Miyajima Island

From Peace Park in central Hiroshima, we spied a little canal boat with a sign boasting rides to Miyajima Island. And since I love a boat ride, we decided to see what it was all about.

As it turns out, Miyajima, a colloquial nickname for 'shrine island', is famous in Japanese lore. The actual name of the city is Itsukushima and it's apparently one of Japan's top three scenic sites. Home to a stunning shrine, a population of outgoing wild deer and the world's rice largest spatula, what's not to love? 

Bathroom signage!

Besides the giant wooden spoon, our first major encounter was with the wild deer. Warning signs across the island warn you in various languages that the deer eat everything--food, shoelaces, maps straight from your hand. They walk straight up to you:

Several times throughout the day we turned to hear the surprised shrieks of tourists who couldn't quite believe that the deer were so bold. It's very clear that the deer are in charge here. 

Because it seemed the summer for UNESCO World Heritage sites, we made our way to Itsukushima Shrine and the famous floating toril (flotation is tide dependent). The toril was the first thing we saw upon our approach and appeared as some kind of Moses-like apparition: 

Itsukushima Shrine itself floats at/above the water. The buildings are all open-air and connected by a series of wooden planks. Red is the predominant colour and various vantage points offer moments for quiet repose: 

Sake casings in the shrine: 

Looming in the distance of that shrine, lies several other religious buildings, pagodas, perhaps. 

But the humidity was rising and the elevation in places made walking something quite sweaty so we decided to head to the beach on the opposite side of town. This involved a mini-bus that, despite the scorching weather, was still 'out of season.' June is not beach season in Japan. The Japanese are a very rule-abiding people. This is how we found ourselves as one of three (Western) couples on a beautiful little strip of beach. Unfortunately the water was somewhat infested with jellyfish, which kept our swimming to a minimum. But it sure looks pretty:

Had we wanted to see it, Miyajima Island could have offered us a lot more: hikes up big hills; gorgeous food; shrine upon pagoda upon religious relic. We settled for a ferry and bus ride back to Hiroshima where we promptly hid from the heat. 

Hiroshima

In a city humbled by history, I did not expect to find such charm. Naive, yes. Because it's sometimes difficult to remember that in the midst of war, innocent civilians on both sides get caught up in a fight they did not start. But despite the effects of the atomic bomb, the city is very much one of modernity. Mazda's home is not far away, tiny little cocktail bars can be found on various floors of the city's low-rise buildings and the residents of this wide-laned city cycle, walk and drive their way to myriad destinations.

The centre of the city is bisected by a place called Peace Memorial Park, a green space dominated by over fifty statues and memorials commemorating peace, not just peace in Japan but all over the world.

Nearby, the Peace Memorial Museum is open to visitors. Wikipedia comments that: 'Be warned: a visit here, while absolutely worthwhile, will ruin your day. Allow plenty of time afterward to decompress.' This is absolutely true.

At its centre, the Atomic Bomb Dome, the epicentre where the bomb was dropped on 6 August 1945, lies as a stark reminder about the necessity of peace. Japan's post-war message is one of pacifism and that message became very clear throughout our time in the city. 

The Cenotaph for the Atomic Bomb victims lies within sight of the Dome. It carries the name of every known person to die from the atomic bomb, regardless of their nationality. Over the years it has been updated to included the names of the hibakusha, Japanese individuals who were directly affected by the atomic bomb and subsequently died of radiation poisoning, cancer and other diseases thought linked to the bomb. 

The Children's Peace Monument is filled with paper cranes, largely inspired by a little girl called Sadako Sasaki whose story, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, I read in high school:

Paper cranes sent from children all over the world. There were cases and cases of cranes with messages attached to them:

But Hiroshima is much more than the 1945 moment in history. All across the city we were met with kind, helpful people who were busy getting on with their lives. Culinarily, we continued to eat excellent food. Okonomiyaki, the Japanese pancake we sampled in Tokyo, has two regional homes. The Osaka variation we'd already tried. But Hiroshima does it its own way and we queued outside a restaurant near the Peace Park for a local taste. 

Instead of making it ourselves, we were seated at the teppan (grill) at the front of the restaurant. Our chef flipped and fried his way into our stomachs. The Hiroshima version of okonomiyaki layers its ingredients instead of mixing them all together. Squid and shrimp was added to a generous layer of noodles, cabbage and a spicy sauce.

The final version was delicious but, in the end, it turns out we loved the Osaka version just a little better. Not that we told anyone.

On our final day, after a sweaty walk around Hiroshima Castle,

and in order to beat the heat, we ventured to Central Park Family Pool, a local community pool and water park. For a nominal fee, we were given a locker and proceeded to make lap after lap in the lazy river before warming ourselves on the pavement and jumping again back into the swimming pool. It wasn't fancy but it was fun.

Our final, final stop was a bar in the drinking district called Tropical Bar Revolucion. We followed the neon rooftop sign into a tiny lift and up to a bar that seated maybe ten people indoors, max. The charming bartender/proprietor informed us that it was Nobu's favourite bar and proceeded to pour us several rather strong mojitos before showing us pictures posing with famous footballers on his Okinawa holiday.

All in all we were grateful to have made our way to visit this tragic, beautiful city. Definitely important and more than meets initial expectations.

Kyoto

Kyoto is a city of a million temples. It's ancient Japan at its finest. I suppose that's what happens to a place when it's spent over a thousand years as the capital of the country. What's more, Kyoto escaped the large-scale bombing that much of the rest of Japan experienced during the end of WWII. 

The city is huge and we based ourselves in the Nakagyo District, in the centre of the old city, in order to temple spot/wander. Our first stop was at the train station's Family Mart for cheap rice triangles! To me, Asia tastes like these little wrapped seaweed wonders. 

In Kyoto, it became easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer number of buildings built under the premise of religion and reverence. Having grown up Catholic, I had little understanding of the faith system behind these beautiful buildings. But that made them no less impressive. 

Because summer 2016 appeared to be the summer of UNESCO, it's important to note that Kyoto is home to no less than 17 World Heritage Sites. We tried to see as many of these as we could but, two days into the Kyoto portion of the trip, Paul's gout foot had other plans. This was probably for the best; temples become overwhelming en masse. 

But Kyoto is more than just temples. It's: 

Street Art in Unexpected Places 

Street are in the geisha district of Gion...all protected historic sites: 

Quirky CultureThere's apparently a pug cafe somewhere in Kyoto. I'm so sad we didn't find this. Five seconds in the cat cafe would make me want to scratch my eyeballs out (not from a distaste of cats, more from a severe allergy).

Scenic Viewing 

Temple Crawling

And then it's temples, shrines, pagodas and more temples. 

These wooden plaques are called ema and they're wishing cards to send/bless the self and others with good fortune. The Zooming Japan blog has a brilliant write up about these gorgeous cards if you want more information. Buddhist and Shinto shrines have them, as do temples. 

Similar to these ema are chains of paper cranes that people fold and leave for similar reasons. Japanese legend has it that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by the gods. This was something I'd learned about as a student in elementary school and was later reinforced when we made our way to Hiroshima.

 

And obviously there's sake casks. I'm not sure why they're in front of places of worship but there you have it:

Everywhere you look, there's places for moments of quiet repose. 

The view up to Kiyomizu Temple, one of the 17 UNESCO temples: the entire area and neighbourhood surrounding this temple is also protected, making the atmosphere feel like you've stepped back in time. 

The shrine is home to a lot of history, a Japanese expression similar to 'to take the plunge' and a waterfall with apparently wish-granting powers. 

Kimono Spotting 

And once you've had enough temples, or fancy seeing the temples in more traditional dress, you can hire a kimono, shoes and a woman to do your makeup up, old-school style. And then walk around with your friends, family, closest acquaintances for hours.  It's fabulous: 

Traditional: 

Family-style: 

Hipster chic: 

Paul was very jealous: 

Gyoza Eating 

And last but certainly not least, eating delicious Japanese food. Japan is no stranger to delicacy--it's home to the most Michelin stars in the world and at this point in the trip we'd had sushi, sashimi, ramen, okonomiyaki. Gyoza had barely registered but a cursory glance on TripAdvisor revealed that Kyoto's number one eatery was a short walk away from our hotel. 

This is how we ended up at Chao Chao Sanjo Kiyamachi, a tiny, unpretentious gyoza restaurant right off the river tributary running through the middle of the city. From the outside, it looked like nothing. But once we found it, we noticed the omnipresent queue that wrapped around the door and down the street. So we decided to go at slightly off-meal time.

My goodness. They served gyoza every which way--fried, boiled, curry flavoured. I love dumplings. I love this place. And their staff. And the entire experience. 

Thank you, Kyoto. You rock.