19 March, Hiroshima

I woke up in what is becoming an oddly familiar room. My 3^rd stay in a 'double' room at Toyoko Inn this trip means that I can fully appreciate just how identical these rooms are. The day began with complimentary breakfast in the foyer, this is always an interesting experience and I try to eat something different whenever I can. Today I had 3 different, unknown, flavours of onigiri (rice balls), miso soup and an oddly nice pasta salad. Certainly not what I would eat for breakfast at home in Australia.

Seeing this view in daylight I began to realise just how Hirohima as a city is characterized by its past. The majority of the visible buildings are the unattractive concrete multi storey type of utilitarian buildings, which admittedly are the norm in Tokyo and the outer suburbs/newer areas of all Japanese cities I have visited. However after being in Kyoto for so long I had become used to the little patches of history popping up at every turn, even in the more modern areas. As everything in Hiroshima was completely destroyed the chance of me finding any visible history seemed unlikely, and I should have been more prepared for this, having visited Nagasaki a few years ago.

After breakfast I went exploring around the surrounding streets, the huge department stores and the station shopping complex dominate, but there was a winding, complex series of alleyways which create a street market, and I found some interesting little shops. I ended up buying some ceramic bowls for gifts from a tiny little shop, where everything no visible from the street was so dusty I doubt if the elderly couple who owned it had sold anything from the back shelves in years. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos.

This exploration had left me not far from where I was to meet my friend Riyo, and a friend of hers. They had flown to Hiroshima from Sapporo, and were meeting me in their hotel (which was a lot nicer than Toyoko Inn). After greeting, we set off to explore some of Hiroshima's famous places.

Our first stop, after taking a tram which made me think of Melbourne, was Hiroshima castle. Here I got the 'visible history' I was looking for. The outer wall and moat that you can see above, was only very recently finished, and seeing it made me realise just how wonderful some of the other castles I have seen on my travels must have looked when they were first built.

When I saw this tree, Riyo couldn't understand why I was so excited and walked up to it. I knew it was a gum tree (eucalyptus) it reminded me of home, and I wanted to know why it was there, inside the castle walls, of all places. The tree was one of only a few on the castle grounds which survived the atomic bomb blast, you can read a bit more about it here (http://www.lang-arts.com/survivors/castle.html )

This is the only photo I have of the main castle tower, and you can see what a popular destination it is. Hiroshima castle's main tower was one of the first iconic buildings rebuilt after Hiroshima was destroyed. It was completed in just 5 years, which I think is an incredible indication of how important the history of this city is to the people who are part of it. Hiroshima is not defined simply as a victim of the immense destructive power of modern warfare, it is a city with ancient history and significance, and a city creating a new future for itself.

This is a scale model (so very popular in all Japanese museums) of the original layout of the castle and surrounding town, the section which has been rebuilt is the large square area towards the left. Because of all the water, mazelike bridge system and the elevated design which allowed lower lying areas to be deliberately flooded to cut off enemies, Hiroshima had almost impenetrable defences.

Because it isn't all serious, we had some fun dressing up and posing in front of a photo of the castle.

The view from the top of the castle tower was beautiful, across the park to the rest of the city. I could even see my little Toyoko Inn (below)!

After buying some icecream and walking through the park we ran into Yuichi on a bridge! Of all the people in all of this huge city I happened to meet the same person twice, by accident. As he had no plans, he joined us for a very delicious dinner, which again, I didn't take any photos of. It was a very memorable day!   

  

18 March Himeji Castle and Hiroshima

On the 18th of March I sadly said goodbye to the lovely Hostel, and to the wonderful city of Kyoto. I gathered together all my luggage and set off for another few shinkansen trips to my next stop, Hiroshima. I decided that as I was going past Himeji (almost) that I should stop and see what is easily one of the most famous castles in Japan. Himeji turned out to be quite an interesting city, and I think I would go back and spend more than half a day there if I ever get the chance. The main tower of the castle was under repair, but creatively the scaffolding had a life sized image of what the tower looked like. The parts that I was able to explore were beautiful and the story of the castle is fascinating, particularly the love story of Princess Senhime who was born in 1597.

*The castle moat and high, sloping stone walls*

*The main tower covered by scaffolding*

*The front gate*

*One of the cats I shared my lunch with*

*View of the moat, looking towards the front gate*

 *An old map/illustration of the layout of Himeji castle, it was one of the best designs for defense (apparently)*

*Just in case you were thinking of scribbling*

*The beautiful corridors in Senhime's personal wing of the castle*

*The outside of the same corridor, Senhime's wing*

*Mannequins showing Senhime and her lady in waiting playing a card game. Not only did Senhime marry for love after her first husband killed himself while Osaka Castle burned, she also smoked and gambled, and really liked cats* 

*Proof that I was there and that it was freezing cold*

After eating my lunch in the castle grounds surrounded by cats, I went next door to a beautiful garden. It had various garden 'rooms' in different styles of Japanese gardening, with different 'moods'. It was so beautiful, and as usual I took hundreds of photos in an attempt to capture just a little of its beauty.

*Those Koi were HUGE, at least 50cm or more*

*My favourite flower in the whole garden, I wish I knew the name!*

On the way back to the station I spotted this oddity: A statue of a naked man playing the saxaphone...

When I finally arrived at my hotel in Hiroshima it was almost dark, the view was wonderful, as you can see below. I then set off to have the local specialty, Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki. In the restaurant I sat alone (as usual) but the lady who owned the restaurant sat another lone traveller beside me, and that is how I made a new friend, Yuichi.

*Yuichi and Me*

17 March Fushimi Inari Shrine and Thousands of Torii Gates

The 17th of March was my last day in Kyoto, I had originally planned to spend a night staying in a temple, however due to the need to have access to Skype as the disaster unfolded in the Fukushima area I opted to stay another night in the Hostel. My adventure for the day was another iconic destination for tourists who visit Kyoto. Even though I spent a week in Kyoto in 2009, I spent most of that time in Arashiyama and the outer suburbs, and thus missed a lot of the main 'attractions'.

Fushimi Inari Shrine is often referred to in brochures as the Shrine of a Thousand Gates, however when you are there you realise that there are MANY thousandS of torii gates. There are enormous ones that are a few storeys high and tiny ones no bigger than my hand, and they are EVERYWHERE. I spent about 3 or 4 hours walking up and down pathways all around the mountain side and I still did not see every torii gate in the area. The main shrine is said to bring luck or wealth to businesses, so the torii gates are actually donated by businesses who want some luck. I took hundreds of photos and a couple of videos, but as they will probably mostly look the same I will just include a smallish selection of photos and one video at the end.

*An actual photo of me, just to prove I really was there* 

*This is my favourite photo, it gives you a better idea of what it felt like to be there, in the forest walking under these bright orange gates that form a tunnel*

*These were mini torii gates, about 20 or 30cm tall, which were hanging on racks*

*View of Kyoto city from the top of the mountain*

*Fox statues are common at Shinto Shrine*

*I walked along the left hand tunnel, and the video of that walk is below*