Day 10 - Miyajima

Today was our day to catch the ferry for Miyajima as a side day trip. We have now officially traveled by air, land (train and bike), sea (ferry) and foot. The train to Miyajima was really quick, just 8 quick stops and then we hopped off and got directly on the ferry. It was free with our JR Pass - man that things has really paid for itself!! As we boarded the ferry we noticed that this was the first time we'd seen so many foreigners such as ourselves. They sounded to be more from Europe and Australia though, didn't notice any other Americans.

The ferry was a 10 minute ride to the island and of course very photogenic. The red archway is one of the top 3 most photographed items in Japan so I'm sure you'll recognize it. We were a bit worried it was going to be a giant tourist trap but we were very wrong, it was beautiful and I would definitely stay there for atleast a night.

One we got of the ferry we rented two bikes (best idea ever!) and headed out. I instantly saw the deer and insisted on petting them. We weren't sure if they would go for that but they sure did. Didn't even bat an eyelash, they were like tame dogs, but smellier. The funniest moment was when we stopped to take our picture with the archway in the background and left our bags along with a paper map in the basket of our bikes. Out of the corner of my eye I saw 2 deer sniffing our stuff quite aqggressively. Then the one grabbed the map and started eating it. Jeff rushed over and tried to save the map and the deer from this not so helthy snack but was unable to do so. The deer was so funny he stood on the rest of it so Jeff couldn't take it from him. We kind of had to shove the deer out of the way to get the rest of the paper back. He didn't want to give it up. I snapped pictures and laughed so loud and so hard while Jeff wrestled with Bambi. It was so funny!!! After that we kept an eye on our stuff for fear they would try and eat my purse just for the hell of it.

After all that excitement we parked the bikes and checked out the local shrine and pagoda. I swear, Japanese buildings are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. The architectual design is just amazing. I've seen pictures of course but seeing them in person is beyond what I thought they would look like. If I could have a house like that I totally would! Not sure how well it would work in with the neighborhood but who cares. :)

We got to participate in our first shrine hand washing which was cool. Jeff laughed at me b/c the only reason I knew what to do was b/c I saw a video on youtube. It's amazing what kind of info you can find out there! Miyajima was great and after a few hours of just cruising around, shopping and snacking it was time to head back to Hiroshima to catch the train to Kyoto.

Kyoto was just over 2 hours and pretty easy to do - just one train change. Once we arrived we had to figure out how to get from the Kyoto station to the gion neighborhood where our Bakpak hostel was... The hostel was in a great location - right on the river. Once we checked in we wandered the neighborhood and I actually saw a real Geisha with several men walking down the street. The area is a bit seedier than I had thought with strip clubs and girls who are obviously escorts. The Memoris of a Geisha view I had in my mind was somewhat there but this other side of it kind of dampered it a bit. Thankfully we found a more traditional looking area and the Kyoto I imagined came right back. It was dinner time so we ended up in a small place where we had skewers. The guy wasn't real chatty in Japanese or English but the food was good, plus they had Sapporo, which hasn't been easy to find surprisingly!

After dinner we went back to the hostel to sleep on our box spring bed... the very very uncomfortable bed. It was a box spring with a sheet on it. It sucked! In my next post you will hear how we bailed on staying there and went back to our Toyoko-Inn (which is where I am typing this from right now at 5:10pm on Saturday, Day 11.). :)

P.S. I had read that when in Japan most attractions and stations have stamps you can get and to bring a book as it's an easy souveneir of your trip. I had kind of forgotten this until one day I noticed one. Now Jeff and I seem to see them everywhere and have finally started getting stamps wherever we go. It's fun to look for them now. I highly suggest doing that if you ever come over here!!

Japanese Pizza

After leaving the the Peace Park, we headed into dowwntown and began our hunt for Okonomiyaki (aka - Japanese pizza). NOTE: Japanese pizza and neapolitan pizza have very little in common. First of all, it is cooked on griddle, not in an oven. It starts out as a fine layer of dough (paper-thin) and then a multitude of ingredients is added. There is no tomoto sauce in case you are wondering. I believe mine was the "traditional" which included, bean sprouts, cabbage, fish flakes, pork, egg, spices and a sauce somewhat like tonkatsu sauce. Once this is piled high, it is pliiped over and pressed into a pancake. Once it is done, it is cut up into small pieces, and served - you eat it directly off the griddle!!! Of course you have to wash it down with a cold draft beer. Man was this pizza good. Super satisfying and fulfilling...wait, that sounds like I just ate a neapolitan pizza! New menu item at Tutta Bella?!? Oshi!!!

Hiroshima Peace Park and surroundings

I remember when I first learned about the A-Bomb in school and ever since then I have had this urge to visit Hiroshima. At 8:15am on August 6th 1945, Hiroshima became the first city on earth to have an atomic dropped on it. It is estimated that more than 140,000 people perished by the end of 1945 as a direct result of this horrible, then new, technology. As of 2009, it is estimated that more than 300,000 people have died as a direct result of the A-Bomb. Now, when I lived in Hawaii, we always saw Japanese visitors at Pearl Harbor and I wondered why there were so many. After visiting Hiroshima, I now know why. To the Japanese, Pearl Harbor was the spark that ended in the fireballs over Hiroshima on August 6th and Nagasaki on August 9th. For many, they feel compelled to pay their respects and to try to better understand the Japanese government policies of WWII. To say that Hiroshima is a moving place is an extreme understatement. While walking through the Peace Park or visiting the National Memorial Hall, you can not help but feel a little choked-up. We took well over 100 photos - mostly without us in them because it is hard to smile for a photo in this amazing place. Hiroshima today is world renowned for it's peace efforts across the globe. In fact, each time a nuclear device is tested in any of the "nuclear-states", the Mayor of Hiroshima sends that country's President an official Letter of Protest. The keep of record of these letters in the Peace Memorial Museum and there are currently well over 300 - it is most sobering and unnerving.

Not all is doom and gloom in Hiroshima. There are vast numbers of school children who take field trips there from all corners of Japan. We actually got to take a photo with a group of children which was absolutely amazing. We then were approached by other small groups of kids who wanted to ask us questions in English. They gave us paper cranes as gifts (this is symbolic of Hiroshima on so many levels) and in return we gave them some Seattle pins we were carrying with us. The kids brightened our day big time! Oh yeah - the Jehovah Witnesses are alive and well in Hiroshima - they are not nearly as pushy as in the states which was nice. As a history buff and former military brat, I had a greater understanding of the events that led up to August 6th and after - I felt like I truly connected with this place and I will never forget my thoughts and emotions. We spent almost 5 hours wandering throughout the park, memorials, museum, and hall. It is a vivid reminder of the destruction that mankind can do unto himself and hopefully the generations to come can learn from this important lesson - I strongly believe that the school children being present was a positive sign.

Day 9 - Hiroshima

Had breakfast at the Toyoko-Inn this morning. Jeff brought his tray up to the room so I decided to go down and get my own. I got my food (rice, sausages, roll, pickled stuff) and headed for the elevator. "Sumimasen!" Oh crap, busted!! She told me I wasn't supposed to do that so I had to sit in the lobby alone and eat my breakfast... I called Jeff and he said "could you bring me some more sausages when you're done" - I smuggled a few up in a cup. He always gets away with that kid of stuff...

We headed out from our hotel to the station and just happened to have perfect timing for the Hiroshima train. Had we missed it we'd have had an hour wait. Didn't plan that, it just worked out!

First stop was the A-Bomb Memorial. We walked around Peace park taking pictures. Had a man come chat with us at the child's memorial. Just asked where we were from, practicing English is what I suspect. Then some school kids showed up and we asked top be in their class picture - they loved that!! Probably not as much as we did though.

The first building of the memorial has all of the names of those who died, including American POW's. We looked through the list of names and came across one guy named John Long. Long is a family name of mine so I have to find out if maybe there was some relation. It was so sad to see all of the names of the people who died. There are stations setup to read actual accounts from people who were there. It makes your heartache.

On the way to the museum we had 2 sets of school kids run up to us and ask if they could ask us a few questions. They wanted to know where we were from, could we speak any Japanese and if yes what could we say. They gave us a little origami crane. We gave them Seattle pins. We then walked quickly to the museum as tons of kids were eyeing us. Jeff had read that the kids come there for school and are told to try and speak to Americans to work on their English. It was cute but could have kept us there for hours. You could hear them b/c they would literally run towards you. :)

The museum is pretty big, much bigger than it looks. It only cost about 50 cents to go through the whole thing. The exhibit explains the war and how it all started. They never blame America for anything in the exhibit. Noone was weird to us or anything. They blame the tragedy on war and they even say they started it. There position now is peace and they even have a flame going that won't go out until every nuclear bomb is gone. The pictures were graphic, which really is necessary b/c you just can't imagine how horrible such a bomb could be. Their skin was burned off and even melting off of some people. I'm not the history buff that Jeff is but this museum was interesting and you really feel so sad after witnessing what these people had to go through. Nuclear war looks like a horrible, horrible thing to put anyone through.

After the museum we headed for lunch as the museum took a few hours and we were hungry. On our way out of the park we wanted to get a picture of the Japanese flag blowing. The wind had died down so we sat down to wait a bit. These 2 women approached us and we just assumed they wanted to practice English... yeah no, they were Jehovah's Witnesses and they wanted to talk to us about peace and God. We indulged them, I even read a Bible verse for her. She wasn't pushy so that was good. We took her pamphlet and then went on our way. It was so weird and unexpected... I had no idea Jehovah's Witnesses were here too.

The shopping arcade is where we ended up finding lunch... and a few souvenirs (toys for Abby!). We had the "Japanese Pizza" which was delicious!! It's a flat pancake with cabbage, spices, meat, sauce, egg and more spices - it was great! We ate it right off the griddle. It was super filling though as we both had one. It also goes perfect with beer!

We started to head back, hopped on the wrong tram, finally got on the correct one and then headed for the train station. A massage and bath are in my near future!!

Pictures have been taking forever to upload but here are the last few days worth. Day 7, Day 8 and Day 9! Captions will have to come when we get back as it's so time consuming right now and this computer takes a bit long at times... Sorry about that. Oh and our picts aren't always in order as we have 2 cameras going at all times and they don't always synch up when I upload the, Yet again, time consuming... When I get back I plan to organize them all.

Also, if you leave comments and don't want to be anonymous you'll have to sign up for an account. Jeff wanted me to make sure to tell you all that. However, being anonymous is ok, just leave your comment and then sign your name. :)

P.S. Mom, there is this drink that I discovered that you would love, it's Royal Milk Tea and it's basically a cold version of our yummy milk tea we love to drink!! I'll have to search for it in Seattle and we'll enjoy it when you come visit next!

Day 8 - Transition

Today was more of a day of transition and not really much to report. We packed up from Sendai and then hopped the train to Hiroshima. We had to switch in Hakata. It took a little over 2 hours.

Once at the hotel we just relaxed and then went down at 6:30pm for the curry rice the hotel was feeding us for dinner. I have never had a hotel give free breakfast AND dinner. We have stayed in the Toyoko-Inn in a few cities and it's really reasonable and always in great locations. Perfect for backpacking b/c then you don't have to haul your bags very far from the station. They are western style hotels but for the price you can't beat it. We saved over $3000 for the trip and haven't even made it half way through our money yet. Everyone told us how expensive Japan was and it definitely can be but we've managed to do really well on food and the rail pass has paid for itself as that is our only mode of transportation thus far. We haven't used any cabs, which are expensive, and staying close to the station has worked out well. We venture out on buses. trams or the trains to explore the areas we stay in.

Anyway, back to my post... Jeff LOVED the curry rice and has requested we make it at home as he now seems to love curry. He actually ate 2 big bowls of it b/c the kitchen lady made him take another bowl later in the evening. We took a walk to check out the small suburb of Hiroshima we are staying in... Now much here but a Pachinko parlor, which we checked out. When we returned she made him take more rice, which he gladly did of course!! Once in the room we watched a movie (War of the Worlds) and caught up on blogging and downloading pictures.

Japan in a few weeks...

Jeff and I will be headed to Japan in a few short weeks! We've been talking about going for quite sometime and I can't believe it is almost here. We'll be posting pictures and writing about our mini adventure for our friends and family to check out.

As of right now our itinerary is:
Tokyo
Hiroshima
Fukuoka
Beppu
Kyoto
Tokyo

However, it's pretty flexible... Stay tuned!