福山: Fukuyama Castle & Hiroshima Prefectural Museum of History

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Wednesday, 22nd May 2013

After saying goodbye to Kure city, I rode the train back to Hiroshima where I continued my journey on the Shinkansen. Barely 23 minutes and some 103km later, I had arrived at the city of Fukuyama (福山). Fukuyama was never part of my itinerary as far as my travel plans were concerned. But as my train pulled into the city centre, I was attracted by the sight of the castle sitting next to the station. Naturally, I got down from my train with no plans, just plain curiosity.

I helped myself with a bowl of delicious ramen over lunch within the train station. As usual, the Japanese wait-staffs never failed to impress me with their eagerness to serve coupled with their infectious smiles. After my meals, I wandered around the Fukuyama Castle grounds for a quick work out. This was a typical hot day in Japan and the best remedy was to seek refuge indoors rather than hanging around under the sun.

My visit to the Hiroshima Prefectural Museum of History was also kind of unexpected but given its close proximity from the train station, I decided to pay her a visit. I was lucky in that there were some sort of streetcars' exhibition going on at one of the galleries. Being a fan of all things trains, I enjoyed my brief tour of the place while learning more about the history of the efficient streetcars that I rode in the city.

Level two of the museum housed the usual permanent exhibits - not very engaging but still worth a browse as it touched on the history of the prefecture. There was even a section devoted to the replication of old Japanese houses which I found that interesting. I was expecting traditional Japanese houses to be made of light-weight materials. On the contrary, the models of those houses that I seen in the museum suggested otherwise.

All in all, this was a nice surprise trip to Fukuyama as I made my way towards the direction of Kurashiki and Okayama - my last calling points for the day.

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