Okayama and Osaka day one: The famous Osaka aquarium, an awesome streetshow, Americamura, and Dotonbori

We left Kei's house first thing in the morning, and immediately Sophie made friends with yet another small kid who ended up giving her one of his toys as a present, a finger puppet from a famous cartoon in Japan, Anpanman.

We had a 3-hour train ride to Okayama, most of which we all spent sleeping (score!) We had been to the famous Okayama gardens on our last trip, and it was beautiful, but we knew it would be stunning this time because of the sakura, which it was.

We walked back to the train station, because we just love walking through Japan! There are very few days that we don't express (to each other) how much we love this country. We took a direct train to Osaka and located our hostel, J-Hoppers, in the Fukushima area (not where the tsunami hit, it's a neighborhood in Osaka).

The area is GORGEOUS, a narrow street with a bunch of restaurants and, apparently, this is the "hip place for young people" - or that's what was written on a local map. :-)

The hostel itself is great - the staff is awesome and the room is really big for a hostel - no small thing when you are traveling with a baby. There is even a bathtub here (score!) though Sophie keeps crying in it. The bed is comfortable, and Sophie still subscribes to the 80-20 rule: She gets 80% of the bed, and we get 20%.

She kicks us a lot at night, but we don't mind - we just turn our backs AND PRETEND IT IS A FREE THAI MASSAGE. Are you jealous yet?

By the time we got in, it was time for dinner and sleep (for Sophie), and we got ourselves some delicious food for a stupid price at the 7-Eleven 2 buildings down.

The next morning, we started our day at the Osaka aquarium since it was raining, though we had planned it anyway. Sophie LOVES animals (and, really, any nature), and the Osaka aquarium is apparently #2 in the world - and we can see why!

Even though it was drizzling, there was an AMAZING street show going on outside. While we don't generally stop to watch people juggling, this guy was HILARIOUS. We didn't understand a single word he was saying, but we couldn't stop laughing - it was like watching a dubbed samurai movie! You can watch the video here: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rRbi75-0P0I.

The aquarium itself was spectacular - they built it in a way that you don't feel like you are watching fish in a tank, but in their natural habitat.

And Sophie went BALLISTIC. She wouldn't stop laughing and shrieking with joy, and even pushing other people out of the way so she could see more. About an hour or so in, she lay her head on a chair and fell asleep 2 minutes later on Rony.

We then went to have some lunch at the mall next door, and ended up at an all-you-can-eat BBQ place that was sooooooo delicious! You take any meat or veggie you'd like, dip it in tempura, and into the oil it goes! Wow, that place was awesome.

Our next stop was Americamura and Dotonbori, two areas that are great for people-watching. Talia bought some bento gear at the 100 Yen shop (like a $1 store) and we really enjoyed just looking around and seeing all the random and nifty shops all around - they even have a whole booth dedicated solely to clothes for dogs!

Here are the pics we took from these 2 days - we are clearly taking less pictures than before :-) https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152703332520364.1073741831.906005363&type=3

Okayama, Hiroshima, and Miyajima - beauty and devastation in a 24-hour period

So we left Kyoto not without regrets. We really enjoyed this city and the people there. We were now ready for Hiroshima. But before that, we planned on going to Himeji-jo (Himeji Castle). Unfortunately, the castle is under renovation until 2015! And a big bash is covering it. So there was no point in going there. Good thing they have a live web cam and Rony checked it out ahead of time!

Instead, we went to Okayama which has beautiful gardens and a castle, and a funny legend about a Peach Boy. The train was half a hour late due to snow, and we really wanted to see Hiroshima Memorial Museum, so we had to shorten our visit there.

We only saw Korakuen Garden. It was beautiful, even if it was winter. We have to say, though, we are getting sick of being told how beautiful it is during cherry blossom season. We know, but we're here in the winter, so we're going to enjoy it as is. The truth is that this particular garden was full of green, unlike some of the other gardens we saw, so we didn't feel like we missed out at all.

Korakuen Garden in Okayama

 At one point, Talia and Shanainai left for Hiroshima to make it in time to see the museum, and Rony had time to visit the castle (U-jo), but it was a bit disappointing: The castle is very small, especially compared to Nijo-jo from the day before, and all the explanations were in Japanese.

U-Jo Castle in Okayama

We finally arrived in Hiroshima, but the trains were still delayed and we happened to arrive too late for the museum. But at least the Memorial Park and the A-Bomb Dome are open all the time so we saw that.

Talia and Shanainai were especially moved by being in the city. Rony was as well, but for the girls it was a bit more personal - it was THEIR country that caused all that destruction and death. It is locally referred to as a holocaust so it definitely gave us all a new perspective on the event.

View of the A-bomb dome from Peace Memorial Park in the evening

As Talia and Shanainai walked toward the A-Bomb dome, it was incredible to them to know that they are standing at the exact spot where the first atomic bomb was dropped. It was HERE. It's hard to put into words, but it's overwhelming, especially when you see how the entire city was completely flattened. In essence, every building you can see in the whole city is under 65 years old. Just incredible.

A-bomb dome

After the A-bomb dome, we walked through Peace Memorial Park. There are quite a few memorials there (and lining the river path to the dome), and one of them was the Children's Peace Monument, based on the story of Sadako Sasaki. You can read about her story here (it's worth the click).

Children's Peace Monument - in Memory of Sadako Sasaki and all the children who died as a result of the bomb

The other main monuments are the Peace Flame, which will burn continuously until every last nuclear weapon in the world is disposed of, and the Memorial Cenotaph, which Rony though resembled looking through the rifle sight, because when you look through it, you can see the A-Bomb Dome.

The Cenotaph, then the Peace Flame, and the A-bomb Dome in green behind it

After that, we were ready for dinner and we decided to go near our hostel to a place where they make okonomiaki (the Japanese pancake we previously told you about). But the service there was the worst we've had in Japan: We waited 30 minutes between each dish. Since we were 3 people, it took 1 hour and a half to get everybody's dishes. Plus Talia and Shanainai had no luck in the choice of their orders: The dishes they took were small and they finally had to order the dish Rony had: Hiroshima special. He had no idea what was in his okonomiaki, but he wanted some local speciality and it was delicious :)

Bottom line: Always choose the simplest :)

Now we were ready for bed since the next day we had a long day: Miyajima and several hours on the train to Yawatahama.

We started our day early enough to see as much of Miyajima as possible in the half day we were able to be there. After an hour and a half ride from our hostel to Miyajima (street car, train, and ferry) we were lucky so see the beautiful O-torii:

View from O-torii from the ferry

We got off at the port and received a warm welcome from the deer there. Well, not that welcome since we didn't have any food to give them.

O-torii

After a 10-minute walk to the shrine, we took a couple of pictures in front of the tori and went to find the ropeway to Mt. Misen, the highest point in Miyajima. After a 15-minute walk uphill (Talia: "Are we there yet? Are you sure it's the way?"  Rony: "Yeah, yeah, don't worry") we finally found the ropeway. We took the return ticket (1800 Yen) and started to climb the mountain. The ropeway actually consists of 2 sections: A small cabine most of the way till Kayatani station and then a change to a bigger cabine which climbs less frequently. Once at the Shishiiwa station, the view there is beautiful:

View from Mt. Misen

And the signs are funny:

Important instructions at the top of Mt. Misen

Important instructions at the top of Mt. Misen

Important instructions at the top of Mt. Misen

You feel like you're the king (or queen) of the world:

I'm queen of the world!!!!

We didn't climb all the way to the top because we had to get back and take the train, but the way to the top is half an hour in each direction and has a lot of shrines and sculptures on the way.

We then get to the island's main shopping street (Omotesando) and we tried several local specialities: Grilled oysters (well, Rony did), eel and vegetable bun, and a local cake called Momiji manju:

Grilled oysters

Talia trying Momiji Manju

Momiji manju models so we can choose what we like

Eel- and vegetable-filled buns (which really ARE so tasty!)

And we saw one of the local highlights: The biggest rice scoop in the world!!!

Biggest rice scoop in the world!!!!!!

You know you're jealous. We'll give you a moment to sulk.

After all these emotions, we got back to the ferry but we were already late for our train to Yawatahama. So we took the next one and said goodbye to Shanainai who was returning to Tokyo and back home.

The train to Yawatahama is actually 3 trains that we had to take in order to get there: A train to Okayama that felt like home by now, a train to Matsuyama which is 3 hours just by itself, and a train to Yawatahama. Altogether 5 hours. There is a shorter way to get to Matsuyama, by ferry, but it was not covered by the JR Pass and it would not have saved us much time anyway.

We had an incredible welcome in Yawatahama, but we will tell you about that in our next post.

Pics from Okayama, Hiroshima, and Miyajima:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=610786&id=906005363&l=88472afed2