Goodbye Tokyo and Hello Hiroshima

Day 11: We managed to miss the morning rush today when we went out at 8am. On the way to Shibuya, I gave a seat to a grandma as everybody else seemed asleep on the train. She was gave chocolate as a thank you. Before heading to Hiroshima, we went to Tokyo Imperial Palace; the palace that was used after the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. The palace was big and it was in the middle of the city. We took pictures at Nijubashi Bridge and Sukaradamon gate at the palace.

New Imperial Palace

Nijubashi Bridge

We also went to see Hachiko statue at one of Shibuya’s JR station gate. Hachiko was a loyal dog that waited for its owner even after the death of its owner and his story was even made into a movie.

Statue of Hachiko

Hachiko wall of remembrance

Hachiko entrance at Shibuya JR Station

Rest of the day was reserved for travelling. We took 3 hour shinkansen ride to Shin-Osaka before changing to another shinkansen to Hiroshima which took another 2 hours. By the time we reached Hisroshima it was already sunset.

How we kill time during shinkansen ride

 That night, we went to Hatchidori as there’s an ongoing ebisukou festival and today was the last day of the festival. There were many stalls opened due to the festival which looked a bit and smelt like the night market (pasar malam) in Malaysia. I guess the festival is a Buddha festival as there is an inverted rake decorated with various colours and ornaments called kumade. Kumade is like a good luck charm that they buy during the festival. We also saw people queuing up to go to inside a temple to say their prayers. 

At Hondori St where the Ebisukou was held

Colourful kumade for sale

People lining up to pray

We tried various local foods at the festival such as mochi (tasted liked kuih kochi with red bean paste filings), kaya ball like snack (without the kaya fillings and we got this for free) and lastly we bought takoyaki (octopus ball) which was very delicious. It tasted so different to all the takoyaki that I’ve ever tasted elsewhere.

Live Mochi making. Mochi tasted like kuih kochi with red bean inside it.

Mochi up close

With the so called "kaya" ball without the kaya filing

Takoyaki

Then we head to Heiwa Odori where Hiroshima Dreamation was showcased for winter. The whole street was lit with so many beautiful designs. It was very beautiful. After that we went back to our accommodation, did laundry and went to bed.

Heiwa Odori Christmas Dreamination

 

Day 12: Today we took the 7.51am train from Hiroshima JR Station to Miyajimaguchi; the journey took around 25 minutes. Then we took ferry from Miyajimaguchi to Miyajima Port. Today’s destination was Miyajima Island, one of the three scenic spots  in Japan. On the way to the island, we saw the red otori gate. 

Heading towards Miyajima

 Once we’re on the island, we went to Itsukushima shrine which looked like floating shrine during high tide. We tried manju, a bahulu-like snack with red bean filling. It’s nice to have it while it’s still hot especially on a cold morning like today. Then we took the ropeway from Momijidani station till Shishiiwa station. The scenery was breathtaking but the hazy sky made it a bit hard to see far. Then we hike 1km uphill to Mt Misen observatory area. Mind you, it was tiring but satisfying and the scenery was beautiful. 

Map of Miyajima Island

Wild deer on the island

EnteringItsukushima shrine

Itsukushima shrine, also known as floating shrine as when the tise is high it looked like it's floating on the water

Red otori gate from the shrine

Prayers? I don;t know what it is actually

Manju in the making. Manju is like bahulu in the shape of a maple leaf with red bean in the centre.

Hot manju on a cold morning. Heaven~

Copourful maple leaves at Momojidani Park

Momijidani Ropeway Station

The number of people waiting to get on the ropeway

The beautiful scenery

The view from second ropeway

Shishiiwa Station

Mt Misen summit from Shishiiwa Observatory. It's 1km from observatory to the summit.

The view from Shishiiwa observatory

Reikado Hall, half way up to Mt Misen summit

Heading towards Mt Misen summit

We noticed many old people during the hike and even though we’re tired, we told ourselves that we can’t lose to the old people. Now we know why the Japanese live longer as they were very healthy and even at an old age they can hike this high. On the way down hill, we took the Misen climbing path route the Momijidani course which is about 2.5km downhill. My feet were jelly when we reached the bottom of the hill. I totally respect the people that went uphill via this route. 

The people at the top of Mt Misen and most of them are haramoni and harabuji

The view from Mt Misen observatory

A picture before heading down

Haramoni and Harabuji walking down Mt Misen

We were lucky we went down that steep fleet of stairs and not up

1km to go

At the bottom of the hill, we had macha (green tea) ice cream as it was around lunch time, the weather started to get warmer and we want something to cool ourselves down.  At this time, there were so many people on the island and we decided to get off the island. We head back to our accommodation for prayers and then head out again to A-dome and Palace Memorial Park.

Macha Ice cream on a hot sunny day

Itsukushima shrine during low tide

The A-dome used to be Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall. They preserve the remains to remind people of the bombing incident in 1945. The dome was very close to the original target, which was the Aioi T-bridge. We met a Malaysian working in Japan here and he really looked like Japanese. I can’t really remember his name. We took photo together but it was using his phone. 

A-dome, this building used to be called Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall before the bombing where it was used for various occasions.

Bell of Peace

Children Peace Monument, a monument in memory to the children who died in the bombing

Memorial cenotaph and peace memorial museum. It looked like the museum is floating

We also went inside the Peace Memorial Museum (entrance fee of ¥50) which displayed Hiroshima before war, and the incidents that took place until the bombing incident. They also displayed some remains and evidence that was left behind after the bombing incident such as school uniforms, body parts, tiles, rooftops, bicycles, and building parts. It was horrible; I can’t imagine what the people had to go through that time. I still get goose bumps today when I think about the things that I saw at the museum. They also have recorded testimonials of surviving victims. The effect of the bombing incident was disastrous; I hope such things won’t happen again in the future. We were at the museum until we were chased out because it was already closing time.

The time of bombing

Memorandum from meeting between Churchill and Roosevelt saying that they were working on atomic bomb and diary of secretary of war that were on display

The targets for the bomb

Equipments used to measure the effect of the bomb

Hiroshima before the bombing. Notice the T-bridge or known as Aioi bridge which was the target of the bomb

Hiroshima after the bombing

The red ball indicated the place where the bomb exploded. It exploded 600m above ground

The remaining of  a school uniform

Other items that remained after the incident and the pictures on the wall showing the effects on human

Part of Aioi bridge. The red arrows showed parts that were deformed

Then we tried cold noodle at the restaurant at Hiroshima JR Station. The noodle was pretty delicious though we only had it with vegetable and egg. We can adjust how spicy we want the soup to be ranging from the scale of 1 to 10 and 10 being the most spicy. 

Unique bicycle parking bay

Enjoying my cold noodle

Overall, Hiroshima is another place that I’ll recommend you to visit if you plan to go to Japan besides Kyoto. Miyajima Island is very beautiful and a must visit place in Hiroshima and there’s a lot of deer on the island. The bombing incident really touched my heart. It hurts to see how everything was carefully planned and they even forbid air-raid at the surrounding area to measure the effect of the bomb which exploded 600m above sea level. The bomb was not even a proper product, it was an experimental bomb. 

That’s all for Hiroshima, will talk about Osaka in the next post.