3 March Hiroshima Castle and Shukkeien Garden

Today our original plan to visit the island of Itsukushima has been postponed until tomorrow, as a result of issues on the trainline. So we had a trip to Hiroshima Castle.

Another special manhole cover discovered on our walk there.

I thought I'd share the regimental way that everyone parks in Japan. Everyone reverses into their space and ensure that they are in the middle of it. Maybe they all have hands free parking as it's sooo neat.

Japan is keen on using mascots - this is the new castle mascot called Shirōnya.

I hadn't really thought about the fact that Hiroshima Castle is a replica. The original was completely flattened with the A Bomb as it's about a mile from the epicentre of the bomb (A Bomb Dome/epicentre circled). It was rebuilt along with everything else in Hiroshima.

Amazingly 195 trees survived after the A Bomb. This is one near the castle.

There is blossom out but not the Cherry blossom everyone gets excited about over here. This is a type of plum blossom.

Around the castle the moat is teeming with Koi carp. We just happened to be crossing a bridge at official feeding time so were given food to throw out to them.

And just round the corner was a Koi manhole cover!

On our walk Ian spotted a car parking stacking system. We were trying to work out how the top car came out if there was one underneath 😄.

Shukkeien Garden originated in the 18th century. It was totally destroyed in 1945, as it was close to the epicentre, but has been replaced and replanted over the intervening years.

More blossom but not the elusive cherry variety.

Today I tried out the do it yourself fruit smoothie from a 7/11 supermarket. After buying the frozen fruit you put the container in a smoothie blender in the shop.

Hey Presto! One yummy smoothie!

With the trains back on track and the forecast looking good, it's off to Itsukushima in the morning.

2 March Hiroshima History

Today started off with a coffee making challenge. How do you make a brew out of this?

After a few attempts, one involving a chopstick, we eventually worked out the correct way to fold the cardboard wings so the coffee in the bag didn't collapse.

By my third mug today I was a pro at it!

We''ve been doing a bit of manhole cover spotting. Across Japan there is quite a selection of elaborately decorated manhole covers. There's even a map showing their positions!

On route to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial we came across an interesting idea for a souvenir. A tin of Hiroshima air - a bargain for about £2.50!

The A Bomb Dome

Some information.

A photo showing how it was the only building left standing.

The Children's Peace Monument unveiled in 1958 - in memory of all children who died as a result of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. It was inspired by the death of Satlako Sasaki, who was exposed to radiation from the atomic bomb at the age of two. Ten vears later Sadako developed leukemia that ultimately ended her life. Her death compelled her classmates to begin a call for the construction of a monument for all children who died due to the atomic bomb. 

Around the monument are thousands of multi coloured origami cranes, referring to the golden origami crane on top of the monument.

The Memorial Cenotaph

This could be my Japanese go to cake - a strawberry Mont Blanc.

A light sponge, covered in fresh cream with a whole strawberry and more cream inside. Delicious!

We were treated to Peter playing the piano in the cafe while we enjoyed our cakes.

A view from the Memorial Peace Museum overlooking the Cenotaph, Eternal Flame and A Bomb Dome.

Whilst in the museum we attended a talk about a child survivor of the bomb. The Japanese are keen for their stories to be told to avoid similar occurrences in the future.

Cute little barrier holders. Yesterday we saw some in a deer shape.

Another unusual manhole cover.

As we had a bit of drizzle this afternoon we took refuge in the sprawling undercover shopping area. Everything is so unusual and colourful that you can easily spend hours just looking at 'things'. The ceramic items we came across were lovely and probably totally impractical. I could have bought loads!

This evening we ended up in a miniscule bar/restaurant around the corner from where we're staying. Our first real experience of Japanese food and culture. We were made very welcome and ended up being invited by people we met there to another restaurant for dinner on another day if we had time. We will see if we can fit it in amongst our exploratory plans over the next few days. Hopefully it'll be a bit drier than today.

had a bit of an intense day as we've found out more about what happened on 6 August 1945.

1st March Greetings from Japan

It's been a bit of an exhausting journey but this evening we are now in Hiroshima.

Having arrived at Tokyo Narita International airport at just after 7am we had 3 hours to kill, until Peter and Scott arrived. So we took our time getting off the plane and made use of the facilities on our way to passport control.

Japan has got the act of toileting down a fine art. Some even have heated toilet seats!

You can even get your loo to play music - although I've still got to work out how to tune into Radio 2 😂. 

Anyway by the time we'd worked out how to use the flush we were last collecting our bags as we must've got stuck behind another flight coming in as we had to queue through passport control.

Now that's something else. I lost count of the number of times I had to check my passport and get fingers scanned. It seems to be part of Japan's involvement of the senior members of the community, as they employ post retirement aged individuals to greet and funnel you through the process. Over an hour from getting off the plane before we eventually exited customs - another stress inducing process as there are signs all over the place about imprisonment if you bring fruit, veg or animal products. Despite binning an apple I kept worrying that I might have a rogue piece of fruit stashed in my bag!!

After checking out where to get the train into central Tokyo (Narita is about an hour away), and the types of tickets we needed, Peter and Scott had arrived. Then it was navigating the complicated ticket process but luckily with Peter translating we got the correct tickets and onto the Narita Express without any issues. 

Trying out coffee from a hot cabinet which comes in a hot tin bottle containing the hot coffee - a new thing for us.

From Tokyo Central we then got a Shinkansen or Bullet train to Hiroshima.

A bit like something from out of space!

We could just make out the iconic snow topped Mount Fuji through the clouds, as we whizzed by at 200mph.

After our 5 hour train ride and a bit of a walk we got to our apartment. We've got four nights here exploring the area so I'll let you know what we get up to.