Hiroshima, part 2

After my visit to the Peace Memorial Park, I checked into my hostel. To my surprise, they had Japanese-style dorm rooms... have a look:

After that, I wandered around the city some more and found that there are very nice cherry blossom vistas in Hiroshima, too:

The next day, I took a ferry to Miyajima island. The most famous attraction there is Itsukushima shrine that seems to be floating in the water during high tide.

When I got there, the tide was already on its way out, so I got a good look at how this floating is accomplished:

Apparently, the date of my visit coincided with a festival held at the shrine. As far as I could tell, the main part of the festival was that there were Noh plays being held on the floating stage in the shrine.

Noh play on the floating stage in Itsukushima shrine

The play consisted of lots of chanting supported by some drums and a flute. I didn't stay very long because I didn't understand anything, but there were quite a few people sitting in the audience.


My next stop was the Buddhist temple Daisho-in. The temple had a very nice atmosphere, consisting of several buildings on a hillside. In one part of its garden, they have collected numerous small Buddha status - one from each of the 88 temples in the Shikoku pilgrimage.

Right next to the temple entrance, there is the beginning of one of the three paths leading up Mt. Misen. It takes a little less than 90 minutes to walk to the top at 535 meters above sea level. The reward? Stunning views of Hiroshima and the islands surrounding Miyajima! Though, admittedly, it would have been even more stunning if it hadn't been a little foggy. But still, I enjoyed the view a lot :-)

For the way down, I chose the lazy option: there is a ropeway leading up the mountain that removes about three quarters of the hike. Near the ropeway station, I found these signs:

Apparently, they have a few problems with monkey-tourist interaction. I didn't see any monkeys, however (and not that many tourists, either).

Before going back to Osaka on the next day, I had enough time to pay a visit to the lovely Shukkeien garden. Very beautiful cherry blossoms (and tons of other flowers, too).

Shukkeien garden

Right next to Shukkeien garden, there is the Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum. I really enjoyed the artwork displayed there, which included some very interesting pieces from Max Ernst's Histoire Naturelle (do a Google image search and have a close look at his technique!) and, of course, Dali's Dream of Venus.

On the way to the garden, I noticed some people staring into the sky... so I turned to see if there was anything interesting - and there was:

Great halo around the sun

Hiroshima, part 1: Peace Memorial Park

After I had been to Nagasaki a couple of weeks ago, I had to visit Hiroshima as well, of course.

The first thing I did when I got there was to visit the Peace Memorial Park. The first thing you see when you get off the tram is the A-bomb dome - the untouched ruins of a building that stood near the bomb's hypocenter and that was one of the very few buildings that were not entirely destroyed. Wikipedia has a photograph of how the building looked originally. Apparently, there are three main reasons why part of the building remained standing: first, it was very close to the hypocenter, so most of the blast came from straight above, and not at an angle. Second, the many windows gave the blast an easy exit out of the building so that it didn't have to take down the walls. And third, the middle part's cylindrical shape is actually a very stable shape.

Atomic bomb dome

How do I know all this? Well, as I approached the A-bomb dome, a volunteer guide offered to take me around for free. She said she does it to improve her English (which I thought was pretty good already), and her knowledge of everything connected to the atomic bomb was really impressive.

Paper cranes in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

After the short tour I continued through the peace park. At one point, I saw many glass cases, such as the one above, filled with the same colorful ribbons that I had already seen in Nagasaki. Only this time, I stopped to take a closer look - and noticed that they are not ribbons at all! Instead, they are many, many folded paper cranes fit into each other. These chains of paper cranes are ubiquitous in Hiroshima and Nagasaki - pretty impressive work by all the people who folded them!

Cenotaph in the peace park

The cenotaph in the peace park is aligned with the A-bomb dome, the peace flame, and the peace museum such that they are all on one line. A side note about the peace flame (it's visible in the picture, but you need to look closely!): it has been burning continuously since it was first lit in 1964, and the goal is to keep it burning until all atomic weapons on Earth have been dismantled. If time travel was possible, I'd be really curious as to the date when this happens. I fear it is a long time away...

My final stop in the peace park was the peace museum. The exhibit that moved me most was a set of two models of central Hiroshima - one showing houses, roads and bridges before the bombing, and the other showing the same region after. Have a look for yourself:

It still blows my mind when I think about how humans are capable of doing that to other humans.

Sweets (5)

I saved the "special" sweets for the last post in this series. These are mostly souvenirs, which you can easily identify by their elaborate packaging. Bringing souvenir sweets from a trip is what the Japanese do instead of sending postcards. So there are plenty of shops selling these sweets around sights, train stations, and airports.

These are sweets are apparently only sold in Kyoto. Slightly sweet dough triangles, available with various fillings (this was sakura - cherry blossoms). Nice, but not sweet enough to be my favorite ;-)

A souvenir from the Tokyo sky tree. The taste is pretty much what you'd expect, but the packaging is a little over the top...

Cute packaging, huh? The bear heads were very good, but compared to the size of the box, there were not enough of them in there ;-)

Another souvenir from Tokyo Disneyland. Basically standard chocolate in a cute shape - wasting an incredible amount of packaging material...

This is... NOT a birthday cake. It may look like one, but it is, in fact, a Christmas cake. Never heard of Christmas cakes? Well, me neither. But apparently they are hugely popular in Japan.

Sweets (4)

These seem to be very popular, but intended rather as a meal replacement than as a snack. The taste is quite bland - I don't really get why people would eat these instead of a real meal, when there are so many take-out options available.

Dried strips of some kind of fish. These are sold in lots of different colors and shapes. I didn't really like them, however...

These are probably the sweets with the blandest taste I've ever encountered. Not good.

Seems I kept all the bad sweets for the end... but wait! There is one more post coming up ;-)

Sweets (3)

As I later found out, these are not intended as snacks that you just grab and eat. Instead, they are used as a kind of edible plate during festivals, and usually come with a heap of noodles or something on top.

Peanuts. With various crusts. Very delicious!

Well, it says so on the packaging, and they tasted like it, too: standard Baumkuchen (or pyramid cake, according to my dictionary)

I was so damn sure that these would be sweet. But, alas, I was wrong. Damn! I didn't really like them... maybe because they didn't meet my expectations?

These are snacks rather than sweets, but incredibly delicious! I ate more than one package during my time here...

Sweets (2)

Consistency and taste were similar to doughnuts, but not super sweet.

As you might derive from the word "squid snack" on the packaging, these were in fact not sweet. But delicious nonetheless! And, compared to potato chips, very low in fat.

Some kind of potato chips, I think. Only... sweet.

These had a slight lemony taste, very good.

They may not look like it, but they tasted excactly like chocolate-covered puffed rice. Not what I was expecting at the time... but a very nice surprise. Mmmh!

In a plane with infants...

Today, I had the opportunity to do a first-hand observation of the difference between parents who are well-prepared for a flight with their infant and those who are not.

On my flight to Tokyo, there were two couples sitting just across the aisle from me, each with an infant in pre-walking age. During most of the flight, everything was fine - just until that moment when the plane started descending.

The smart (well-prepared) parents had a bottle ready and kept feeding their kid until the plane had landed. Smooth.

The other couple didn't do anything, and - surprise, surprise - their kid started crying due to ear pain very soon. Their reaction can only be described as helpless: first they simply held the child and tried to calm it down, but with every passing minute their efforts became more hectic. Patting it on the back, lifting it up, stroking its head, having it look out the window, patting its back a little faster and harder, etc etc.

I couldn't help but wonder - didn't they think of doing a simple google search (something along the lines of "flying with kids") before the flight? And also, why don't airlines prepare some hints for parents who indicate they will be traveling with an infant? That way, a lot of ear pain could be prevented - not only in the kids' ears, but also in the ears of their fellow travelers...

Sweets (1)

I promised a blog post about Japanese sweets a long time ago... well, I discovered that I have collected enough pictures for about five posts. So, here they come:

These look like french fries. Appearances are deceiving though - the only similarity to french fries is the raw material - sweet potatoes, in this case. You can't really see it in the picture, but the potato sticks were coated with some sugary stuff, not as sweet as I would have expected, but not bad overall.

I have no idea what these are made from. But they were delicious. And sweet.

Mini-doughnuts, what can I say. Very good!

Some sort of biscuit with peanut butter inside. A little sweet, but overall - too bland for my taste.

The leaf is edible, apparently. Inside the leaf is a white ball (no idea what it's made of) filled with red bean paste. Seems to be a very popular sweet because it's sold everywhere... it wasn't bad, but somehow not entirely my taste ;-)

Yaeyama

Yaeyama is the name of Japan's westernmost island group that is by far closer to Taiwan than mainland Japan. I based myself in a small hostel on the main island, Ishigaki.

Ishigaki

I spent what was left of the travel day checking out the city, but it wasn't very spectacular. A little outside of the city, I found this Chinese tomb which commemorates some 100 Chinese laborers that were killed here in the 19th century:

The Toujin Grave in Ishigaki

In the evening, the hostel offered a tour to visit fireflies. I had seen many fireflies in New Zealand, but these were of a different kind: they blinked, and apparently only for an hour or so every evening. A fascinating atmosphere, very tranquil and with many small blinking, moving lights. No chance to photograph them without a tripod, of course, but pictures probably wouldn't do them justice anyway.

Taketomi

On the next day, I took a ferry to Taketomi island. The weather was gorgeous again (sunburn, stage 3... seems I never learn from my mistakes ;-)), so I took another long walk along the island coast, enjoying beautiful butterflies and beaches.

On my way back, I came across some of these guys:

Ishigaki-beef-to-be, apparently. I ate some later that day and have to say that it was delicious.

Taketomi island is famous for its red-thatched houses - anyone who wants to build a new house here must agree to have a red roof. The view from the lookout tower in the middle of the village is pretty spectacular (the island you can see in the distance is Iriomote):

Iriomote

Iriomote was my destination for day 3. I signed up for a half-day kayaking and hiking tour to the Pinaisara waterfall. On the way to the river, we saw this beautiful crested serpent eagle sitting on a power line just next to the road:

I have to say, I love kayaking. Looking at the untouched nature (Mangrove forests, in this case) on the shore and knowing that kayaking is the only way to get there... Hearing nature's sounds, only disturbed by the gentle sounds of the paddles... Relaxing my hands in the cool river water as you slowly drift towards the next bend... Exactly my idea of fun! (or one of them, anyway :-))

Pinaisara waterfall

In the afternoon, I took a boat up Urauchi river to see two other waterfalls. If I needed another reason to be convinced that tourism in all of Japan took a big hit after the earthquake, it would have been this: I was the only customer in that boat! I'm guessing the boat was big enough for at least 50 people...

The waterfalls weren't all that spectacular after all, but on the hike there I met this lovely guy:

He was shy at first and disappeared when I came close, but then came out again and let me take pictures... gorgeous!

On my way back to the ferry, the tide had almost completely gone out and revealed how small mangrove trees manage to stay upright in sandy and muddy ground:

Ishigaki

My last day in Ishigaki was spent on the kayaking and snorkeling tour I wrote about earlier. To top it off, I watched a beautiful sunset on a nearby beach.

Okinawa

For the first part of my subtropical holiday in Okinawa, I stayed in Naha, the biggest city on the main island.

Naha

I arrived when it was just getting dark and therefore didn't see much on the first day. The next day I spent sightseeing in Naha (and getting sunburnt because I underestimated the sun... again).

Apparently, Okinawa is famous for its pottery. There is a nice pottery museum and an entire street consisting solely of pottery shops. The museum showed a pretty interesting film about how the various pottery items are made, starting from the preparation of clay, to modeling and shaping, glazing, decorating and burning. Some of the items really look amazing - the lions, for example - and can also be seen on many houses and fences in Okinawa.

Another interesting site is Shuri Castle. Up until the 19th century the Okinawan islands did not belong to Japan, but formed a separate kingdom, the Ryukyu kingdom. Shuri Castle was their palace. Unfortunately, the original castle was destroyed in WWII, so all buildings are pretty recent reconstructions. Nevertheless, it was interesting to see how the Ryukyu architecture and decorations leaned more towards the Chinese, and not the Japanese style.

After Shuri Castle, I went to see the Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum. The museum is very well-designed and covers the entire history of Okinawa, from its earliest beginnings until now.

My final stop for that day was the beach - I was on a subtropical island, after all. However, the only beach within easy walking distance turned out not to be of the postcard-perfect kind. Instead of a gorgeous view over the ocean, the beach had a gorgeous view of... the elevated highway that crosses the bay directly in front of the beach. Less than optimal, as far as beach vistas go.

Zamami

On the second day, I took advantage of the beautiful weather and made a day trip to Zamami island. I started with a long hike along the coastal road, walking about halfway around the island. Then I turned inland and climbed the island's highest peak, Mt. Takatsuki at about 140m above sea level. The nature on Zamami is incredibly beautiful. The lush forests were brimming with life (though most of the time I was the only human around), and the sounds of birds and insects were the only sounds to be heard.

In addition to that, there were many, many gorgeous butterflies and stunning views. Amazing!

I finished the day with a bit of sunbathing (getting sunburn, stage 2) at one of the island's great beaches.

Ocean Expo Park

Finally, my third and last day turned out to be rather cold and rainy - perfect weather for a visit to indoor places, such as the aquarium and the other museums in the Ocean Expo Park. I had initially thought the park would be great to fill half a day, but a reality check of location and bus timetables quickly expanded this to a full day, including roughly six hours of bus travel.

The Ocean Expo Park is a rather big park which contains a few museums and some outdoor exhibits. Throughout the park, you can see cute animals made from flowers, such as this owl:

I already wrote about my thoughts of Churaumi aquarium in another blog post, so I won't repeat myself here. After the aquarium, I went to the Tropical Dream Center, which is basically a museum exhibiting tropical plants and flowers. What can I say - I love flowers, and I love colors, and this place combined the two! They had tons of orchids in almost every color imaginable, and several flowers I had never seen before. Gorgeous!