Hiroshima - Kobe - Our last journey in Japan. It was a busy trip - editing pictures during 4 hours... Once in Kobe, we went to a 100 Yen sushi. We thought it would have been 2 or 3 km walk but nooooo 5 km!!! We arrived so hungry that we had 32 sushi for lunch/dinner :))) Our record! HOW TO CONCLUDE 2,5 MONTHS IN JAPAN? 80 days in Japan, what an amazing journey in the country where order, (often forced) harmony and uniformity coexist. Nothing is left to chance. Punctuality is a key word, i.e. transportation means are hardly ever delayed!
The Japanese society is structured and strict organised and merges past and modernity too. This is well known that studies and work rules Japanese life until exhaustion. Anyone (students, seniors, kids or salary men) in the tube is busy mostly with her/his mobile reading mangas, gaming, writing Line messages, surfing, for girls getting their hair and fringe perfectly. After 10 minutes people, one after another, will fall asleep like dominos. A hospitality far beyond any expectation! It turned out that hitch hiking is not usual but people were open to it especially in Okinawa and from Kagoshima to Kyoto. Japanese are reserved, kind, helpful, very formal and quiet! We met very nice people everywhere we went! Food play a huge role in Japanese life, “No ramen, no life”. It was a discovery and a food festival! Before eating now, people will take pictures and post it later on Facebook, then lunch or dinner can start with “Ikadakimas” – Enjoy your meal. Food is fresh, cooked in front of you but what is surprising are the portions: very small even tiny! Experiencing subcultures like mangas, animes, toy lovers such as collectors of capsules are unique. It made Japan often the first to market funny products or ideas such as animal cafés (cat, owls or even reptiles) and vending machines. Drinks, umbrellas, flowers or even food cans can be bought from one of the 6 million vending machine! A journey in the country of the rising sun is where normal is unimaginable! Temples and Nature! This is Miyajima!
As Önder was not feeling well, I went to the Mt Misen! The summit is 535m high. Three routes go up the hill through the forest, caves and temples. Up the hill, I went the Daishoin route and down the hill Omoto route. Very nice scenery! 8:15 am - 6th August 1945 - HIROSHIMA - the little boy 3 days later 10:13 am - 9th August 1945 - NAGASAKI - The fat boy what is it necessary? HIROSHIMA Unfortunately is not famous for its food (okonomiyaki) but the nuclear bomb and the forgotten genocide! At school, no one ever spoke about the aftereffects of a nuclear bomb and no one mentioned it as a genocide. Once in Hiroshima, we watched documentaries about people stories and the day the bomb was dropped. 6th August 1945, Hiroshima, 8:15 am, it started with an explosion 600 m above the city, then a blast and Xray. The nuclear bomb burned, melted everything - Iron melt when temperatures reach 1000 degrees, they reached 3000 to 4000 degrees. Kimono burned on the skin of women, people were covered with soot, bodies were burned, people died in pain. Most of the survivors died suffering from leukemia, cancers. Even today people still recover from the aftereffects. It killed officially 140 000 people although 350 000 people lived in Hiroshima at that time. Apparently, Americans dropped leaflets in Japanese to let the people know about the bombing but the organisators of a contest of famous Japanese game took it seriously, relocated and remainded safe. The target was primarily Kyoto but one of a general convinced the army not to bomb Kyoto but Hiroshima instead. The city of 10000 temples and shrines was spared. In the 50´s and 60´s American president (Eisenhower), Admiral (Leahy) and generals (Macarthur, Clarke etc) admitted that it was not necessary to drop the bombs as Japan was already defeated! It was an experiment ! In 1950, Hiroshima was re-built exactly where the tragedy occured. 71 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki - The first American president will go officially there end of May 2016. Will he apologise ? After visiting Kurashiki, we headed off to Miajima island with Shizuka and Ideki ! We had a delicious meal (Udon) and then we walked to the Torrii. The Torii at the Itsukushima shrine - a Shinto shrine One of the most popular attraction in Japan. We had the chance to stay 4 days and to take pictures at different times of the day! The island is also known for the maple leaves, the emblem of the island On the island, there are lots of temples and shrines to visit!
The Daisho-in temple is one of them: A singon temple - Singon is a sect - it is known as esoteric Buddhism. It teaches that humans can attain enlightenment through rituals. KOBE KURASHIKI - well this time again hitch hiking was not successfull! It was on a golden week day and the streets were empty! So unusual for Japan! The local train saved us once again. Why going to Kurashiki? We met few weeks ago Shizuka and Ideki who gave us a lift from Kochi to Naruto (160 km). http://carpediem2x2.weebly.com/home/japan-kagoshima-kyoto-19th-22nd-march Shizuka invited us in Kurashiki! We could not say no. The trip was ok until we reached Okayama where the trains stopped about 2 hours because of strong wind! The first delay in 2 months! It was a pleasure to meet them again, to stay at Shizuka´s place and to go to Kochi too! Hideki even drove us to Miyajima (160 km)! Crazy !!!!
NIINO - Kamino koinobori festival - Let it fly! From Kurashiki to Kochi, we made a stop at Nino where there was the "fish festival" made of washi - a special paper made using fibers from a gampi tree. The paper is very strong and can float in the water without being destroyed! KOCHI We went from Kurashiki to Kochi, where Hideki lives and works. We spent two days in his town.
We crossed the famous Seto Bridge, 13, 1 km, two decks: on for the trains and for 4 lanes for the car! After one week in Tokyo, Kobe seemed to be a village! From Fuji to Kobe: by local and express trains! We were for the 3rd time in Kobe and we had not taken the time to check the town! a harbour town and international where Korean, Chinese, Europeans mix. It is a bit alternative, we like the old shopping street. We had one full day to visit! We went to a Japanese temple, a mosque, a Chinese temple but no church, they were closed! We end up having dinner in a restaurant at Chinatown (Nankin Machi). Never go and eat there! It was the first time where we had dinner in a touristic place. Never again! It was so disgusting that right after we had burgers at Mos Burger :) Japanese temple, a mosque and a Chinese temple Food in Kobe : bakery stuff and Mos burgers!
ONSEN - UENO - ASAKUSA - SUMIDA On Thursday, we spent two hours in Jacuzzi, sauna and hot baths. It was our first public bath. It was perfect on a rainy day to spend the afternoon. After the onsen/sento, Önder got sick! On Friday, as Önder did not feel well, we just walked around few neighbourhoods and enjoyed a crowdie day during the golden week. The golden week is when (almost) all Japan is on holiday! Ueno: the museum paradise Asakusa: shopping street and the oldest temple Tokyo. We met Ryota, who just with his hand can cure for the moment some pain in your shoulder! We tried it and it worked! Sumida: Tokyo Tower – it was closed because of strong wind. Imperial garden On Saturday, we took it easy too, there was no sign of complete recovery. The imperial garden as one day out was just fine. Easy and quiet! We thought of going to the fish market but we did not make it! Good for us, if not we would have had so many sushi that evening. It would have ruined our appetite for fish! BYE BYE TOKYO Sunday it was the day to say goodbye to Tokyo! Thanks Aruna ! We enjoyed eating some chinese food, matcha and pain perdu, tayiaki, bakery stuff including a pain au chocolat and totoro, ramen and some chicken bowl! What we won´t miss is the Tokyo the transport system! Too complicated even for the Japanese staff who were lost in translation when we asked questions!!! Metro, subway, private railways, Japanese railways all in one! but every single line has a different ticket system and ticket machine :)))) We never had the right ticket... You don´t understand ... no problem! Go to Tokyo and experience it ! What is surprising, the transportation never had one minute delay :))) Welcome to Japan!
HARAJUKU AND SHIBUYA Starting our day with a walk in a park is always good! (Meiji Shrine) A bit of green before hitting the streets of Tokyo! 120 000 trees and 365 sorts of trees are in the park! A good preparation before discovering Tokyo and its madness. That day we spent the whole day in Shibuya. We met Yukako (Pikatchu´s daughter, we met in Okinawa) who works in a German restaurant and Önder´s friend Ryon, who is modelling. We began with Shibuya and the famous crossing! It was a bit deceiving! We saw better ones in Miyasaki and Kyoto!!! For fun we took pictures and made videos! Ghibli and AKIHABARA We were ready and Totoro too! Here we are at the Ghibli Museum.
Our first impression: great, we were like kiddies! We watched a short movie and we were fascinated by the entrance and the two exhibition halls. Our second impression: it looked like more a British decoration inspired from Harry Potter and not the Ghibli´s magic! We were done … in 40 minutes! We spent maybe more time in the shop than in the entire museum. The shop neither did not offer lots of merchandising... better for us we were not tempted to buy anything. Maybe we expected too much but the Ghibli´s spirit was not well represented. Since Mai 2016 the museum is undergoing renovations until August 2016! It was 11am… We did not have a clue what to do, still recovering from our disappointment. We made up our mind: to go to Akihabara was the option. Exploring the manga world! Mangas in books, series, merchandising, anything you want, you can find it there! We loved it! Kyoto to Fuji - what a journey! Hitch hiking did not work at all, one ride for 5 km. We stood three hours under a pouring rain! The rides we could have had, were going the north, this time we were heading south. One guy offered two hot coffees! It was more than welcome to warm us up! We gave up and took the local train, it was 1pm. We first planned to make a stop in Nagoya, sponstanously we decided to get off the train at the the last stop, Toyohashi. It was still raining. Once in Toyohashi, after 3 hours journey, we went to our favourite internet place: "Lawson", a convenience store, (combini) in order to book a room for the night. One of the Lawson employee after one hour wanted us to leave and even shouted at us!!! We were outside all the time!!! There was no way to discuss! Camping was out of question, by the time it was raining cats and dogs. To book a room was so complicated, only expensive ones (+100€) were available. We made up our mind: continue our journey to Tokyo or Fuji. It was about 6pm. Fuji was the best option in terms of time! We managed to book two beds at the last minutes. We reached the town by 10pm and the guy of the hostel picked us up. The rain did not stop at all that day! To Fuji to Tanuki ko To take pictures of Fujisan, Tanuki lake is the best place! Let´s go! Iko! The lake is about 20km from Fuji. We had our board ready to hitch hike. We had a ride after 20 minutes!The lady who took us even gave us some postcards of Fuji! We decided to camp in the forest, 2 km away from the lake. It was a nice and quiet place! The weather was crap except for few hours, we enjoyed more hiking and discovering the forest than the Fujisan! About Fuji: 3776m it is possible to climb Fuji from 10th July to 10th September In 1707, it was the last eruption Fuji-san - san in this case means mountain and not sir! Praying and chanting with a bell! Unique! 2nd attempts to see FUJISAN!!! Our breakfast: smiley eggs!
Kyoto, 2nd day! Wednesday 20th April. We decided not to visit temples but the International Manga museum. It was a sunny day, we started with a walk in the imperial palace. We thought that nothing could happen...but this !The International Manga museum is closed on Wednesdays!!! What a bad joke! We decided instead to walk around in Gion (one of a touristic place) and ... visit some temples! The most impressive one was Fushimi Inari Taisha, at Inari (Kyoto); the god for rice. We spent 3 hours walking up and down the hill, 230 m above see level, the trail has so many small shrines which span 4 km! We fisnished the day eating a bowl of Ramen with Phyllis! INGRID ´S PICTURES OF THE DAY ÖNDER ´S PICTURES OF THE DAY NO RAMEN NO LIFE!
We had two full day in Kyoto. First we decided to visit Uji, a village located 20 minutes away from Kyoto. What makes Uji so special ? Green tea! It was introduced at the end of 12th century. Uji green tea represents both Uji´s culture and industry. In Uji everything you can eat is made with matcha: tiramisu, soba, rice dumpling, carbonara etc. We enjoyed green tea or matcha for breakfast, lunch and sweets! At the end of the day we turned green! Of course, we bought some matcha powder to make tea! Eating was one thing, the weather was so nice that we walked around the village. We discovered great temples, away from the crowd. On our way back to Kyoto, we made a stop at Nishi Hongwanji, a temple near the main station. It means "Western Temple of the Original Vow", the other being Higashi Honganji, or "Eastern Temple of the Original Vow". As headquarters of the two factions of the Jodo-Shin Sect (True Pure Land Sect), one of Japan's largest Buddhist sects. It was established in 1602, the shogun at that time separated them to lower the power of the sect. The last but not the least : our dinner! delicious!!!!
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