Japan - Day 12

Today Bish and I were to travel to Hiroshima, the famous city that suffered the devastating A-Bomb explosion during the second world war. We were looking forward to seeing something other than Japanese Shrines for once and had heard the peace park and museum there were not to be missed. Before that however, one thing and one thing only was on my mind...PANCAKES!!!! Bish and I had found an amazing coffee place that not only sold delicious macadamia nut coffee, but also sold ridiculously delicious and oversized pancakes topped with all sorts of sweet delights. We got dressed and made our way for a sugar fuelled kick start to the day. I had to make a tough choice between coffee creme pancakes or macadamia nut cream. Bish was ahead of me and already had ordered the coffee creme one, making my decision easier as I knew I'd probably be able to steal a taste of his :). I ordered and eagerly awaited the arrival of my pancakes whilst sipping on a steaming cup of macadamia nut coffee with cream. They didn't take long to arrive and my goodness they were HUGE. 3 massive pancakes caked in macadamia nut cream so much that you couldn't actually see the pancakes beneath it all. On top of this were crunchy sprinkles of macadamia nuts adding a nice textural element to my brekkie. On reflection, the first two thirds of this breakfast was pure heaven. The pancakes were sweet, very creamy and melted in the mouth. The same could not be said for the final third.. pure hell. I was so full but it tasted so good and am not a man to leave a plate uncleaned. I ended up defeating them but then dreading having to get up and move around. I even managed to sneak a bite of Dan's pancakes in...I had to taste them!

We eventually found the courage to move and made our way to the station to catch the Shinkansen to Hiroshima, roughly a two hour trip from Osaka. For the first time we had not booked our train tickets but figured since we were proud owners of green car rail passes this would not be a problem. The train pulled up and we quickly realised only one green carriage was on this train.. and it was full apart from two seats! I politely asked the guard if it would be cool to sit in them.. his response was not what I was expecting. He grumbled something then grunted and shook his head so that his cheeks wobbled from side to side like two balloons clashing against each other. I finally had encountered an angry Japanese man.. something I had not thought possible. He then proceeded to look up his English book to try and explain to me the green carriage was sold out... forcing us into peasant class..rubbish. It turned out that peasant class wasn't so bad. It was still ridiculously comfortable so I wasn't complaining.

We made it to Hiroshima, which struck me as sort of dull on first impressions. There were no bright neon lights like Tokyo or Osaka and little traditional style architecture as we saw in Kyoto. Our hostel was a short walk from the station. We checked in and were greeted by a friendly American Japanese receptionist who kindly brought us maps and explained to us the best ways of getting around, where to go drinking, eating etc. Our first stop would be the Memorial Peace park and museum, followed by a trip to an island off Hiroshima called Miyajima to see the famous shrine that stands in the water when the tide is in. We left the hostel and made our way to the Peace park, which was only a short walk away. The cool thing about Hiroshima though was that it operated a tram system which was very cheap and efficient. We put this to good use later on during the day.
We walked up the peace park and caught our first glimpse of the A-Bomb dome. The Japanese left this as it was when the bomb went off. All that remains are the concrete walls of the building with holes where windows once stood. At the top of this was the dome which was now just the iron poles shaped like a dome. It was a darkening sight. We stayed here a while, took some photos and read the history of that terrible day. We walked through the park which had other memorials to that day including a water feature shaped like a clock that read 8:15, the time of detonation. The rest of the park was kept pristine clean (like all of Japan!) and plain so as not to distract from the reason it had been built. We decided to visit the museum here. Unfortunately so did the 50 bajillion other school kids who were visiting. It must have been a lets take all the schools in Japan on a field trip to Hiroshima. There were literally waves of white shirts and black trousers queuing to enter the museum. Luckily the workers there recognised we were not students and so were fast tracked to the ticket booth to pay for our tickets.. 50 yen to get in (roughly 30p)! The cheapest thing I'd bought all holiday.

The museum itself really hit home how awful the A-Bomb really was. It contained artifacts that belonged real Japanese people, along with stories of who they were and the suffering they went through. I decided not to take any photos out of respect. All I can say was it made me realise that an attack using this kind of weaponry can NEVER happen again. It caused unimaginable suffering that still continues to this day. I felt myself welling up and upon exiting, signed the petition to destroy all nuclear weapons in the world.

Our next stop was Miyajima and we decided to take a high speed boat trip from the peace park all way to the island. This was quite expensive but we thought it would be cool to whizz down Hiroshima's canals and catch a view of the shrine from the top deck. We bought our tickets and boarded the boat bound for the island. The trip was good fun! We zoomed along the canal with the cool wind whipping our faces. The best part was being politely tapped on the shoulder and told to duck by one of the drivers as we approached a low hanging orange bridge. Literally if you didn't duck, this bridge would clothesline you and knock you off the boat. I decided to take his advice. Eventually we exited the canal and were told to go back downstairs so the driver could turn up the knots as we entered the ocean. He really did put his foot to the floor as well. We hit some pretty big waves that rocked the boat, and the pancakes inside me! Islands covered in forests passed us by and eventually we saw the Miyajima shrine in the distance glistening in the sunlight. The boat pulled up to the dock and we exited to get closer to the shrine.

Miyajima reminded me of a tropical island. Beaches lined the shoreline and behind the main strip the stood tall mountains/hills dressed in forests full of trees as far as the eye could see. A small cable car was available for those wishing to see Miyajima from the top. Also several trails were there to hike there for those feeling energetic (not us). Really I'd have loved to do this but we didn't have time. We walked through the small town which was lined with tourist shops and stools. The main things sold here were oysters in all forms, including an oyster curry steamed bun. We didn't try this however. Instead we opted for another steamed bun which contained either eel or beef.. I went for eel having never tried it before.. Dan went for beef and once again beat me at the best choice. The bun was soft, warm and quite salty. Nice though! Also sold here were special sweets that looked like maple leafs and were filled with either chocolate, red bean paste or custard. I went for a chocolate one to compliant my salty bun. I also bought some sake in a cool barrel and an apron for my Dad that read "King of Sake". I thought it looked cool. We knew we were near the shrine as we passed several statues of lions and walked under a typical shrine like gateway (something we'd seen about million of by now). We walked around the corner and saw the Meyijima torii gate in all its glory. In front of this was the shrine itself which also stood in the water, held up by wooden beams. We stayed here a while, took many photos before heading back past an impressive 6 story pagoda and caught the JR ferry home. We also bumped into the German girl we met in Koyasan.. small world eh! I enjoyed the ferry ride as it played relaxing music while we crossed the channel. This seemed to be something the Japanese do alot to help relax passengers, a nice touch! We used the JR trains and trams to head back to our hostel, avoiding being taken out by low hanging bridges or throwing up my pancakes from the boat.

As we exited Hiroshima station, we were caught amidst crowds of people all heading one direction, donning baseball jerseys and cheering as they went. We quickly realised a big game was on in Hiroshima tonight and decided to go and check out the stadium. We followed the crowds, got hailed at by Japanese shop owners with megaphones beckoning us to eat their street food or buy merchandise. Everyone around us also seemed to ignore these and had come well prepared for the match. People were trolleying bags of food and beer for the match. As we approached the stadium (the Mazda zoom zoom stadium) we heard the roaring crowds and decided to see if we could get tickets. I asked at the booth in Japanese how much tickets were (Ikura desu Ka?). The answer was "sold out" in English but I thought I head sen yen (1000 yen) so kept trying to hand her my 1000 yen note and couldn't work out why this failed each time! It later turned out that the game was actually a cup game and so we were gutted! Instead we had to make the walk of shame back to the hostel and decide what to do for dinner.

For dinner this evening we decided to sample the local specialty... this turned out to once again... Okonomiyaki. But! Hiroshima style! The difference is that Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki seemed to have noodles sandwiched between two egg like pancakes. There was actually had a building called Okonomiyaki mura.. about 8 floors all with okonomiyaki restaurants.. needless to say we were spoilt for choice, but how could we get the best one? I asked our hostel receptionist for a recommendation and she gave us one nearby. It took a while for us to find as it was down some hidden backstreet (again this was a common experience for us!) but eventually we found it. As we walked in, the place was perhaps big enough for 10 people max. A small counter stood in the room headed by 3 chefs with bar stools and large grilling plates for cooking on. There were also 3 small tables behind the counter which Bish and I sat at. We were the only foreigners in the place so instantly knew we were in for a winner. Luckily the owner also realised this and brought us two English menus albeit somewhat reluctantly. I tried my best to speak Japanese to try and win him over. I think I failed as he still looked grumpy throughout our dining experience. I ordered an okonomiyaki special with pork, squid, soba noodles and other stuff I can't remember. Bish had a beef one. It was delicious! I actually preferred this style to the other ones I had tried before. I drenched it in the sweet sauce and devoured the whole thing and drank a Sapporo beer to wash it down. A great way to end the day. We rolled back to our hostel and got ourselves an early night for a long day of travelling back to Tokyo the next day.