JasonandNicoladoJapan

Okonami Yaki

Hiroshima's signature dish. A layered 'cake' made with cabbage, pork, beansprouts, noodles, omelette and bbq style sauce. It maybe doesn't sound too good but it is delicious. It's made in front of you, teppanyaki style, and served to you on the grill. You hack into it with a kind of blade and scoop it onto your plate in bite size chunks. Very tasty.

Hiroshima - Day Two (early early morning)

So we were both awake at 3.30am. Yeah, jetlag is a funny thing. Jason came up with the idea of getting up for the first train and ferry to Itsukushima Shrine and the Tori Gate at the lovely little town of Miyajima.

It was a great idea. We wandered through Hirsohima city centre just before dawn and took the 5.51 train to the ferry port and got the 6.20 ferry over to the Itsukushima shrine, sometimes called the floating shrine as it sits on top of water. The Tori Gate in the sea is one of the 3 beautiful 'must-see' sites of Japan.

As we were so early in the morning, there was one other tourist there and this wild deer. Just wandering around the streets. So peaceful, so gorgeous. If we had went during the day, we would have been fighting for space with all the other tourists. A good way to deal with jetlag. We went back to the hotel for 10am and had the BEST snooze I think I have ever had. The afternoon was saved for the Peace Park.

Hiroshima - Day Two (Afternoon)

Everyone has heard of Hiroshima. And you can`t visit the city without a trip to the A-bomb dome and the Peace Park.

The A-bomb dome was the only building left standing in the immediate radius of the epicentre of the bomb and has been preserved. It is now an UNESCO world heritage site.

It`s hard to imagine the landscape as it appears in the pictures just after the bomb hit, it is now so different.

The Peace Park is a large grassy area that has, at it`s top, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The museum takes you through the history of the event, some upsetting memorabilia and the consequences of the bomb. It was thoroughly interesting and greatly improved my knowledge of that day. I had heard stories of the watch that stopped at the time (8.15) and the shadows that were burned into the ground and I saw both at the museum.

The museum owes a lot to the people of Hiroshima who donated their memorabilia and stories to it. It is a museum of the people.

One of the highlights for me was that the Mayor of Hiroshima writes a Letter of Protest to whoever is testing a bomb at any given time throughout the world. Sometimes as much as three letters are sent in a month. Mostly to the Soviet Union and USA. Hiroshima sees itself as an ambassador of peace. It calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

It was a sombre but enlightening afternoon.

Hiroshima - Day One

Takes the morning and some of the afternoon to get down to Hiroshima from Tokyo. With the remains of the day, we decide to go to the Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum. It has an adjacent garden that dates back to 1620. A beautiful park; another beautiful park. They know how to grow a good garden in Japan.

The museum has the Dali picture that I forget the name of already but you`ll know what I mean when I tell you it's the melting clocks one. Huge in real life by the way and breathtaking. The museum was gorgeous. A mixture of Japanese and European art. Highlights were the Dali and the garden. I wasn't allowed to take a picture of the Dali but here, have some pics of the garden and a wee video of turtles in the pond.

Awwwwwwww.

SEGA Joypolis and the Decks

Konichiwa!

So after the Shinjuku Gyoen and the spectacular sights there, we headed over to some supremely Japanese fun at the SEGA Joypolis. It`s on the reclaimed island of Odaiba and is an amusement arcade come theme park. It has some rides, some walk throughs and some games to play.

We didn`t realise when we were getting the train that it`s a monorail over to Odaiba which was brilliant fun, especially as you can sit at the very front of the train and see where you`re going. Right over the bridge to the island.

We arrived at dinner time and decided to stop off for something to eat. Jason sums it up well here.

Gorgeous, eh?

Your haiku for the day is

Japan tapas, yum

Monorail to SEGA joy

Snoopy as rabbit

Shibuya Crossing

Here is us at the famous Shibuya crossing, the site that is used in loads of films/programmes about Tokyo. We had a nice walk through neon Shibuya after that. And some nice noodles. As you can see.

Sayonara for now
NandJx