Day 07: From Tatsuno to Hiroshima (Jun 2019)

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Saturday, 29th June 2019

Before heading to Hiroshima in the afternoon, I made a brief stop at the town of Tatsuno. This is home to Japan's only Soy Sauce Museum. Access to Tatsuno is relatively straight forward with frequent trains departing from Himeji throughout the day. Getting to the museum from the train station included a brief 25 minutes walk along the old town thoroughfare complete with a bridge crossing. Housed within an atmospheric brick building dating back from the previous century, the museum charged a symbolic 10 yen entry fee and it was manned by a really friendly elderly lady. I probably spent about 30 minutes in the cosy museum and there were some English translations available for non-Japanese speakers like me.

The weather was unforgiving when my train pulled into JR Hiroshima Station for my final leg of the Japan trip. I arrived at the lobby of APA Hotel sometime after 3pm in the afternoon and was glad that my room was ready. The property is a mere 5 minutes from the Station's South Exit and the main reason for staying here was its in-house onsen facilities.

I wasted no time in enjoying the bath facilities before catching an early dinner at one of the many Okonomiyaki eateries that lined the station building. In the evening, I made a trip to Miyajima Island but since it was raining, I decided to stay onboard the vessel and enjoy the tranquility of the surroundings that she had to offer.

This was a beautiful day.

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