Hiroshima, the second to last stop on our trip. We went to the Shukkeien landscape garden and Hiroshima Castle. The original castle was destroyed in the atomic bombing of the city in 1945, the reconstruction is made of reinforced concrete. It’s not unusual in Japan to reconstruct historical buildings like this, including the wooden parts.
Tomorrow we’ll treat ourselves to a quiet day and just wander aimlessly around the city.
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.
After an early breakfast, we used the time to check out Hiroshima Castle. Unfortunately, we only had time for a quick visit before meeting up with the group and taking the tram to Miyajima.
On the island of Miyajima is the Itsukushima-Shrine with its torii gate standing in the water - a world-famous postcard motif. The shrine complex stands on stilts and is also in the water at high tide. The building is a wonderful backdrop for traditional weddings.
Finally, we headed back to Hiroshima by tram, where we had a look at the Peace Park. It’s located right beneath the spot where the atomic bomb exploded in 1945. It’s an interesting, but also a depressing place.
Late in the afternoon, we tried to reach the Shukkeien-Garden on our own, but we had double bad luck: it was already closed, and on top of that, it started to rain.
After breakfast, we hopped straight back on the bus to the train station. But we took a quick break to check out Fuji-san (that’s the proper name for “Fujiyama”), which shed its cloak of clouds for us for a few minutes.
We took the Shinkansen bullet train down to Hiroshima. The journey was amazing. The trains are super spacious inside and absolutely tear through the countryside at 300 km/h. They’re also famous for their Bentō, a lunchbox that we obviously had to try while we were at it.
We stopped off in Okayama to check out the Kōrakuen landscape garden. It’s one of the three most beautiful in Japan. We wanted to chuck our luggage in a locker at the station, but they were all full. We’d pretty much resigned ourselves to lugging our bags around, but a young bloke offered to help and showed us some more lockers in a hidden-away part of the station. It’s unbelievable how helpful the people are here.
For dinner, we had Okonomiyaki. It’s real home-style comfort food made of cabbage, noodles, egg, and bonito flakes. In Okonomimura there are dozens of these little places where Japanese pizza is whipped up just like your mum makes it.
