Today, we got up early-for-a-Saturday (about 7:30), and dragged our sleepy butts to the closest shinkansen station to us. From Nishi-Akashi station, we caught a bullet train - the fastest kind of bullet train, called the Hikari - to HIROSHIMA! We had a conbini-bought breakfast on the train of sandwiches and a chocolate donut. I love living in Japan :)
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| A Hikari Shinkansen (or a Disney-designed duck?) |
Once we got to Hiroshima train station, we met the other JETs that we were going with. First, we met Wendy and Dan (from Kobe and Himeji). Then we caught Miriam and Christine (from Ikuno and Aioi). Then Wendy's friends from New York, Katie and Traci (now from Kyoto and Fukui). And finally, the creepy guy who stood and looked over our shoulders and listened and stared for a full hour before following us onto the tram to our hostel. Miss you, creepy guy! On the tram, we met about 20 school kids from Toowoomba who were in Japan for a few weeks, and were making a pilgrimage to the Children's Memorial in Hiroshima to deliver a few thousand folded cranes. They were really nice kids. We also lost the creepy guy, which we were really grateful for.
We got ourselves to J-Hoppers in Hiroshima, dumped our bags (they have odd check-in times - before 11 or after 3) and then went in search of food. And food we found, in the form of Hiroshimayaki! Okonomiyaki is Japanese-style pancakes - an eggy/pancakey/omlettey mess stuffed with cabbage and noodles and deliciousness. Hiroshimayaki is the Hiroshima version of the food - it has more cabbage and is in neater layers. And it is absolutely delicious. We found a really great place near the hostel, and ate to our (tight arse) hearts content.
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| The whole gang waiting for our lunch |
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| This is the delicious Hiroshimayaki after some minor chomping. |
We got ourselves two-day passes to the Hiroshima transport system that meant that all of our streetcar, ferry and cable-car travel was covered. So we made the most of that right up front by taking ourselves off to Miyajima with our afternoon. Miyajima is an island which is about a 1 hour tram ride, and then a 15 minute ferry, from Hiroshima train station. It is actually called Itsukushima Island, but it's nickname (Miyajima) means "Shrine Island", and seeing as it's basically famous for it's shrine, now everyone knows it as Miyajima. Well, actually, I lied. It's famous for three things - it's oysters (kaki), the deer (shika) that are the "messengers from the spirits" that roam the streets and eat bag and train passes, and the beautiful floating torii gate out the front of Itsukushima Shrine. We saw all three, and then some!
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| Deer on Miyajima |
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| First view of the floating torii gate. |
First, we were mobbed (a little) by the deer on the 15 minute walk from the ferry terminal to Itsukukushima Shrine. Then we saw the torii gate, and didn't care about the deer anymore. We paid our money and went into the shrine. The tide was lowish but on it's way up. Spent quite a while hanging around the shore near the gate.
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| View of the floating Torii gate from Itsukushima shrine at low(ish) tide |
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| Itsukushima Shrine |
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| Sam and Bri on Miyajima Island |
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| The red floating torii gate was beautiful. |
After a lot of photos, and a bit of a rest and a conversation about birth (no births or deaths used to be allowed on the island, as it was a sacred place - there are still no cemeteries on the island), we walked up hill to Momiji (maple leaf) Park and the ropeway to the top of Mt Misen. Got on one of the last ropeways to the top of the mountain and sat and enjoyed the view for about 20 mins (we didn't see any monkeys - some of the girls were disappointed, but I was secretly relieved - they are vicious and scary when they want to be). We were on the last cablecar back down the mountain.
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| View from the cablecar back over Hiroshima |
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| View over the Seto Inland sea from the top of Mt Misen |
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| Artists depiction of the cablecar ride |
We bought some beers at the bottom of the cablecar, and walked back to the ferry station. Met some absolutely gorgeous little girls and slightly less gorgeous deer on the way.
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| Supercute little girls in yukata |
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| Christine feeding beer to the gods. |
By the time we were walking past the shrine again, the sun was setting, so it was time for some more photos!
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| Sunset torii gate |
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| Sunset at the torii gate |
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| Last light in Miyajima |
When we got back near the city again, it was time to check into the hostel. So we headed in, got our keys, paid our money, had an epic pillow fight, and then went in search of the promised land - Dan's iPhone told us that there was a vegetarian/Mexican restaurant nearby, and none of us could pass up the chance for enchiladas! We found the place, but they were having a live music night, so we had to wait about 45 mins (or pay the money to go and see the classical guitarist). We decided instead to go and get some beers and sit down by the river to enjoy them. There was some kind of bomb disposal squad (well, firemen who seemed to be CSI-ing the crap out of something burned in a bin) behind us, but we couldn't understand them and they couldn't understand us, so we got to sit in peace. Oh, and dinner was SOOOOOOOOO worth waiting for - a fantastic Mexican feast, the likes of which non of us have seen these past... 2 months. But still - great food and good company to prepare us for tomorrow, when we are going to face the horrors of the Hiroshima Peace Museum.
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| View over the river back in Hiroshima. This isn't far from the epicentre of the bomb site, and would have been completely destroyed in the bombing 65 years ago. This river was filled with floating bodies, according to descriptions from survivors. |
Food Highlight of the Day: Mexican food. Seriously.
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