Hiroshima Hijinks

The train ride from Yufuin to Hiroshima was pretty uneventful- things started when they were supposed to, stopped when they were supposed to and worked as they were supposed to. The initial shock of things working as they're supposed to was no wearing off. In fact we actually expected them to work as they were supposed to. I could tell I was going to have a major reality check the moment i left this ountry. I was not looking forward to that. We arrived in Hiroshima around noon and shortly afterdropping off our luggage at the hotel, we high-tailed it to catch the ferry to Miyajima. Miyajima is an island just off Hiroshima that boasts of the famous O-Tori gate at the Itsukushima shrine, which is a UNESCO world heitage site.

OF course, there were many other attactions that Miyajima was known for, or so we heard. Like it's 'wild' Sika deer population, for example. They seemed to have an odd fondness for paper and cloth. How er... wild.

It also havs a lovely otanical garden with many walkways. We mised the cable car to the top of mount Misen by a whisker, but it allowed us time to ro roam the streets of Miyajima (the island had no traffic signals) and click a pcturesque photo or two.

We caught the sunset ferry back to Hiroshima to dine at one of the most popular Tapas chains in Japan - Torikizoku I loved everything about theyakitori experience - The drinks, the srvice, the ambience and the food. (there might be a bit of a wait to get seated, but it'll be totally worth it once you're seated. Also, they're really quick with your orders.) The next morning,we set out on an early ride to Himeji, to explore Himeji castle . The town is sort of built around the castle, and eerything (even drain covers) reflect that.

This 400- year old clastle is beautifully preserved, and the serene wooden interiors belie the bloody histroty of the castle. The castle has witnessed revolts, wars, murder-suicides of 13 different families over 48 generations. Needless to say, it has its fair share for legends (and ghosts), but what truly impressed me was how well- preserved it was, and how lovingly they took care of the wooden interiors. (you're advised to to wear heels or shoes with hard soles, and once inside, you're expected to remove your shoes and carry them in a shoe bag to preserve the flooring.)

The ancient contruction techniques on display was such a pleasure to experience.

We arrived back in Hiroshima by afternoon, with a surprising lack of anything christmassy - but not befert of hoardes of gaggling teens on shopping sprees, judging my fashionchoices. Really, move on, child, I already have 2 judgy teens of my own. Totally water off a duck's back at this point. Totally. Hiroshima was rebuld from tehground up after 1949 (hardly anything survived the A-bomb and the typhoon) We walked along the A-bomb dome down to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the Children's Peace Memorial as we headed to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Child 2 spent a good 20 minutes penning down a message at the Peace memorial dedicated to Sadako Sasaki, a victim of the radiation from the atomic bomb fall out. The peace memorial has thousands of paper cranes from all over the world - made by children who wish for a world without nuclear war. And is a beautiful segue into the Peace Museum.

The museum itself is a must-visit, to really understand the absoulte devanstation cause by nuclear weapons and why we must never come to point where countries threaten to use them. The worlds first Atomic war should hopefully be the World's only atomic war. Even the staunchest of supporters can't help but be moved by the absolute devastataion that the atomic bomb caused. Calling it cute-sy names like ;Little boy' and 'Fat man' only makes the pain and suffering felt by the pople of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by trivilising the potency of this deathe machin.

It too a while to fully go back to our usual selves but we decided to end the day with with a traditional Japanese theatre production -Kagura. Kagura is a dance-drama of sorts with gorgeos costumes, accoumanied by a live traditional orchestra. It was originally performed as a Shinto ritual, but these days, it is used to promote traditional Japanese arts. This particular Kagura retold the sory of Mount Suzaka - the key baddies was -get this- from India and female! Already two pluses in its favour. The Kagura was performed brilliantly by the artists and reminded me of some of the traditonal Terukkuttu prformances from Tamil Nadu. They also had subtitles in English displayed across the top of the stage,which help us undertsand the play better, and it was a completey immmersive and throughly enjoyable hour at the theatre.

Hiroshima was everything and nothing like I'd imagined.Hiroshima tugged at your heartstings andmade you feel utter despair one minute and full of hope the next. Hiroshima had my heart.

On with the Onsens

 

We began the day with an early morning trek to Shin-Kobe station to stamp our books. Most Japanese stations (and some historical sites) have a unique stamp that can help you document your journey across this beautiful country. Clearly, after the Fragrance Museum, I was going to try and get stamps from every possible station—even the tiny ones we'll use for interchanges. 

the unplanned Hakata pitstop

Despite very careful planning, we missed our connecting train by a whisker at Hakata for our transfer to Yufuin. Which meant a couple of unplanned hours in a city we know nothing about. Just the perfect tie window to people-watch in  a public place So here are a few things I noticed about the Japanese irrespective of where we were: 

1. People are always polite, always friendly. They'll help you out whenever they can. 

2. Japanese systems are geared towards efficiency and almost always work like they're supposed to (you have no idea how rare that is) Everything from our immigration process to our hotel check-in to the cash transactions at stores-automated, and quick (another rare combination) 

3. While cities and public places are amazingly clean, you're hard-pressed to find a public trashcan anywhere. 

But these are early days into the trip, we'll see if these observations hold true at the end of our fortnight here. 

spectacular mountain views reflecting off the train station at Yufuin

As we arrived at Yufuin, we were treated by clear views of the twin peaks of Mount Yufu glistening in the sun.  We wanted the short distance to our ryokan - Yufuin Roykan Okaeri. We loved the fact that they have their private family onsens. It was our first stay at a traditional Japanese Onsen and it did not disappoint. Apart from helping us un the stairs with our (very) heavy baggage, and showing us around the place, we had access to other 24-hour coffee-and-snacks at the recreation area (which also had books, board games and video games)  not to mention used of the bicycles to trek across town, the beautiful Yukatas and Haoris. 

River Oita

Yufudake mountains

The traditional Japanese layout was beautifully crafted and featured clear views of the Yufudake mountains on the banks of the Oita River. Of course, all of this was just the watercress. We couldn't wait to experience the famed onsens. Now, in case you're unfamiliar with Japanese Onsens, they're a pretty novel experience. You're supposed to sink into this common hot spring pool completely naked, which is why public Onsens here are segregated by gender. The family version of the Onsens meant the naked rule still applied, but you could have the entire onsen to just the family. As you can guess, this concept didn't go down too well with Child 2, so we decided to let her have her soak in separate onsen, while the baa-lamb and I legged it to the largest of the onsens. While the Ryokan has 5 private onsens for the use of their guests, the one that's really special is the outdoor one, with naturally carved seats along the side. 

The largest of the family onsens. No, we're not sharing pictures of us soaking. Lucky you. 

If you know me at all, you know that I don't handle cold well. So trust me when I tell you, the feeling of soaking away in a hot spring pool when temperatures outside are close to freezing is pure heaven. You know the snow monkeys soaking in the bath you see on nature shows? The ones looking like they've attained Nirvana? That was me. I was the snow monkey. We turned in early since we'd decided to catch another Shinkansen (why do I have a feeling they're going to be our second homes for the duration of the trip) - besides, all that soaking had me well-rested and primed for a great night's sleep. 

Yukatas on loan

we loved the traditional ryokan with their superb hospitality

Breakfast at the Royokan Okaeri was, once again, a traditional Japanese affair and delicious -- fish broth soup & chicken rice, accompanied by omelette, meat, sweet potato and pickled cabbage. As we headed to the station, we witnessed the most orderly queue to exist going into the station platform. No pushing, shoving, jostling or yelling, yet all 300-odd passengers seemed to get on board in the five short minutes that the train halted here. We bid farewell to this beautiful little town, and headed back up north - next stop, Hiroshima. 

An evening in Kobe

 Japan was a long-awaited trip on the family bucket list for ages. Needless to say when the baa-lamb suggested that we nip across to the land of the rising sun over Christmas and New Year's we 'hai-hai'ed in unison and hopped to it. Sadly Child 1  decided to properly 'adult' this break opting to swot for upcoming exams rather than make merry with the bankrollers. A minute of silence for the death of his innocence and we swiftly move on. 

Day 1  - Tokyo to Shin Kobe. 

The view enroute to Shin-Kobe 

We left the airport and caught a Shinkansen (the Japanese superfast train) to Shin-Kobe, the connection station for the fast trains to Kobe. 

Kobe drain covers

It was nearly 5 in the evening - we had, indeed spent a large part of

Lychee-Liquer makes everything fun-er.

our day travelling - however, with just a quick freshening-up sesh at the hotel room at Villa Fontane, we were ready to set out to catch the sunset in the cable car ride to the top of mount Rokko to the Nunobikki herb garden. However, little did we know that we'd be waylaid by the 'Happy Hour' at our hotel, where good cheer and even better 'spirits' overflowed  We were especially thrilled with the lychee liqueur which paired really well with cheese,freshly made salsa and 24-hour travel- weary bones. However, despite these dastardly plans to distract us, we finally headed out to the cable car stop, duly fortified by the lychee-goodness sloshing about our insides. 

Tha's all we could see from the cable car

I would have said more about the cable car ride had we taken the sunset ride- It's supposed to be beautiful watching the sun set over the city of Kobe. But it was too dark to really see anything when we arrived. We reached the top, slap bang in the middle of the Christmas market. As far as Christmas markets go, it wasn't bad, with the mandatory queues for ice creams and hot chocolate in the freezing cold. 

The Fragrance Museum stamp

But what I loved was the fragrance museum exhibits of ancient perfume bottles and equipment to extract natural oils. it also had over 80-plus natural aromas and all 3 of us had a thoroughly enjoyable evening trying to discern our favourite fragrances. (mine was surprisingly a very mundane sandalwood- a throwback to comforting childhood memories, I suppose)

View from atop mount Rokko

Since it was bitterly cold outside, there was hot-cheery chocolate to be had, and since we were with baa-lamb and Child 2, ice cream (honeycomb flavour, in case anybody was interested). Both, on their own, good, but combined, creating a dessert party in your mouth. 

On our return, we stopped at 7-11 (the only thing that was still open) to stock up on a bento meal an fried chicken before we headed back to our room. I would be remiss here not to mention our room, which was rather small in proportion, but big in function! Toilets with automatic functions (including the famed Japanee heated seats), to headrests with built-in light controls and alarm clocks. Very comfortable, very clean and top marks for service. We were heading out at the crack of dawn to the southern end of Japan - to Yufiyin, so we needed to catch out z's. 

Note to self for the rest of the trip: Must try the huge assortment of desserts and ramen flavours on display at the supermarkets.