Hiroshima: In the footsteps of Grandad Hosie

Monday

As we had a huge amount of choices in train time from Fukuoka, we chose one that wasn't horrendously early in the morning, as we are prone to doing. So we had time to wake up at our own pace and not to a piercing alarm call. Breakfast was some brekkie bars we'd picked up in a rush at the supermarket in Nagasaki. Knowing the accuracy of Japanese train times we were in no rush, only needing to leave our hostel with 50 minutes before our departure time. It was a beautiful morning in Fukuoka, in stark contrast to the solid rain we had experienced the day before. It was such a quick walk to the station, we hardly broke a sweat, which is a rarity, normally we get there perspiring like there's no tomorrow. There trains may be punctual but the stations aren't the easiest places to master. They are so busy and have so many different lines, there are signs all over the place. Ours was the Shinkansen, the renowned Japanese bullet train, which has its own set of platforms, separate from the suburban riffraff trains. The platform was a sight to behold. What look like sleek, white torpedos line the platforms, ready to whisk commuters and tourists of to places as far away as Tokyo in just a matter of hours. Unfortunately, we didn't manage a photo, when fully laden with bags and deciphering Japanese timetables, it's the last thing on your mind! Anyway, it was on time, we boarded and made our way to our seats. They were so plush, we were slightly concerned we may have stumbled into first class by accident but we weren't. It was all over in a flash though, a little over an hour of gliding through the Japanese countryside and we were pulling in to Hiroshima station. The stops are so short, we had to be on the ball to get off the train before it left with us still on it.

We made our way out of the maze of Hiroshima station and into the warm November sunshine. The trolley car stop was right outside and we hopped on to get to our hostel. We had both fallen for Hiroshima by the time we arrived at our stop. We crossed over so many rivers and canals it was like being back in Amsterdam. The weather was beautiful and everyone had a smile on their face. It was only a short onward journey to our hostel and we could relieve ourselves of our bags. We aren't usually ones to go straight out and about exploring but due to what seems like strict Japanese routine, check in is always at 3pm and never before. So we headed out to see what we could find. Our location was only 5 minutes walk from Peace Memorial Park, which is Hiroshima's alternative to Nagasaki's Peace Park. It is situated where 2 canals or rivers (I'm not quite sure which...) split as they head towards the sea. We wandered through the green park, where there were hordes of Japanese schoolchildren having lunch while on a schooltrip. We headed for the tip of the park, where the "waterways" split, where there is a T-shaped bridge, joining the park to the banks either side of it. This T bridge was used as the target for the atomic bomb when it was dropped on Hiroshima. We veered to one side where we could see a bench by the waters edge, situated directly opposite the Hiroshima Dome, which, although some of the building was destroyed, survived the blast despite it close proximity to it and it still stands there today. This was one of our favourite bits so far. It was peaceful, despite being in the centre of the city, there was history all around us, the weather was lovely for November and it wasn't spoiled by pollution or well anything. As the title of this post suggests, the clan Hosie has a small bit of history with Hiroshima. My Grandad (my Dads Dad), also named Russell Hosie, went in with the Royal Engineers almost immediately after the Atomic Bomb was dropped to assist in the cleaning process. I never knew him as he passed away well before I was born, so it was nice to be following in his footsteps in a way. He also managed to take some photos while he was here, so with the help of some family members, they tracked the photos down and managed to email them to us, so we could compare. It is safe to say that Hiroshima is in much better condition than it was when my Grandad was here, with just rubble as far as the eye could see. We ate our lunch sat on that bench and watched the people sail by on the ferries and sightseeing boats milling up and down the river. We tore ourselves away from our bench to have a look around the main shopping street, which is a long covered area full of department stores and video game arcades. I'd been on the lookout since leaving Europe for an exotic football shirt and after some assistance from the Internet, we managed to find a store that sold them. The local team are called Sanfrecce Hiroshima and have a great looking shirt, I'm sure they are a great team too but not so sure there shirt is worth paying £65 for. I was really disappointed, after having looked in Russia, Mongolia and China, I was sure Japan would turn one up but I just hadn't banked on it being so expensive. It was soon forgotten about though, we made our way back to our hostel and checked in. After a busy day, we didn't fancy cooking ourselves so we decided to go for some local cuisine once more, opting for the 3rd best restaurant in town according to a certain travel advisory website. We'd had a nose earlier when we'd walked past, with an English menu and reasonable prices, it looked pretty favourable.

It only served one type of dish, Okonomiyaki. Which, when in Hiroshima (it varies around Japan) in a fried noodle dish made with egg and various toppings and ingredients. They prepare it in an open kitchen for all to see (we would later read at a different Okonomiyaki restaurant, that a proper Okonomiyaki should take 15-20 minutes to prepares), it is then placed on a large metal hot plate infront of you, that takes up most of the table. The diner is then armed with a square shaped sliced, some chopsticks and a small plate and you go at it. It was a unique experience and the food was absolutely delicious to boot. We knew it would be a winner when we arrived and there were people queueing outside, just to get a place in the queue inside. The queueing was painless though, as we were kept amused by watching an elderly Japanese woman chatting to an Australian couple ahead of us in the queue. It went on for some time, then all of a sudden, the Japanese lady shoved a load of money in the Australian man's pocket and made a break for it down the road. We all stood around looking a bit confused. The man's girlfriend/wife had to dash down the road after her in order to give it back. By the time all this had been settled we had been moved in and seated so we've no idea what the outcome was. The crazy lady was loitering around outside while we were making a pigs ear of eating our traditional Japanese dish, so she was probably a regular eccentric. We paid our bill, which was around £5 each (bargain) and made our way home, through our new favourite place in the world, Peace Memorial Park. It was just as nice at night than during the day. There is a small archway in the middle of the park, placed in such a position, that when you look through it from the front, you can see the lit dome of the Dome through the centre of it. Wonderful! We dodged the odd kamikaze frog as we wandered through but they (or we, they may have been poisonous ones for all we know) got through unscathed. It had turned out to be a rather busy and very enjoyable day and we were in for another one the next.

Tuesday

5 o'clock the alarm was buzzing, not impressed. Far to early but we were keen to get to the island of Itsukushima, to catch the low tide. The island is more famously known as Miyajima, which in Japanese means the Shrine Island. We had to catch a train from Hiroshima, along the coast and then catch a ferry to Miyajima. Fortunately, all this was included on our JR pass, so we didn't have to spend a ¥en. We had to make low tide because of Miyajima's most famous sight, the floating Torii Gate. A Torii marks the entrance of a Shinto shrine, symbolically marking the transition from the profane to the sacred. This one in particular was marked by a Japanese scholar as one of the 3 sights of Japan, when included with the Itsukushima Shrine, for which it marks the entrance too. When the tide is out, you can walk across the sand and walk through the gate, which is said to bring peace (I think...). So, we managed to get the first boat over at about 7 o'clock. The boat only took about 10 minutes, so we over in no time. A few people on the boat seemed slightly more keen to get to the gate than us though, as they sprinted off the second the boat had docked. I had come down with a cold yet again, so I wasn't the most enthusiastic person that day, as much as I wanted to be. We slowly walked along the waterfront, working our way around the deer that you aren't allowed to feed. It was chilly by the water but we were well wrapped up in our big jackets, despite it being a really sunny morning. We took a few snaps with the Torii and even managed to nab someone else to take one of us without the selfie stick. We even wandered through the gate, although the tide was rising rather rapidly, so we had to dodge a flaw large pools. Another benefit of arriving early, is that you avoid huge crowds. Apparently, it is a fairly popular tourist destination and come midday there are hordes of people being marshalled by tour leaders with megaphones. So it was nice for the area to be so peaceful. We hadn't managed to have breakfast at 5 in the morning, so we took a stroll through Miyajima town to see if we could find somewhere relative cheap to have some food. It was completely closed though. It hardly seemed that anyone had got out of bed yet, so to kill some time, we just had to sit around the port until the island started to wake.

It took a good hour but after retracing our steps, we stumbled across a cafe that said it was closed but was actually open, so we went in and got ourselves a fried breakfast, which really warmed us up. After our breakfast, we wandered back in the direction of the gate and decided to enter the actually shrine. We wanted to stay until the tide had come in and the gate looked like it was floating, so we had some time to kill. We followed what the locals were doing and gave a hands a wash in the water provided before we entered. There were various things you could do along the way, like make a donation and say a prayer but we decided not to do these and just enjoy the atmosphere. The shrine is set right on the seafront, on elevated wooden walkways, so when the tide comes in, it also seems like it's floating. We had plenty of time to kill, the tide didn't come in fully until about 1pm, so we just wandered through the gift shop lined streets and sat and watched the crowds pour in to the area. As the time passed, we moved to a better location and sat on a sand dune, where we had an unobstructed view of the Torii gate and there was nobody really around us disturbing the peace. This turned out to be our new second favourite spot in the world, it was peaceful, despite the crowds across the water, the weather was great and warm, despite the chills from the cold and the view was spectacular. If I'd been up for it, we would have definitely sat there all day. I was shattered though, so we got our pictures when the tide had come in and "floated" the gate and we went to catch our ferry back to the mainland. Along the way we did stop for a quick lunch, at the same cafe we'd had breakfast but it was a thoroughly disappointing Beef Curry, with about one piece of meat with it, we weren't impressed and regretted stopping for it. The journey home was easy and when we arrived back at our hostel I flopped on my bed and slept for a few hours, while Charlotte caught up on some travel admin. I was so bad for the rest of the day, that Charlotte had to cook me dinner, while I struggled to maintain consciousness on a sofa in reception. The dinner was great though, really giving me a boost (I've got to say that as Charlotte cooked it).

Wednesday

We didn't have a huge list of things to do today, which was nice, to really relax for a morning for the first time in ages. Our priority though was the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Half of it was under renovation, so it was nowhere near as thorough as Nagasaki's but it was still very interesting. We had to make our way through the endless crowds of school children but it still only took us about 20 minutes to get through it. On the way out, after some encouragement from Charlotte, I went up to the desk to offer them my grandads photos, if they wanted to exhibit them. After speaking to someone with slightly better English skills than the lady on the reception desk, they said yes, they would like them, which was nice. We did think that maybe they were just saying yes to be polite but I'm sure that wasn't the case. For our last stop, we went to Hiroshima Castle, which was only a 15 minute walk from the museum. It looks surprisingly castly, it had a moat and sort of a drawbridge. The first area was just a small courtyard but we could enter a chamber (providing we removed our shoes and put on some funky slippers) and take a look around a museum area. The only thing of great interest here was a large drum that we both took turns giving a test. After the small courtyard, we went into the main area of the castle and walked the grounds for an hour or so. Despite the very late Autumn heat, the leaves in the trees had started to turn and the gardens looked really nice. We headed to Hiroshima Station to sort our tickets for our journey to Kyoto the next day, then headed back through the main shopping area to pass some time but nothing really caught our eye.

We loved Hiroshima, easily our best stop yet and regretted only having 2 full days there. On the other hand it was possibly the most eager we had been when visiting a city, so we had covered everything worth covering, even if there wasn't a huge amount to see. That doesn't mean we'd get bored if we went there again though, maybe to catch a Sanfrecce Hiroshima match.

The ancient city of Kyoto is our next stop on the Shinkansen

James and Charlotte