Two ex-pats sit at a Japanese bar in Hiroshima, Japan. They’re drinking a couple of Budweisers. One says to the other, “Hey, where you from again?” The other says, “Detroit, man.”
The conversation unfolds and brings the two to the Cass Corridor 15 years prior. “Dude, you were that a**hole that wouldn’t run off my course pack at University Copy Center!”
The men soon share a respectful “campai” (or “cheers”) and the two end up becoming the best of drinking buddies. This is just one of the many stories you’ll hear about the Detroit-Hiroshima connection that has brought many unlikely friends, and two seemingly different cities, together in business -- and in pleasure.
So, what’s behind this bond between the Motor City and the Southwestern Japanese “city of peace”? First off, industry. Hiroshima is Mazda country and its five-square miles of operations and production facilities on the east side of the city is like any of the Big Three having not only their development, but also their production facilities all in one central location.
In short, that’s a lot of auto in one space. And when Ford Motor Company took an owning stake in Mazda back in 1996, Detroit natives began to invade the city. Even now, the number of engineers and auto execs from part suppliers and manufacturers who call Hiroshima home - albeit temporarily -- is astounding.
Says one engineer working for a foreign parts supplier in Hiroshima, “The Ford/Mazda/automotive supplier connection is the reason most Detroiters end up in Hiroshima.”
“The size of the city is why you have the opportunity to interact with so many of the Detroiters, other foreigners or Japanese living and traveling here,” he continues. “The convenience, people, food, entertainment, beauty and charm of the city is why most stay or want to come back.”
But, fear not. Detroit is also well-represented in Hiroshima proper by more than just the car. Detroit-native and former Wayne-Stater, Kevin Nanna, now has his hand in running two extremely popular watering holes in the city. A home for ex-pats and Japanese alike, Kemby’s and the Shack, are American-style establishments with an added Japanese twist.
You can get a burger to rival Hunter House or Mexican snacks that you might mistake for Lupitas, all with a frosty pint of Kirin or Sapporo on the side. Also known to attract Hiroshima Carp fans (and some of its players) after a home game, you might just think you are sitting at Fifth Avenue Downtown as you chug that never-ending last round and confab about the game.
But similarities aside, Detroit may have some things to learn from this Japanese city of rebirth. The approximate four square miles of city center decimated by the atomic bomb in 1945, are now lined with bars, cafés and restaurants that have breathed new life into a town where just 50 years prior, a period of silence and nothingness reigned. But the actual epicenter of the atomic bomb isn’t where the tourist-thronged Hiroshima Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Dome stand. It’s marked, rather, with a tiny monument that’s tucked away on a narrow street between a row of popular bars and restaurants near the banks of the Motoyasu River. Standing there gives you pause. It then makes you think about what rebirth really means.
Hiroshima’s population stands at around 1.1 million and it’s known as one of Japan’s friendliest and favorite small cities. Add in the fact that it’s culturally thriving in spite of its horrific past, and its rebirth gives you the sense that it simply comes from the city’s spirit and its basic yearning to survive. And surviving in the city counts, because fleeing to the country isn’t an option in a tremendously mountainous country like Japan, so the entrepreneurial spirit of the people pitches in, too, and keeps continually adding to the quality of city life.
In Detroit, we’re seeing the emergence of our survival skills as the collective soul of the city looks to rebuild and signs of our own not-so-pretty past begin to fade. We’ve got the green of Campus Martius, the seeds of entrepreneurial splendor in the Cass Corridor and a whole lot of plans, but because the goal of creating a “total” city seems so insurmountable, we also keep moving further and further away from the place we have such high hopes for. Why? Most likely it’s the need to experience on a larger scale just what our communal efforts can actually create. We move to the suburbs and enact change there because a future realized in the city of Detroit seems just too far away. And therein lies a valuable lesson that one city of rebirth might be able to teach the other: just stay.
But whether one city takes on the role of teacher and the other of student, one Detroit ad agency creative director with family ties to Hiroshima definitely sees the deep sense of struggle that runs through both cities. “Aside from the physical similarities...small city, industrial, local culture, I do see a similar spirit that borders on distinction. Detroit doesn’t have the hurt that Hiroshima does, but the people in both cities seem to be tied in that the hardships have manifested themselves in a spirit I find extends into everything,” he says. “It's distinctive to Detroiters, and those from Hiroshima. Most likely demonstrated in different ways, but truly connected.”
Visit Hiroshima as a Detroiter and you’ll see why these two cities have developed a bond that not only links our industry, culture and spirit, but also our sheer will to show the rest of the world just how seriously we take this thing called rebirth.
More info:
To learn more about Hiroshima, visit:
www.gethiroshima.com.
Buddha Shrine and Atomic Bomb Dome photos by Jennifer Andrews
Oslo and Kennedy Square photos by Dave Krieger
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