Hiroshima and Himeji-jo

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We took a trip back up to Himeji, this old castle in Japan. It is the most visited Japanese castle and the main tower dates back to 1601. Inside the tower required great concentration and co-ordination in order to climb the steep small staircases between floors without losing your slippers!

We went for a day trip to Miyajima, an island famous for its floating shrine and floating torii (gate) out in the water. Like Nara, there were many deer wandering around the island. There were also apparently monkeys near the top of the cable car ropeway but the ropeway was out of service and after starting to try to walk up Mt Misen, found it was a lot further than expected so gave up. Miyajima was a really nice island with narrow little streets, and, more memorably for me, the specialty of making these maple leaf shaped cakes filled with gooey centres (I rated chocolate as the best).

On our last day we visited the Peace Museum, A-Bomb Dome and the other memorials to the horror of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

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Photos

The famous 'floating torii' from Miyajima Island
And some more deer!

Plum Blossom!
Apparently means spring had arrived. The cherry blossoms bloom a couple of months later.

Himeji castle
The most visited castle in Japan dates back to 1601.

Koko-en Garden
And some poor cold person on a bridge :)

On the ferry out to Miyajima
See the torii behind me on the right.

The 'floating shrine' at Miyajima
When the tide is in it looks like it is floating.

Mum being hunted by some deer
They could smell her delicious maple leaf cakes I bet.

A Japanese Garden
Inside a gift shop at Miyajima that sold delicious maple leaf shaped cakes.

The A-Bomb building at night
The atomic bomb exploded fairly close to this building and its remains have been left as a reminder.

Peace Park Memorial Cenotaph
You can maybe see the Peace Flame behind it - which will be extinguished when all nuclear weapons are destroyed.

The Children's Memorial
With many cases of paper cranes - started by a girl with cancer who believed she would be cured if she made 1000 of them, but did not reach her target. Hundreds of others have made cranes to add to this memorial since then.

A bunch of cranes from Waiuku College
We were surprised to see this at one of the 2 cases we looked at.

Watch that stopped at 8.15am 6 August 1945
(when the bomb hit Hiroshima)

The A-Bomb building
Formerly the Industrial Promotion Hall. It was the closest building to the epicenter that was left at least partially standing.

Eating Okinomiyaki
The specialty dish of Hiroshima is kind of like a cabbage, pork and noodle pancake.

Hi-tech Japanese Toilet
Including buttons to make a water noise, bidet functions, bottom washers and driers (I think?) and I have absolutely no idea what the others were for and was not game enough to test them!