone. Like in Tehran, he carried copies of his magazine in Hiroshima and Tokyo. He gave me a copy as well.
8. Adel Memarnia: Documentary filmmaker; he recorded everything by his cameras.
9. Mehdi Masoumi: Doctor; he spends all or at least a good part of his life treating chemically injured veterans.
10. Mohammad Reza Soroush: Doctor; he presides over the SCWVS and is a founding member of Tehran Peace Museum. He is a well-known figure in MOCT.
11. Shahryar Khateri: Doctor; he was the coordinator and mastermind of our trip. Being a founding member of the museum and manager of its international relations office, he was untroubled to carry luggage and arrange meals for the delegation.
12. Mohammad Bonakdar: Translator; how many Japanese translators are there in Iran? And how many of them would like to work for the museum for free? I don’t know but I know that Bonakdar is one of them.
13. Koniko Yamamora: Translator; a Japanese-Iranian woman who has lived in Iran for several years. Her son was martyred during Iran-Iraq war. I found her faith in Islam much stronger and firmer than mine.
14. Narges Baj Oqli: Documentary filmmaker; she was a PhD candidate of Anthropology in New York University. She was motivated to show the misery imposed on chemically injured veterans. 'The Burning Skin' is one of her works about chemical victims.

The waiting was over. We moved to the airport from among tall buildings, streets, bridges and tunnels.
Ahead of us was a long expressway. Our arrival was from an airport near the city and our departure was from another one far from Tokyo. We wobbled in the car not because of its movement but because of Parviz Parastouei's rehearsal of 'Galoubandak Nights' song which threw us from Asia's east to its west.
We arrived in the airport at 2 a.m. and handed over our luggage to the Emirate airline. Our seats were outspread in the plane. I sat between two slit-eyed women. I would have to go through 11 hours of night flight.
Now we were in Dubai airport. It was about morning adzan and we would stay there some 4 hours. We spent minutes in the mosque and some other minutes in Mehran Fazaei alley. Morteza Sarhangi missed his grandchild and bought her a doll.

August 10
At about 8 a.m. we took another airport. It took off for Tehran. It would take us almost 2 hours to fly over plains and heights.
Many had come to Imam Khomeini airport to welcome their passengers. We knew none were waiting for us, however! We took the escalator. A woman was waiting for us and gave everyone of us a red rose.
It was Eid ol Fitr that day.