A bit more of Japan.....

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Hi all, well it's been awhile since our last blog due to the site being down and us being a bit slack so we've got a heap to tell! We left off having just arrived in Kyoto, Japan......

We had three days in Kyoto and tried to see as much as possible without totally exhausting ourselves. Kyoto is absolutely jammed packed with temples and shrines as well as having a number of things to do close by so you could easily spend a week or two there. During our time we visited the Nishi Honganji Temple, which was built in 1591and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site but it was a bit of a disappointment as most of the buildings in the complex were closed for renovation. We also spent a day in the near by city of Nara, another ancient capital of Japan. Nara has a number of temples including Todaiji which is the largest wooden building in the world (though used to be even bigger!) and which holds a huge bronze Buddha which was originally completed in 751 and consumed most of Japan's bronze production whilst being built and left the country nearly bankrupt! The head has fallen off a couple of times due to earthquakes and has had to be recast - you can see a slight difference in colour between the head and body. Behind the Buddha in one of the columns supporting the roof of the temple is a hole the same size as the Buddha’s nostril. Apparently by if you squeeze through the hole you are ensured enlightenment - we stood and watched some kids squeeze through with lots of laughter and encouragement from others. All around Nara Park (where most of the temples/shrines are located) are heaps of deer, waiting to be fed with food purchased from venders or anything else you may have in your hands! We also spent a nice day in Arashiyama, a western district of Kyoto where we caught a small train along the river (called the Romantic Railway), which was nice but not overly exciting. Apparently it's lovely during both the cherry blossom season and autumn. We then went on a 2 hour boat ride down the Hozu River (with a few rapids for a bit of fun). It was good but would have been even better if we could speak Japanese as the guides spoke for the entire journey telling stories of the river. We got snippets from one of the guides who could speak a bit of English as well as an American man who was fluent in Japanese translating for his children. We felt a bit sorry for the guides really as they rowed and poled us down the river - it looked like hard going, especially in the heat. Made for a different experience though! After the boat we walked to a bamboo grove which was absolutely stunning - a definite highlight of our trip to Japan, so serene with massive bamboo for as far as you could see. On the Friday night we went on a walking tour around the Gion district, filled with traditional houses, including some still used by Geisha to entertain in, some used as their boarding houses and others where they get their hair etc done. We saw one Geisha all made up for the night, though she rushed passed pretty quickly so we didn't have time to take a photo! All in all it was a great way to see an interesting part of Kyoto and to transplant yourself somewhat into Kyoto of times gone by. Afterwards we wandered down Pontocho lane which runs besides the river, and which was traditionally the domain of merchants. Their houses have now mostly been converted into restaurants, some which have big balconies overlooking the river. We spent some more time at night wandering around the city - for a population of 1 1/2 million it's very active in the main part of the city, no matter what night of the week. The Palace Side Hotel where we stayed was great in regards to the facilities - laundry, free high speed internet in the lobby, vending machines, nice neighborhood - the Kyoto Imperial Palace park opposite was lovely for a stroll but it didn't really have any restaurants around it other than McDonalds, one Japanese restaurant and the pretty expensive hotel restaurant. So we spent quite a bit of time missioning around for dinner (one of the reasons why we saw so much of the City at night!) On our last morning in Kyoto we decided to go and see the Ginkakuji Temple before jumping on the train to our next destination Himeji. Great idea though we really didn't time it overly well so only had about 15 mins at the Temple. Ginkakuji was built in 1474 by the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa and has fantastic gardens with water, hills and sand sculptures, one supposedly meant to represent Mount Fuji. We would have liked to spend a bit longer wandering around but had to rush back to the hotel, shove everything into our packs, and rush back to the subway station to get to the main train station. We made our train with 2 mins to spare! Oh well, we'll learn as we go along to allocate more time! We enjoyed Kyoto and could have visited so many more wonderful sounding temples and spent longer wandering around the lanes in the old part of the city, oh well maybe one day we’ll return!

After a 45 min train ride we arrived in Himeji, which has a fantastic castle only about 15 mins walk from the train station so it made for a perfect stop over on our way to Hiroshima where we were spending the night. We left our packs in lockers at the train station (could fit both our packs and the day pack into a large locker for about $6 which wasn't too bad except after walking up the road for 5 mins realised that we had forgot the camera and had to go back, open the locker and pay the $6 again to close it!) What we didn't know was that there was some kind of festival happening in the castle grounds, with men dressed up in traditional armor, dome-like tents going up and children performing - we would have stayed the night if we had known earlier! Because of the festival we didn't have to pay the entry fee to the castle which was great and we made our way up through the grounds to the castle itself. Up and up we went through winding embattlements until we came to the main keep, high above the city and castle grounds - great views! Then into the actual main tower of the castle, 6 stories with steep staircases leading from one floor to another - bit of a mission to get up really especially as we had to wear slippers and carry our shoes in plastic bags! Was a great experience though and we got to stamp our pamphlets at the top with a picture of the castle. We then moseyed back down to the train station and hopped on the train to Hiroshima.

In Hiroshima we had a little bit of difficulty finding our hotel - it looked further away from the train tracks on the map than in reality! The hotel room itself was fine - quite small, clean, air-con, funny cubicle bathroom, pretty much what we had come to expect in Japan. The hotel itself was decorated in a pretty outrageous theme - lots of green marble and a cross between French and Italian furniture. All in all pretty good though we could hear the trains from our room a bit. We even decided to eat dinner there - from a vending machine! Not the most inspirational meal but an experience! The next day - the 5th, we caught the light rail down to the A-Bomb Dome, which was the Prefectural Industrial Promotional Hall before the bombing and only meters away from ground zero and its skeletal remains were among the very few buildings left standing probably as it was built in a more western style with stone unlike the wooden buildings that surrounded it. The bomb discharged about 600 metres up in the air and 150 metres away from the building as the target was a bridge over the nearby river. It was a very visual representation of the destruction the bomb caused. Though after the bomb it was said that nothing would grow from 75 years, this was not the case and Hiroshima is now a pretty, lively city. The Peace Memorial Park stands in the area that was once a bustling part of the city until it was destroyed and contains a number of museums, monuments to peace etc. We visited the Peace Memorial Museum and spent a couple of hours reading and looking at photos of the impact of the bomb, WWII and nuclear weapons in general. Really interesting but packed as the following day was the anniversary of the bombing so lots of people were in town. On our way to the museum we were interviewed by Canadian TV on our thoughts of Hiroshima and nuclear weapons. As we were put on the spot a bit we both felt that we stumbled on what we had to say a bit - if only we had time to prepare!! Then it was off to experience a local version of the dish "okonomiyaki" for lunch, the Lonely Planet (such a life saver of a book by the way!) led us to this building with three floors of restaurants specializing in the dish - definitely a local hangout and lots of fun! You sit around a massive hotplate and they prepare the pancake, cabbage, egg, pork, sprouts, noodle dish in front of you then top it with anything from green onion to cheese to mayo - washed down with some great Japanese beer made for a very tasty lunch! As usual we were in a rush to fit something else into the day before leaving for Hakata later on the afternoon so we jumped a train then a boat to visit Miyajima Island and the famous torii gate which sits in the water off the island. The island was viewed as sacred and normal people were not allowed on to it so in order to visit the Itsukushima Shrine located on the island, the torii gate was built a few metres off the island enabling people to pass through it in a boat before accessing the shrine built on a pier of sorts. Very picturesque though we didn’t have too long to appreciate it as time was ticking away a lot faster than we anticipated. After jumping back on the ferry then waiting for the train back to Hiroshima we realised that we were probably going to miss our train to Hakata and though Anthony did the sprint in the heat back to our hotel to grab our bags we just missed the train. As our JR Passes had run out the day before we had paid about $90 each for the 70 min train ride to Hakata so were just a tad concerned that we would have to pay the whole amount again!! But luckily they just booked us on the next train, no questions asked and with no further payment required - thank goodness! We had opted to travel on a Nozomi train as it was the fastest type in Japan with a travel speed of about 300 kms per hour and it only cost $2 more each than the other trains (with weren’t quite as fast though still amazing). So we traveled the 290 odd kms to Hakata in just over an hour (having been slowed down by stopping at two stations along the way!) Amazing stuff.

Hakata was our last stop in Japan and from where we boarded the JR Beetle hydrofoil to Pusan, Korea. We didn’t really get up to much other than have a little wander around the city, have dinner and set up a Skype account. The Comfort Hotel Hakata where we stayed had free wireless access, free breakie, free tea, coffee and juice from 3pm till mid-night and was right across from the station so it was a great pick! In the morning Anthony had his first real coffee in awhile at the Starbucks under our hotel before we jumped on the bus to the International Port Terminal to depart Japan for Korea. All in all we really enjoyed Japan though the stay ended up being a bit rushed - another week would have been great! We found it really quite easy to get around, the people in general were really friendly and the sights were great. The food quality was high but the variety of dishes wasn’t huge though we were more than likely not exposed to everything. The convenience stores were great for breakfast and refueling as they had a wonderful array of fresh food and drinks and the vending machines everywhere were fantastic. We both agree that Tokyo was our favourite place - a great mix of the new and the old though we saw some wonderful things everywhere we went. The weather was definitely quite oppressive, very humid and hot most of the places we went and it seems like the beauty of Japan is accentuated during the cherry or plum blossom seasons, autumn and winter. That being said, it was still a gorgeous place to visit in summer but we might just have to return at some stage and experience another season!!

So that was Japan - and we still have Korea to tell you about!! Look out for the next blog which should be coming within the next couple of days. In the meantime, we’ve just arrived in Shanghai, China and are preparing to see the sights! Will keep you posted!

When we can we'll put some pics on as well - hopefully we find somewhere soon with a faster internet connection!

Take care, have fun and keep in touch,
x Vanessa and Anthony

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