Japan - Hiroshima & Kyoto

Hiroshima

Got the famous shinkansen (bullet train) to Hiroshima. Yeah its fast, and on time, and spacious - could fit my massive backpack in the seat with me! And fell asleep almost immediately...there's something about the transport here in Japan; it just sends me to sleep! You see all the businessmen fast asleep on the Tokyo metro, well I was there with them dribbling on my jumper, and the same for the train to Hiroshima. Managed to wake up in time to change trains and get off in the right place, thankfully.

Arrived late in the afternoon so wandered around and saw the famous landmark of the city, the 'A-bomb dome' which is one of the few structures to have survived the atomic bomb ( dropped at 8.15am, August 6th, 1945 - I learnt it off by heart from the museum the next day). It stands out in particular because its actually a European style building, with a green dome on the top, and the rafters of the dome survived so it really looks like a skeleton of a building. They were actually going to pull it down at one point, but fortunately decided to keep it as a reminder of the bombing. And it would be so easy to forget or not realise that Hiroshima had had an atomic bomb dropped on it a mere 60 years ago, as it is such a lively and upbeat place, with a huge street which is an entirely covered shopping area. There are millions of bars and places to eat there - it's a really pleasant and enjoyable city. That evening I had the nicest Okonomiyaki which is a pancake filled with cabbage, beansprouts, pork, and the hiroshima speciality is to add a huge lump of noodles. I chose prawns as well, and it also has a fried egg on top, with some nice strong-flavoured sticky sauce, and sprinklings of parsley. What made it the best was mostly the place, as the chef cooked it directly in front of me on a giant hotplate, so I saw all the ingredients going in fresh. Had that with some warm sake. Lovely.

Next day went to Mirajima, a small island near Hiroshima with lots of temples to visit. Its famous mostly for some huge red torii (gates) which appear to be floating in the water at high tide, but which are in fact planted in the sand. Very picturesque. Apart from the huge groups of school children swarming around (they're ALWAYS swarming around, wherever you go!), there were also lots of pretty deer hanging around on the island, even sneaking into some of the shops. And right at the top on the highest point of the islands, there are monkeys too.

In afternoon went to the Peace Museum to earn more about the A-bomb dropping and its effects, and also interestingly the planning behind the dropping of the bomb. It seems to me like it was dropped more because millions of $ had been spent making the thing and they wanted to show that it wasn't money for nothing. Pretty sick. Not that I'd think there were any good reasons to drop it anyway. Though to be honest, I found it really difficult to imagine the whole thing happening. There were models of the city razed to literally nothing apart from 5 or 6 buildings still barely standing. But having seen the city as it is now, and with all the schoolkids running around screaming, it was so hard to imagine what it must have been like.

Kyoto

Stayed in a cheap (for Japan = 2000 Yen / 10 pounds / AUD$25) hostel, Japanese stylee, sleeping on the tatami mats on the floor on a futon. Met a German girl shortly after arriving, and we went to see the famous Kinkakuji (Golden Temple), which, believe it or not, is covered in gold. It really is a beautiful sight, with a lake all around it, and the pretty maple leaves hanging off the trees. The trees are so pretty here, it's as though each leaf has been handcrafted to perfection by Gepetto and brought to life by the Blue Fairy....

All the other sites were closed by the time we'd seen that, so we went SHOPPING! Oh how I miss shopping! And how this is the best place to start shopping again!

Today, to balance out the gorgeous sunshine we'd been having all week, it rained. It rained for at least 9 hours non-stop. But it didn't stop us going round 4 temples/shrines/stone gardens. My feet are still wet coz I haven't been back to the hostel yet (eek its nearly midnight!). Anyway, the rain didn't make it look any less beautiful. It seems all these things have been designed to look good in rain, shine or snow. And it didn't stop any of the million of Japanese tourists. Everyone had the same 100 Yen see-through umbrella. All templed out again now though. We got stopped about 6 times today by people wanting their photo with us, or children wanting to ask us where we were from and what our addresses were. My friend said she was from Germany, and a poor sweet child asked for clarification: "In America?" No, the Germany in Africa, actually. No we're not from the States! I can't figure out yet if it's expected as there are lots of Americans here, or if it's hoped for coz they like Americans?? It was quite embarrassing at first, then funny, being celebrities, then a bit annoying so we just kept busy and avoided eye contact.

After Kyoto, I headed up further north in Japan, to Aizu Wakamatsu and Matsushima...

Japan - Tokyo

Finally got to Japan last week and done loads already. Spent first few days in Tokyo with my friends Naomi and her boyfriend Tomo. They helped ease me into the city starting off with a tour of the fish market at Tijuki (I think that's what it was called?!), and a brunch of mmmmm lovely sushi - I tried one which was just a load of tuna - higher and lower/normal grade arranged in a lovely rose shape on top of seaweed and rice. VERRrrrrrry nice. Never taken so many pictures of dead sea creatures in me life! That evening, we had a Korean-style BBQ with a bunch of kids on a school trip, and after that, we did what I've been wanting to do for, like, EVER, and we did the karaoke. Original stylee. We shopped around for the best price, and eventually took one where we got all-you-can-drink too, and were shown up to a tiny booth with a TV screen and touchscreen selector thing to select our songs. We screamed our hearts out and drank sour plum alcohol stuff for 2 hours, then time was up and our voices were gone so we got the last train back along with most of the rest of the city.


On the Sunday, we visited the park where all the funnily dressed yoof hang out, and there was a festival on called the walking of the three shrines (or something - sorry will look up the names of everything later!), so we went along to that, and saw lots of men walking around with no trousers on, letting it almost all hang out...so many people there. And occasionally a load of men with no trousers on came along carrying shrines above their heads and chanting. We also went to a Ramen place as Tomo is crazy about those noodles and likes to try out new places he hears of. There was a queue outside this one when we got there, so that was a good sign. We ordered using a vending machine type thing at the front of the restaurant, and then gave the ticket to the waiter when we got our seats. Mmmm those noodles were lovely - (they beat 9p noodles anyday!) - they gave us a huge plate of thick noodles and I ordered the veggie one, which came with a bowl of meat broth with veggies and spices etc in it, and the idea was to dip the noodles in the mix...mmm don't think I've talked so much about food before on my blog. I really like Japanese food. Spoke to a guy whose been living here for a couple of months and lost 10kg on it even though he's been eating lots, so that makes it good too!


On Monday I tackled the metro/rail system by myself and found it not so difficult after all, and found my way to the Kabouki theatre, where there is a special set of 'plays' on this month, being the anniversary of when an emperor first deigned to watch a kabuki performance. Only males are allowed to act in these plays, and there are around f acts to each play, with each one lasting half a day. I managed one act of about 1.25 hours and kept nodding off the whole way through. It was very dark in there tho....and to be honest it was pretty damn boring, even with the English commentary. It was just 2 men acting all domesticated and inactive most of the time. The Japanese lady sitting next to me was really enthusiastic though and asked me if I was staying for the 2nd act at the end of the first...."Errr, I think I'll come back for the 3rd act, just need to get some fresh air first..."


But I had more important and exciting things to do. I've chosen the right time to come to Japan, as there is also a sumo tournament on this month (think there are actually only 3 big ones a year), so I went to see the big guys stomping around on the stage, throwing salt in the air, and wobbling and squating in preparation to heave, slap and push their opponents off of a tiny platform. There was a good crowd there. I had had the opportunity to have my own sumo wrestle with an old lady in the museum before hand with the aid of some origami wrestlers which we hand crafted then pitted against each other on a shoebox lid. I won hands down, beat her to a pulp. The real matches were suprisingly good fun to watch. So much preparation would go into each match, so much salt thrown into the ring, so much stomping, the odd slapping of fat bellies and the less frequent crow of impending victory from a cocky wrestler, then the fight would start and sometimes be over in a matter of 10 seconds. Other fights would last only a couple of mins or so but the crowd would go crazy.

So that was my first few days....next are Hiroshima and Kyoto! Haven't got my USB thingy with me here to put the photos on, so soz about that for those of you who need the visual stimulation. Probably will have to wait til I get back to the UK.