Japan Holiday, July 20 (Atoms For Peace)

Another trip today, this time a little bit further to Hiroshima. We have 14 day JR rail passes that can be activated today, just in time to book a free, reserved ticket on the Shinkansen. I think they get up to something in the 200-250 km/h range, but since you're inside the train you don't notice any difference. I think it took about 1.5 hours to reach Hiroshima with a small number of stops. Our carriage on the train was called a "silence car" meaning that noone is supposed to speak, the staff selling drinks and snacks don't speak and even the announcements are not broadcast (only displayed on the screen).

After arriving at Hiroshima we jumped on a local train for another 30 minutes to get to Miyajima (also known as Itsukushima). You have to be careful to pay attention to the station names on the platform at each stop, otherwise it would be very easy to miss your stop. I bashed my head on the train door once again getting off, but not as bad this time. I think the local trains must have a lower ceiling or something.

Boarded the ferry to get across to the island which contains the following things: deer walk the streets, O-Torii Gate, some shrine and some pagoda. Seeing the deer was quite amusing, they are totally indifferent to the people walking amongst them and usually were just lying down or sleeping. This "gate" which can be seen in the photos I did not think was particularly remarkable, but apparently it looks more impressive at high tide and/or at sunset. So, of the two ferry trips I've taken on a holiday, it was better than the one to Staten Island (which crashed into the dock a couple of months later).

Not really floating.

Got back to Hiroshima and boarded a tram to reach the A-Bomb Dome. The trams have a stupid system where you pay as you leave, I don't understand why. If you've got a repeat usage card you swipe that when you get on, so I'm pretty sure you could just walk off and the conductor would have a hard time knowing who still needs to pay (if you weren't an out-of-place tourist that is). Failing that, you just make a run for it as soon as the doors open!

Old Hiroshima Carp baseball stadium

The A-Bomb Dome was just like you see in the pictures. Perhaps it's a little surprising that they spend money to keep a destroyed building intact, but there's few more significant landmarks than it I would say. A couple who arrived just after us were collecting (taking) some dirt from around the dome for a souvenir. Firstly that's just wrong, and secondly I'd love to see how that would go down in customs. About as well as a suitcase full of fireworks I'm guessing. The nearby museum was actually more interesting than I imagined, and it was nice to brush up on the history of the war and the aftermath. Some of the exhibits detailing the fallout weren't quite so much fun.

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The Dome.

The Cenotaph. But what's a cenotaph ?

Local tram.

Since we took the detour to Miyajima we were running a bit short on time, so we didn't get to return via Hondori shopping arcade as I would have liked. I've just learned (thanks to Wikipedia) that there was also a Mazda museum somewhere in the city and they had a Mazda 787B on display, I can't believe I missed that too!

As we were waiting in the train station I came across my first red beans for the trip! They were just mass producing these awesome little red bean cakes, similar to a donut conveyor belt or whatever, and each cake was only 60 yen.

Back in Osaka we stopped by an Okonomiyaki (I think they get upset if you call it Japanese pancake) place for dinner. I had a cheese & potato one, which was very filling, and probably my favourite meal of the trip. Fun fact: Osaka and Hiroshima have competing styles of cooking Okonomiyaki, but I didn't get to try the Hiroshima one for comparison.