Travel Journal 2016

Today was long but pretty uneventful. We took the express train and the Shinkansen from Nagasaki to Hiroshima. Once there, we went on the obligatory trip to Miyajima.

We were really looking forward to seeing the Itsukushima Shrine and its famous torii gate again, but our schedule was so jam-packed today that we barely had time to properly enjoy the place and take nice photos.

At least we didn’t miss out on the food front today. In a shopping arcade next to the shrine, we tried skewers of deep-fried fish paste and octopus, matcha ice cream, and steamed buns filled with Hiroshima beef.

And since we were hungry again by the evening, we treated ourselves to a regional speciality: okonomiyaki, also known as Japanese pizza. It’s a comforting home-style dish made mostly of cabbage, noodles, and egg, cooked right in front of you on a teppan hotplate.

We also managed to squeeze in a bit of time for the Peace Park, just to make sure we saw it at least once on this trip. We’re heading off early again tomorrow.

I won something!

We bought something to drink at the supermarket. After I paid, the cashier asked me to reach into a raffle box. I drew a ticket and won a packet of cherry-flavoured sweets.

I don’t know what makes me happier: that I won something, or the fun the cashier had playing tombola with a Gaijin.

After breakfast we left Hiroshima and headed first to Kurashiki. The place is famous for its old merchant houses and the canal that runs through the streets.

After that, we took the Shinkansen, an express train, and finally a bus to our next stop, the Fuji Hakone National Park. Here we’re spending the night in a Japanese hotel, a ryokan.

It’s actually a luxury lodge where guests can relax in hot mineral baths, eat tasty food, and stay in spacious rooms. But since the economic crisis, business has been pretty slow. And lately, Fuji-san has been driving away the rest of the guests. We’re in an active volcanic area here. For a few weeks now, hot fumaroles have been casting a really noticeable smell of sulphur over the hotel grounds. These hot vapours are dangerous. Recently, some tourists had an accident in the area, which is why we were strongly advised against taking night-time walks outside the grounds.

For dinner, we had traditional Kaiseki cuisine: sashimi, a sort of mini shabu-shabu, pickled veg, miso soup, rice, and a matcha pudding for dessert. We liked almost everything, but opinions in the group were pretty divided.

Afterwards, we headed back to our big room. Our bed for the night is already made up on the tatami mat floor.

Sleeping on the tatami floor was surprisingly comfy. We actually slept better than in a lot of hotel beds. Breakfast was Japanese too: fried fish, miso soup, rice, boiled egg in dashi, yoghurt with fruit, silken tofu, green tea. Much to the annoyance of our fellow travellers, there was one thing missing though: coffee.

We took the bus to Lake Ashi. There we visited the Hakone Shrine; we’d seen its red torii on the water back in 2010 during our ride on a pirate ship. Speaking of which: of course we took a boat like that across the lake this time too.

Then it was off to Kamakura, where we visited Hase-dera and the Great Buddha.

And then we headed to the final stop of our group tour: Tōkyō. Our hotel is in the Asakusa district, right by Senso-ji. Back in 2010, this is where our first tour around the country began.

Back then, the Tōkyō Sky Tree was still under construction. Now it’s finished, and we couldn’t resist going up to the upper observation deck of the tallest TV tower in the world. The entrance fee is ridiculously expensive. We paid ¥3,800 per person, which included access to the fast-track queue and the upper observation deck. But the view of the metropolis from up there is unique and makes you quickly forget what you forked out at the till downstairs.