Hiroshima

This morning after breakfast, we still didn't have a solid plan for our day. (This is a wonderful feeling after so many days where we have felt rushed to squeeze things in). We had been thinking about Hiroshima Castle, but Margaret suggested the Shukkei-en Gardens first, and maybe we could then do the castle afterwards. This turned out to be an excellent idea. After a slightly confusing tram ride and a very windy but refreshing walk, we reached the gardens and paid 250yen for admission to the park (over 65's are free!). It was utterly and completely stunning, and I took around 100 photos, so what I post on the blog is just a fraction of what there was to see. Walking around it reminded me of Shinjuku Gyoen in Tokyo because it was another oasis in the middle of a bustling city, but I think parts of it were even more beautiful than Shinjuku Gyoen. It felt like Narnia, Middle Earth and Wonderland rolled into one, and there was no shortage of koi fish and cherry blossoms. I saw at least four cats running around the park and a tortoise swam right up to us, but then got bored when he realised we weren't going to feed him. It showered on and off throughout the day, but very lightly, and always in beautiful sunshine, so it wasn't nearly as noticeable as the Miyajima rain yesterday. It was full of little shrines and bridges and a tea house and a couple of tiny rowboats moored on the lake. I saw a koi fish the size of a small dolphin, so luckily no one fell in because they would have probably been eaten instantly.

Marnie and blossom :)

Beautiful view

Wonderland

Little rowboat and bridge

After a quick coffee and snack under falling cherry blossom and raindrops, we headed over to Hiroshima Castle, which was only a short walk away. The grounds are far bigger than the actual castle, and are surrounded by an enormous moat, which was pretty cool. I don't know if I've actually seen a working moat in the European castles I've visited. The grounds and castle were completely annihilated by the atomic bomb, (except about three trees, and they have photos of them in the wreckage) so the castle is just a replica, but they have the foundations of the surrounding buildings where they fell. For any Narnia nerds, it reminded me instantly of the Cair Paravel ruins. The castle is home to a museum about the castle's history, which is quite informative, and has a little gift shop and a place to dress up in samurai clothes to take pics. It costs 360yen to enter the castle, but we didn't have to pay anything to enter the grounds.

Cair Paravel - I mean, Hiroshima Castle

Hiroshima Castle

Being a nerd

Nerd Snr (with bonus topknot!)

Lovely, obliging cosplayer

Despite the rain, the grounds were also overrun with cosplayers - I don't know if it was a particular convention or something, but there were dozens of people in costume and taking photos of each other. I asked very politely if I could take a photo of one girl, and she nodded enthusiastically, shoved her bags at her friend, finished what she was chewing, retrieved her weapon and posed. I thanked her profusely and told her she was beautiful and she was so charming and grateful. It gave me the confidence to ask a few more people, so I got some good pics.

By this time it had gotten a bit colder and windier, so I headed back to the hotel to dump my photos and everyone else went shopping. I'm trying to save my money, so it was a bit safer for me at the hotel. At 5.30 we Skyped with Mum and Riley and Brondi, and then we went out to a Spanish restaurant called zucchini and had paella and eggplant lasagna tapas and creme brulee. I can say with confidence now, that the Japanese do Italian and Spanish cuisine extremely well. Now time for sleep! Peace park tomorrow, and if the weather is fine, maybe Miyajima again...

Miyajima

So I haven't blogged for two days, but this is only because yesterday was a travel day, very little happened, but by the time we got home I was too tired to blog! We left Takayama at a decent hour and got on a train to Nagoya. The train trip between Takayama and Nagoya is one of the most beautiful train trips I've ever taken, with enormous forests, small towns covered in cherry blossom, and rushing, blue rivers. Truly stunning views. We had an eight-minute change at Nagoya, and, not surprisingly, missed the train. These Japanese locomotives are consistently on time. There was a young couple with a baby and some massive suitcases who missed the train as well, so I can't complain. We booked new tickets to Shin-Osaka and then had a nine-minute change at Shin-Osaka which we actually made. Go us! Then we arrived at Hiroshima. It was only about 12AUD for a taxi to our hotel, which is very similar to the one in Tokyo and quite comfortable. Dad and Marnie and Margaret went for a walk but I was too tired, so I stayed at the hotel, before they came home and we all went out for okonomiyaki, our first in Japan!

If anyone has tried okonomiyaki in Australia, you may not have been all that impressed (I certainly didn't get what all the fuss was about). But proper Japanese okonomiyaki is pretty excellent. We went to a tiny little okonomiyaki restaurant round the corner from our hotel which looked as though it was run by one guy. He was incredibly smiley and helpful and welcoming, which has been our experience with more or less everyone we have met here, and though he had very limited English, and us with even more limited Japanese, we managed to order. Watching him cook was like watching an artist. Not only was he so attentive and careful with our dishes, but his restaurant was spotlessly clean. I have noticed that a lot here. No matter the size or value of something, the Japanese take immense pride and care in their work and property. It is wonderful to see. He served up our okonomiyaki and we charged through, nearly finishing the whole lot. It is a massive amount of food, basically a giant savoury pancake made of noodles, cabbage, pork, eggs and okonomiyaki sauce. Dad and I had squid with ours and it was quite delicious.

My dinner. Mmmm.

The hotel provides free breakfast, with all manner of foods - salad, minestrone, miso soup, fruit, sweet pastries, scrambled eggs and sausages, potato salad with cod roe sauce, inari, sushi, waffles...a real eclectic mix. We got up early and ate all we could, then headed down to the marina, only 15 minutes walk from our hotel. We were catching a launch boat to Miyajima, which takes about 45 minutes and it more scenic and more expensive than the JR train and ferry (which would have been free with our rail pass, but taken much longer). The man who looked after us on the launch was very chatty and kept pointing out various sights as we went past them in the boat. When we docked at Miyajima and disembarked, our tour guide met us outside the boat. Her name was Naoko Koizumi and she has been working as a tour guide for about 20 years. Her English is perfect and she is the most obliging, knowledgeable and generous guide I have come across. A private tour with her costs about 35AUD and is worth every single cent. I highly HIGHLY recommend a tour with her if you ever got to Miyajima. When I go back (and I plan to), I will go with her again. (Btw, if anyone IS planning a trip to Japan, ask me for her details and I can put you in touch).

Sadly, the rain was constant, all day. Thankfully it wasn't heavy or too cold. We just put up our umbrellas and got on with it. Naoko was so grateful that we had come on the tour anyway, and was so pleased to inform us that the rain had not ruined the cherry blossom. Before I say anything else though, I just have to point out that Miyajima is positively overrun with wild deer. Wild deer, guys. They walk right up to you and stick their nose in your pocket looking for food and I nearly exploded in a fit of warm fuzzies. You could pat them. YOU COULD PAT THEM. I don't know if you were technically allowed to, but they walked right up to me and demanded it with their big Bambi eyes. Magic.

Marnie's new friend

After we tore ourselves away from the deer, Naoko took us through the main shopping street of Miyajima, pointing out popular restaurants to eat at later. The local specialities are oysters and conger eels - not my favourite type of food, but I wasn't averse to trying them. As we walked up the main shopping street we got excellent views of the five storied pagoda. We walked right up to it, amidst a sea of cherry blossom, but you aren't allowed in. You are however, for the small fee of 100yen (about $1), allowed into Senjokaku, which is a shrine right next to the five-storied pagoda, with beautiful views. It was built in 1587 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, but he died before it was finished, so it has remained uncompleted, without walls or a front entrance. Senjokaku means 'hall of one thousand tatami mats' but they worked out they could only fit 857 tatami mats in it.

Five storied pagoda

Senjokaku

View from Senjokaku

After Senjokaku, we headed down the steps to Itsukushima Shrine, which is a massive Shinto shrine built in 1168. The torii gate is huge, and set out to sea. At low tide you can walk right up to it, but only for a couple of hours each day. We walked around the shrine (only about 300yen) and Naoko explained to us the different traditions and meanings of the architecture and customs. She showed us how to pray (you make a donation and then bow twice, clap twice, and bow once more) and it was amazing to see hundreds of people doing the same thing, no one rushing or getting mad despite the crowds. There are lots of amazing things to see and do in the shrine, but we were on a time limit, so we kept going and had a small break to eat some momiji manju, a local speciality and drink some tea. The momiji manju is a little sweet cake, served warm, in the shape of a maple leaf. They have different fillings, and we had red bean paste which was absolutely delicious. Later in the day I also bought a chocolate one and a green tea one because I'm on holidays and that's what I get to do.

torii gate

Itsukushima Shrine

momiji manju

After our break, the unthinkable happened and my camera ran out of battery. I will poach plenty of pictures from Dad, but it's still such a pity because the next thing we visited was easily my favourite part of the day. Daisho-in Temple is the most naturally beautiful part of the world I have ever visited. I'm sure that I will see many things to challenge that in my travels to come, but for now I think it is safe to say I have never seen anything so breathtaking. We saw far too many things for me to remember and document accurately in my blog, but please take my word for it and add it to your bucket list if you haven't already seen it. Highlights that Naoko showed us include the 500 Rakan statues (Shaka Nyorai's disciples), the Mizukake Jizo (statues who look after the souls of deceased babies and children) and Henjyokutsu Cave (containing the principle Buddhist icons of the eighty eight temples of the pilgrimage route on Shikoku and which you walk around to 'complete' your own mini version of the pilgrimage). It was a stunning place, with the rainwater falling and the cherry blossoms and the maples and the rock gardens and the mountains.Wow. To quote V for Vendetta, God was in the rain.

Once we finished at the temple, our three hours with Naoko was up. She very kindly walked us back to the shopping street and helped us find a suitable restaurant. We then sat down and rested out feet and ate a big lunch of udon soups, curry and oysters, among other bits. I did try an oyster, and while I could appreciate the superiority of the taste, it wasn't completely for me, so Dad got to eat the rest. I practised a bit of my very shoddy Japanese, but again, the staff were so lovely and obliging that it wasn't a problem. After we finished lunch we did a quick shop up and down the street, bid farewell to my new Bambi friends, and got on the launch boat back to the marina. I Skyped with Sean (Hi Sean!) and then we went out - finally! - for ramen!! Yayyyyy!! It was tonkotsu ramen as well - my favourite type. It was even better than I expected and we left the restaurant stuffed full. We took the long walk back to the hotel, stopping at two bookshops along the way. I found a second hand copy of Peter Pan in Japanese so I bought that (that's the second Peter Pan I have bought on this trip!) and we got back to the hotel just in time to finish this blog and go to bed. Phew!

Miyagawa Market and Hida No Sato

We were up early this morning, meeting in the kitchen for breakfast before heading down to the Jinya-mae morning market. This is a tiny little market in front of the historic government house with an emphasis on fruit and vegetables, mostly homegrown. We bought the biggest apple I have ever seen and have just eaten it for dessert as I write this. It was grown on the stall owners farm and was sweet and crispy. Just beautiful. After we'd looked through Jinya-mae, Marnie and I headed back to the temple for Buddhist prayers at 9.30. Yukina, our host, lives and works at the temple, and she was also does the prayers. She lit incense sticks and chanted, using sticks to hit the bowls and make them sing. It only went for about ten minutes, but it was a very peaceful and meditative way to spend a morning interlude. I felt really rested afterwards.

Zenkoji temple, where we are staying

Zenkoji temple

Marnie and I rejoined Margaret and Dad at Miyagawa morning market along the river. This is a bigger market, running across the river, and the stalls range from vegetables to wooden toys to honeycomb to jewellery, just to name a few. The day was warm and sunny and beautiful and we wandered up and down sampling as much free food as we could and buying little souvenirs like sarubobo dolls and fans. We also had Hida beef (the region that Takayama belongs to is the "Hida" region) and this continued to enforce Japan's reputation for cooking the tastiest beef ever.

Miyagawa morning market

Green tea ice-cream (not as good as Riley's)

Flowers for sale

Hida beef skewer aka party in my mouth

After another walk through the old town, we headed to the station to catch a bus to Hida No Sato, which is an open air museum, displaying Japanese regional architecture. There are about 30 farmhouses ranging from about 100-500 years old and they're all built up the mountain side, among the trees and shrines and rivers. It was like Sovereign Hill, but more authentic and less commercial. We took about an hour to wander through the village, but you could easily spend two hours there. They have various handicraft demonstrations and a silkworm display, and you can walk around these old houses, up to the third level on some of them. You have to take your shoes off and wear the house slippers, and a lot of the time the floor was very creaky and I thought I might fall through, but the beauty and culture of these places was mesmerising. There is a large pond in the main square of the village filled with fish and ducks and swans and there were mills at the river and storehouses for wood and grain. It was like leaping back and forth in time over centuries of a society I had very little knowledge of. I strongly, strongly recommend Hida No Sato to everyone, and it only costs 900yen for entry and a return bus trip from Takayama Station.

Hida No Sato

Peasant-chic

Hida No Sato

Hida No Sato

After we returned to Takayama, we had coffee and bought our train tickets for tomorrow. Then we went back to the temple and I showered and loaded my photos. The shower here is fantastic. Toasty warm, decent pressure, and is in a big shower room that you reserve for yourself in 15 minute blocks. It's intensely relaxing. Then we went out for dinner at Center4 Hamburger, which Keiko recommended to us. It's like a 1950's American burger joint, with an English menu. It is absolutely STUFFED with international paraphernalia and beers, and they have a Hida beef burger on the menu. It's very affordable with massive servings, which we were quite unused to after traditional Japanese cuisine, but it was delicious, and the staff were lovely.

Center4 Hamburger

We bought some things for breakfast and then headed back to the temple for dessert! Another early night, on our heated blankets and tatami mats, and then off to Hiroshima tomorrow!! Phew!

Trains and Takayama

This morning we got up early to make sure we arrived for our train in plenty of time. This involved taking an earlier train to Tokyo station from Ueno station, which we ended up taking during peak hour. Not our smartest decision. Dad was lifted off his feet by the amount of people squashing themselves into the carriage with us. Marnie and I were terribly uncomfortable - in tears of laughter, but trying not to make any noise. The trains in Tokyo are very silent and respectful - no one speaks loudly and everyone keeps to themselves. Marnie and I were trying to adhere to this, but the situation was so ridiculous and we kept glancing at each other and setting each other off. We finally - miraculously - managed to get off at the right station, and bought a quick breakfast before catching our train to Nagoya. After a brief panic because they had changed the departure platform, we were off. I just watched television shows for the next couple of hours, but at our stopover in Nagoya, I bought a chicken bento box for lunch - delicious!

Rice, chicken, vegetables, mushroom. Mmm.

The train journey from Nagoya to Takayama included some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen by rail. I was also extremely tired and slept through a lot of it, but Dad got some great photos. We got to Takayama at 3pm - plenty of time to wander around and sightsee, despite the damn rain.

Our accommodation, Zenkoji Temple, is the most gorgeous place. There are sliding screens to get into our rooms and Buddhist prayers at 9.30 every morning in their beautiful temple, which we are going to try and catch tomorrow. Yukina, our host, took us on a tour of the facilities and she had fantastic English, in the softest, sweetest voice. The temple is quiet, with slippers for guests to wear instead of our shoes, tatami mats instead of beds, and low tables to sit on the floor (a bit hard for some of us with dodgy hips and knees but we get by). It is a truly authentic experience and is the most charming place. If I come back to Takayama, which I plan to, I will stay here again.

Zenkoji Temple

Entrance hall

Heated table to keep us warm

Room decoration

Tatami mats with futons

We set off for a walk around Takayama and found ourselves in the old town, a stunning collection of streets with handicrafts stores and sake breweries. We spent quite a while wandering up and down, taking photos of little canals and shrines and flowers decorating the streets.

Shrine

Miya-gawa

Takayama old town

Takayama old town

Takayama old town

It got quite cold, and once the rain got heavier, we headed to a supermarket and stocked up on breakfast food before finding something for dinner. We ended up at an Italian restaurant - not very Japanese, but the place we were looking for turned out to be shut on Wednesday. In my limited experience, I have found that the Japanese do Italian cuisine quite well, and the porcini risotto was lovely on a cold night.

We have come back to the temple now, and are planning our day for tomorrow. I hope sleeping on the mats is not difficult, but I think it will be easy to get to sleep after such a long day. It really is a beautiful city.

More Tokyo!

Okay! So last night Dad and I headed to Akasaka station to meet Keiko and her sister. Keiko was the tour guide who took Dad's first tour in Japan. When he returned with the Honda Car Club, Keiko took their group around as well. She is incredibly knowledgeable and a passionate traveler, as is her younger sister. On the way, we meet a lovely guy on the train who we managed to communicate with in broken Japanese and English. He asked where we were from and when we told him, he responded that he had been to Australia for his honeymoon. When he got off at his stop, he waited at the window and waved and bowed to us as the train left. Little moments like that are why I love traveling. Even when you can say very little to each other, enthusiasm, interest and a smile go a long way.

Before we met with Keiko, Dad wanted to take me to Shibuya crossing, a very famous and busy intersection in Tokyo (sort of like Times Square, but a bit smaller). We took plenty of photos from the elevated windows of the train station, but then we got down to ground level and walked across it. It was chaotic and noisy, and heaps of fun. Shibuya station is also famous for an akita named Hachiko that used to come their every day to see his owner, a professor, off to work. Then he would come back in the afternoon to meet his owner's train. One day the owner died at work, and obviously never arrived home on the train. Hachiko then came to the station every afternoon for nine years, waiting for his master. Sort of like the Japanese version of Greyfriars Bobby.

Shibuya crossing

Hachiko mural

While we were waiting for Keiko, I found a bookstore with an English-language section, like the homing pigeon I am. They had a group of children's books in English with a word guide at the back to help people learn the language - books like Snow White, Grimm fairy tales, Alice in Wonderland etc. And I found a copy of Peter Pan. Some of you might know I collect editions of Peter Pan, so of course, I had to buy one. Only 800 yen (about $8)!

We met Keiko and her sister and they took us to a restaurant in Akasaka, which is a more business-y district - not so many tourists. We walked for ages past all these restaurants that normal tourists would have gone into, then went up to the sixth floor of this random building and went into a traditional restaurant which I can't tell you the name of because it was written in hiragana. We were, I think, the only Westerners there, and the menu was completely in Japanese. Keiko and her sister ordered for us, asking us what we would and could not eat, but we pretty much said we would try anything. The advantage of these multi-course meals is that usually if there is something you can't stomach, there is so much else to try. However, there was not one dish last night that I didn't enjoy. Highlights included tiny scallops with the skin of tofu (a nutritious delicacy), sea snail (whelk) in some kind of spicy, tomato-y sauce, seaweed broth with eggs, tofu, minced fish, tendons (of what I don't know) and a potato-y vegetable marinating in it, Japanese radish salad with cherry tomatoes, tofu, lettuce, tiny dried fish and plum sauce, fresh grilled bamboo (in perfect season - tasted a bit like roast potatoes), bonito (a type of raw tuna that is seared slightly and dipped in soy sauce) with clams, and beef sushi, which was rice wrapped in beef that was cooked with a blowtorch at our table. Then you add ginger and vegetables (and wasabi and garlic if you like), dip it in soy sauce, eat it and cry because there isn't any more. Abso-friggen-lutely delicious.

Sea snail

(From left) Keiko's sister, Keiko, Dad and I

Grilled bamboo (you peel back the big leaves because they are too tough to eat)

Waitress cooking our beef sushi

Amazing tasting beef sushi!

Talking to Keiko and her sister was wonderful. They both have amazing English and are prolific travellers. They told me some highlights of their favourite holidays, and I have now added salt lakes in Bolivia to my bucket list. We talked a bit too much and lost track of time, so we didn't leave the restaurant until about 11pm, by which time Dad and I were so tired we struggled to stay awake on the train back to Ueno. But we succeeded, and crawled into bed and fell asleep pretty much instantly.

This morning we slept in until about 9am, and then after a quick breakfast in the hotel, we headed back to Ueno station and organised our Japan rail passes, which we are activating tomorrow to get to Takeyama. We then took the train to Tokyo station to suss out where our Takeyama train would leave from and we were going to take a Hato bus (tour bus) around the city but they were sold out. This was mostly because it rained all day! Unusual for this time of year, but it didn't ruin our day. We took Marnie and Margaret back to Shibuya crossing so they could see it, and stopped for lunch. I had heard about this cafe somewhere in Tokyo, where you have your cup of tea or coffee and can play with a bunch of cats that are in the cafe. It sounded completely adorable, but I kept forgetting to google it when we had wifi. Seeing as this is our last afternoon in Tokyo, we thought we'd take a chance and ask someone. We discovered that the cafe was right here in Shibuya, 5 minutes from where we were having lunch!! Extremely pleased by this coincidence, we tracked down a tourist info office to get exact directions, and Marnie and I went to Happy Nekko (hapineko?). For about 10AUD you get 30 minutes in the cafe with a complimentary drink. There were probably about eight or nine cats, but half had pink and white collars on which meant we couldn't touch them. I think they do this to give the cats a few rests from being picked up and cuddled. They were all very sweet-tempered and pampered cats, and it was really hard to refrain patting the pink and white collared ones when they rubbed up against you. But we made friends with one particular tabby who was snoozing near the door, and had delicious chai lattes.

Afterwards we met Margaret and Dad who'd been for a shop, and took the train back to Ueno. The others are going for a walk in Ueno Park, but I came back early to Skype with Sean and update my blog. Tonight I think the dinner plans involve ramen, which makes me happy beyond belief. I'll update soon!

Cherry blossoms

After a lovely sleep (which was broken off too early because Dad forgot to change his alarm from Cairns time), we headed out for a quick walk to orient ourselves. We found some beautiful little houses and businesses close by with the prettiest miniature gardens out the front - usually just a few pot plants, but incredibly colourful. We then had a very Western breakfast at the cafe attached to the hotel - toast with eggs and bacon, slathered in too much kewpie mayonnaise. It was quite delicious!

Mmm.

Then we met Kinjiro, who had come all the way back into the city to spend the day with us. He was a superb guide. Japan has had unseasonably warm weather which meant the cherry blossom bloomed about two weeks earlier than usual. We were panicking back in Melbourne because we thought we would miss it, but our fears were instantly allayed at Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. This is a massive and beautiful park, right in the middle of one of the biggest and busiest cities in the world. It is an oasis of beauty and calm.

There were many families out today - it was beautifully sunny and is also school holidays. We took our time wandering up and down the park (it's enormous and we didn't see the whole lot), particularly through the Japanese traditional garden. We bought bento boxes for lunch, and Margaret bought some sweets that were scented like cherry blossom. We stopped to eat out lunch in the pergola overlooking the pond, filled with ducks and turtles and colourful carp.

This blog is fast becoming food porn.

It was a truly surreal experience. Because the cherry blossom has been in bloom for a while, the petals were falling constantly. It was like walking through a fine, pink snow. There wasn't even a proper breeze - the petals are lighter than air and just float to the ground very peacefully. We saw these amazing bald cypress trees that are jutting out of the ground and look like twisted hands. Or fairy castles. Or something out of Lord of the Rings.

Afterwards, we headed to a traditional Japanese handicrafts centre. The things in here were so delicate and finely crafted, with such painstaking care. They were quite expensive, but I still bought up big. It would be easy to find cheaper knock-offs at the markets, which look just as good, but buying from the handicrafts centre means I know they are genuine, and you get a little information slip with the items that tells you a bit about them. Meanwhile, Dad ran off to the Honda factory and had a lovely time. After a quick rest and a drink, we then headed off on the train again to the Tayasu Gate, one of the gates to Edo Castle. This is another beautiful place, filled with cherry blossom, and we went a bit snap-happy, as you can see on my Facebook album.

People had rented boats and were going up and down the river, surrounded by the petals on the water. By this time we were pretty tired, so we headed back to the hotel for a coffee and bid goodbye to Kinjiro, without whom this day wouldn't have been nearly as wonderful. I am truly touched by his generosity.

Now I'm sitting here resting and updating my pictures, but Dad and I are going to head off soon for dinner with Dad's friend, Keiko, and her sister. I'll write again soon!