Before I start, day one ended with a quick trip to Okonomi-monogatari-ekimae-hiroba to have my first real Hiroshima okonomiyaki in 6 years. I went up to 6F in the elevator, and when I came out, it was exactly as I expected. Lots of counter seats, attached to many okonomiyaki restaurants all lined up in a long loop. I took one walk around the loop, and got yelled at by most of the stores with less/no customers eating. Finally, I stopped at one store, because I thought the guy had an interesting approach.

…and sure enough, there were 6 cups with various amounts of water on the counter. Now, I’d passed this place just minutes before, and I know there was no one there – they would put things down to make it look like people had JUST left (hand towels, cups of water, etc). I thought, “what the hell”, and chose this place.

They had this one option – called the “Toku-supe”, which was short for “Special Special” (that’s the only way I can translate it. And you wonder why Engrish is a problem..?) – it was on the pricey side but I figured, why not. It had a whole bunch of things – squid, tempura shrimp, bacon, mochi, etc – and obviously, since it’s Hiroshima-style, it also came with two eggs and yakisoba.

I patiently waited for them to make it, and took photos in the meantime. The low lighting meant that a whole bunch of them, whilst looking fine on the camera’s LCD, were actually blurry. I have to remember to be more careful next time. But a few of the photos survived my (lack of) skills.

When it was ready, they slid it over to me and I started eating. The chef told me to add some wasabi, which I hesitated on doing at first. But he was really insistent, so I added just a bit.

…OMG TASTE SENSATION, the guy was right, the wasabi really added to the flavor. I really didn’t think it’d go together that well!

So I finished eating, and drinking, and engaged in conversation with the shop attendants. Everyone wants to know more about Australia once I mention I’m from Sydney. It was getting late, so I excused myself and went back to the hotel.

I was sorting through photos and doing some light planning, and ended up sleeping at 2am.

***

So, this morning, I woke up and looked at the clock. 9:54am. Sweet. Back to sleep.

One minute later, my eyes flew open.

5 minutes later, I was dragging my haphazardly packed suitcase back towards Hiroshima Station. I don’t know what happened to my alarm. I assume I didn’t just wake up and switch it off… who knows. Anyway, when I got to the station, I realised I had not enough spare change to use the coin locker. Luckily, there was a change machine there.

Unluckily, I had neither 1000 yen notes or 500 yen coins.

Needed to find something close by to buy something, so I could get change.

I got myself a Sausage & Egg McGriddle set, which made me so happy – it’s my favorite McDonalds breakfast menu item of all time, and since we don’t have them in Australia, I can only get them when I come here (my North American readers are probably chortling right about now). I somehow dragged my suitcase into the narrow restaurant, causing adequate commotion to have everybody turn and look at me…

After enjoying the McGriddle, I went back to the coin locker area and put my bag back into the big locker. Then I hopped on a train bound for Miyajima, slightly later than planned.

Miyajima, an island just a short train and ferry away from Hiroshima city, is my favorite “tourist-y” destination in Japan. I am not taken in by the Itsukushima Shrine as are most people that go there; but rather I loved the floating tori’i and exploring the smaller shrines further up the mountain. This is exactly what I spent the next 4 hours doing – albeit very slowly, because it was hot, and I kept stopping for refreshment. (Also, I need to carry a facetowel or something for the sweat..)

Anyway, the moment I got off the train, I tried to take a photo only to find my SD card wasn’t in the camera. I started to get irritated with myself. Sit down, empty contents of smaller bag into bigger bag, found it in one of the obscure side pockets of one of the bags. Grr. Rearrange bag and continued on my way.

I stopped in front of an awesome viewpoint of the tori’i, and started to take photos. I felt a rustling next to me, and found a deer’s head poking through my Country Road bag, as if to say

I headed towards Itsukushima, with the blazing sun in my face. In retrospect, it probably wasn’t actually THAT hot, just that there was still a humidity in the air and the sun was really shining. Occasionally, a sea breeze would blow and I would stop and take it in, before the heat came back. When I got to the shrine gates, I then and there decided that I didn’t need to see Itsukushima again (some would be so shocked at this concept). Instead, I decided to head towards Daishoin.

Daishoin is one of my favorites, if not my favorite here in Japan. It’s nestled high in the mountains, and very few tourists seem to know of its existence. Also, the first time I was here, I had a somewhat stilted but very deep conversation with a monk working in the temple. I didn’t see him this time, but did manage to see the hundreds of little statues, each and every one of them unique, many of them providing a social commentary of sorts. I mucked around with my camera for quite a while, changing settings, lenses, and filters, just to take as many photos as I could of these statues.

After wandering around Daishoin, I decided to head further up the mountain, just taking in the sights and sounds. There were amazing view of the coastline, although they were far too framed by trees to be photo worthy. When I arrived at the next park, I realised that it was somewhat late, and that I should really start descending the mountain. What a shame. I made a mental note to come back again, and head straight up the mountain towards the top. If only I had woken up earlier…

But it’s okay. On my way back down I went for a stroll through the little marketplace and bought some momiji-manju (maple leaf shaped custard puff-like things with various fillings) for my workmates, and one single one to try myself. I would have gotten a nigiri-ten (type of fishcake wrapped in various things, i.e. cheese, bacon, etc, and deep fried) except there was this intense line forming at the place I like to eat at, so I had to give up on that too.

So I headed back on the ferry, and back into Hiroshima city. I fell asleep on the train, sure enough, and woke up at Hiroshima station, which caused more brief panic as I scrambled to get off the train before the doors closed.

With only 40 minutes or so left, I collected my bags and headed back into the shinkansen station to get a reserved seat. Once again, the shinkansen I intended to take was full, so I had to make do with another one that arrived 20 minutes later. I asked the reservations officer to find me a window seat, if possible, and she obliged! (I wanted to use the power points on the train)

So, at this point,  I had some time to kill, two phones that needed charging, and a heavy suitcase. Where does one go in this kind of situation?

Yeah, back to McDonalds I went.

This time I had the Icon Chicken Salt & Lemon burger set, which was on promo. I love McDonalds here, compared to Australia. The products are not so oily, and taste like actual food – unlike Australia, where everything tastes mass produced and made by 14 year olds. Also, the service is insanely good here.

After eating, I had enough time for a cigarette or two, then I headed to the shinkansen platform. Hopped on the train, and edited most of the previous day’s photos on there. Then, exactly 1 hour and 10 minutes later, I found myself in Hakata (Fukuoka).

***

So, I thought that the further away from Osaka you get, the more “country” things get. I don’t know why the hell I thought that.

Fukuoka is an incredibly lively and bustling city, much like Tokyo, with large buildings everywhere you turn. I now understand why the guidebooks have practically nothing other than shopping areas listed in their Fukuoka sections. Upon leaving the station (which is VERY swoosh inside as well), it was really easy to find my hotel. I got my keys, dropped off my bags, and then showered because I was really sticky from the long day.

Headed out back to Hakata station, and just wasted the next few hours window shopping. Came back to the hotel, did some washing (before I run out of clothes). Went to bed reasonably early. Pretty average kinda night, save for the people in this place speaking a language (dialect) I barely understand…