4/16 and 4/17 Osaka

I headed from Hiroshima to Osaka on 4/16/08. Checked into my business hotel and walked around. The hotel was perfectly located on the edge of the Minami area (Shinsaibashi and Namba). There are tons of food vendors, restaurants, bars, shopping plazas, stores, video game arcades, pachinko parlors, etc. Its pretty crazy at night. I walked around this area and then went to the Umeda area- another similiar entertainment and business district that is huge and somewhat hard to navigate (the maps kind of suck here because some roads don't have names that can be written in English- or so the women at the info center told me). One of the famous foods here is Takoaki- which I mentioned in my last trip here. God I love these things!!! They are also ridiculously cheap and filling. Basically they are dough with octopus and cabbage and other stuff I think and they are cooked in this special thingy whose name I don't know- look at the picture. They put a sauce on them, mayo, and bonito flakes and you eat them with a toothpick- they are doughy on the inside....mmmmmmmm octopus doughy goodness.




On 4/17/08 I wandered around Osaka some more and got lost but really enjoyed it. I had more takoaki and some fantastic ramen. I was supposed to go to the baseball game but it was rained out which was really a bummer. So I did more walking around the city and ate some more tako-aki

4/15/08 Hiroshima/Miyajima

I woke up early today and headed to Miyajima- basically a 30 minute train ride and then a 20 minute ferry ride. It is home to the famous 'floating' torii (Shinto shrine gate). It is one of the most photographed places in Japan and is classified as one of the 3 best views in Japan.






There also happen to be tons (hundreds?) of deer roaming around. Unlike the deer I have seen before- these ones are not afraid of people and they are very overly friendly in trying to get food from you- they will actually start chewing on your backpack.

There is a gondola ride up the mountain and then a tram that takes you to the top. I was scheduled to go to the Mazda plant so I just took the gondola portion- amazing views.







Then I hopped back on the ferry and train and headed to the Mazda plant to take a tour (in English!!). The first part of the tour begins in a showroom of new cars, then you are put on a bus and driven to the museum and factory which are connected. In the museum they have lots of historical vehicles- first ones they made and such its actually pretty cool There is also lots of information about the rotary engine and its creation and the technology behind it. A Brit I was chatting with brought up something- if this engine is so great- why is it only in one of their cars? They also walk you through the creation of a car from start (concept and clay models) to finish with each step demonstrated with models and videos- it was really cool.




Next they brought us into the factory itself- the line. I have never been in a factory before and it was an amazing thing to see. Pictures were not allowed so I don't have any to post. We were standing above the line so got a good perspective. It is really incredible watching these guys assemble a car on a moving line- they really have to hustle. It looks absolutely mind-numbing and I bet these guys dream about the line. In addition to a bunch of Japanese guys assembling the cars there are also robots that assist in the process. One of the robots would pick up a piece of glass (side rear window) and put glue on it and then move it so it was close to the guy who would then pick it up and stick it on the car. Apparently this plant produces around 3000 cars per day! It is the longest car assembly line in the world- 4.35 miles long.

My friend James has a friend living in Hiroshima and she and a couple of her friends took me to dinner at an Isakaya- sort of a pub/restaurant but it's nothing like a pub in the US. We had our own little private room that had space for your legs to hang down (yes! no numb legs). We ordered the course menu (or I should say they ordered as I don't know what the menu said). We had 8 or 9 courses (and it only cost 40 bucks each with drinks). The sashimi course came out with dry ice so it looked like it was smoking. The food was great.

4/14/08 Hiroshima

I hopped on the train and headed to Hiroshima today. I checked into my hotel. This is my first experience with a Japanese business hotel and it is great. Basically it is a small room with a twin bed and a desk. It is very clean and I get free internet access. It cost about 60 bucks and includes a very large breakfast buffet.

I then headed to the atomic bomb dome and peace memorial park. It was a sunny and beautiful day. Although I very much wanted to go check out both of these places, I had a sense of dread on the way. First I went to the dome- which is a large building and it is directly under where the a-bomb exploded. Amazingly much of it is still intact, however, it was essentially gutted by the blast. There are crumbled bricks around it and you can see melted metal in it. Its really a weird feeling walking around and looking at this building- not sure how exactly to describe it. It is surrounded by modern buildings and the city here is quite nice so it only gives you a small view into the vast destruction that occurred.

I then headed to the Peace park and the Peace museum. It costs less than 50 cents to go into the museum. I opted for the audio tour- there are about 60 audio clips that go with different parts of the museum. I don’t even know where to start. They have lots of before and after things- before and after pictures and models of the city. This really gives you the sense of the amount of destruction that occurred in an instant- essentially it leveled a huge portion of the city. There are videos of bombs going off and accounts of what happened given by survivors. There is only one photograph of victims- a journalist who survived went to take pictures, however, was only able to take a few because he was so overwhelmed with how horrible it was- people with melted skin that was basically falling and off, etc. In addition to showing what happened there is a lot of information about nuclear weapons and the need to abolish them to avoid another similar or worse thing.

At this point I was pretty shocked by the whole thing but I didn’t know what was waiting for me upstairs. I headed to the original part of the museum and there was a recreation- human sized models with destroyed building behind them- the models skin was melting off their hands- it was shocking and hard to look at. Then there were lots of pictures of clothes and other personal items. Each one had a story- a child being burned horribly and their parents finding them still alive, their desperate attempts to save them, and eventually their death. Each story slightly different, but all completely awful. There was even this guy who had his hand out the window and his fingertips were blown off but he had these funky fingernails that grew (kind of round) and they would fall off and bleed a lot- they had the actual nails on display. So you get the idea here. Each story was heart wrenching. I actually got to the point where I just couldn’t listen to each one- I would skip one or two every few minutes cause they were just too awful to hear. There was another room that talked about the bad things that happened to the survivors- cancer, hair falling out, etc. Also very terrible. At the end there are pictures and comments written by all kinds of prominent people who visited it- politicians, etc.

I walked out of the museum pretty much shell-shocked. I felt like I had just been beaten up- emotionally that is. That’s about the best way I can put it. I walked around the park and looked at various memorials as well as the origami paper cranes that are on display for the children’s memorial- not sure how many but tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands.

I headed back to the hotel in a daze and cleaned up and headed for dinner. There is a great Hiroshima website (http://www.gethiroshima.com/) that includes restaurant information and reviews- in English. A Hiroshima specialty is Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki so I found one that sounded cool on the website and headed to it. The dish is a bit hard to describe- its kind of like a savory pancake- it is composed of cabbage, soba noodles, shrimp, pork and egg. It then has a savory/sweet soy based sauce on it. I have had it before and haven't been that excited about it but I figured I would give it another go. I sat on the floor (again!) at a table that has a built in grill where they put the food on after it is cooked- it keeps it hot. It was sort of a fun hole in the wall place so I liked that. Clearly the quality of the food was great but I just can't get into this dish- I don't not like it- I am pretty much neutral on it.

4/13/08 Matsuyama

I headed to the Matsuyama castle this morning. There is a streetcar/trolley that is a very convenient way to get around. I am staying at a youth hostel that is very close to the Dogo onsen but is a ways from the castle and downtown areas. The cherry blossoms are in bloom right now so before going to the castle I went to a park and walked around- the cherry blossoms are really impressive. The castle is up on a hill and there are a few ways to get up and down that hill- walk, chairlift or on a tram. I opted for the little one person chairlift which was quite fun. The views from the hill and the castle are really amazing- the pictures don’t do it justice. There is also a row of cherry trees that were in full bloom and were stunning. Pretty much any place you visit there is an option to get food- I got these little colored balls on a stick that I had seen in a few places- I think they are made with sweet potato but I am not sure- they were tasty and served with umeboshi tea that was very salty.

I then headed up to the castle and went inside it. You have to take your shoes off pretty much everywhere you go here including inside this castle. They have one size (doesn’t fit) all rubber sandals that were about 4 sizes too small for me but I could still use them. The actual architecture and building of the castle is pretty amazing when you think about how long ago it was built. There is armor and weapons displayed throughout the castle. The views out the windows at the top of the castle are stellar.

I found a really cool ramen place after checking out the castle- father and son team running it. not much english spoken so when the young guy pointed to something and said spicy I said yes. I thought it might be a spicy sesame broth- but it wasn't- it was miso soup ramen. My previous experiences with miso ramen (in Hawaii) were not great so I wasn't sure if I liked it- well this time it was amazing.

I headed back to the hostel and started to chat with a guy named Daniel who is from Germany, however, lived in Canada for a year during high school so he barely has any accent. He is traveling for a number of months solo. We headed to the Dogo onsen for a long soak and then grabbed some dinner. I tried to find the Gyoza place the Aussies took me to the night before however couldn’t find it. We ended up eating in a 2 story restaurant that had lots of little private rooms with tatami mats and small table- you sit on the floor which often results in leg numbness for me. The food was justOK but the atmosphere of the restaurant was really fun and we had a good time chatting.

4/12/08 Tokyo to Matsuyama

I woke up and got ready and took the subway to Tokyo station. I got there pretty early to allow myself extra time. Up until yesterday I pretty much relied on Kuniko to get around (and more importantly relied on her to find great restaurants and read the menu for me!). It really hasn’t been that difficult to get around with essentially no Japanese skills- as for finding restaurants and sorting out the menu- that may be another story. I had plenty of time in the station so I grabbed breakfast and a bento box to bring on the train for lunch. Again I will dismiss the “Japan is SO expensive” myth. For about 6 bucks I got rice, miso soup, a small piece of cooked salmon, a soft boiled egg, and a coffee. For about 9 bucks I got a bento box that had rice, shredded beef, and a few other things that I don’t know what they were but they were good. Both the cheap breakfast and bento box were very tasty.

I am typing this on the bullet train. I have a 4 hour ride to Okayama where I change trains and then have about a 2 and a half hour ride to Matsuyama. For the first of the 2 trains they only had a reserved seat in a smoking car, however, I headed to the non-reserved seat and found a seat in a non-smoking car- thank god. I sat down next to this little old Japanese lady who proceeded to have a conversation in Japanese with me despite that fact that I pulled out my lonely planet and found the conversation section and showed her the phrase that said “I don’t speak Japanese”….it was really quite amusing. I then got to Okayama and had a few minutes to grab a coffee and a snack for the next train ride. I knew I wanted a rice ball- which is basically rice with nori (seaweed- used with sushi) with something inside of it. There were probably 20 different kinds and nothing in English- I knew that umeboshi would be a sure bet so I asked a Japanese girl also shopping for a rice ball which one was umeboshi and she pointed them out.

The train ride from Okayama to Matsuyma is visually stunning. Initially you cross a bridge and on both sides of the train you can see lots of small islands. As you get further along the train rides along the coast- to the right of the train you can see the ocean and to the left you can see the mountains- it is really impressive.

Matsuyama is famous for the Dogo onsen- one of Japan's oldest and most famous onsen (hot springs) dating back 1500 years. I headed to it after checking into my hostel. It was super relaxing and I had 2 "conversations" with a couple of Japanese guys- mostly about baseball.

I headed back to the hostel and started chatting with an Aussie and he invited be to dinner with his friend. They had gone to a Gyoza place the previous night and we headed back there- it was really good. We then then headed to an OK sushi place- the tuna and snapper sushi were very good.

4/11 Tokyo

I took the train from Kichijoji to Shinjuku to activate my rail pass and secure seats on the trains I will be taking. From Shinjuku I headed to Shimo-Kitazawa which is a cool little neighborhood with lots of small shops and restaurants- a bit like Kichijoji but not as upscale. I had a little time to wander around until Kuniko met up with me to have lunch. I found a cool small mens boutique clothing store…the tricky thing here is that I pretty much don’t fit in 99% of clothes here. I had a blast attempting to communicate with the 2 guys running the shop who spoke very little English- it’s amazing how creative you can get in attempting to communicate. They had some really cool T-shirts with funky designs- I found one I liked, however, Kuniko vetoed it because she felt it was too Yakuza-ish. We agreed on another one that is really cool. We then headed for lunch at this Indonesian curry place. The restaurant is really trippy- lots of bright colors, Buddhist paintings, hanging beads. The cool thing is you can pick the level of spiciness you want your curry.

We headed back to Kichijoji so Kuniko could finish packing and catch her bus to the airport. She boarded her bus and then I headed back to her parent’s house for dinner. Her mom made Japanese style curry with pork and shrimp- really good. I then had the task of packing for my 2 week backpacking trip. My goal was to only carry by medium sized backpack. It proved to be a challenge but I was able to fit my clothes, one extra pair of shoes, and my laptop into the backpack. I went to bed pretty early as I had to wake up at 6 and head to Tokyo station to take the bullet train to Matsuyama.

Hakone/Tokyo

We had a huge breakfast in the Ryokan- eggs, fish, warm tofu, more fish, some very slimy seaweed miso soup and rice:













We then headed to the Pola art museum:

http://www.polamuseum.or.jp/english/nature/01.html

They currently have a large Chagall exhibit which is quite good. They also have a very good collection of both western and Japanese art. The building itself is quite impressive and it is set in a in a beautiful forest.

We drove back to Tokyo and stopped at a Tonkatsu place we went to the last time I was here. http://www.butagumi.com/nishiazabu/index.html. I simply can't emphasize how great this place is. Tonkatsu is breaded fried pork cutlet. This place gets high end pork from all over Japan and Spain and apparently the owner buys directly from the farms so the price is lower. The atmosphere of the restaurant is really good and each of the different things you get (shredded cabbage, (red) miso soup, white rice, tonkatsu sauce, and the actual tonkatsu), is perfect.

In the afternoon and early evening I spent hours trying to secure places to stay while travelling solo.....with a lot of help from Kuniko. Pretty much all the places lonely planet recomended were full so I had to find other places....it took a while.

For dinner we headed to a small Japanese restaurant that has Japanese and western style food. It was great and very reasonably priced. We had salad with umeboshi, cabbage with bacon with lots of garlic, fried little shrimp (you eat the shell and head- actually really good), and lamb shank in a tomato sauce.