Pretty much the only other things to see in or near Hiroshima were a castle, which had been decimated by the bomb and was a reconstruction, and the UNESCO shrine and floating torii gate on sacred Miyajima island, which is supposed to be one of Japan's "Three Great Sites." I decided to just go to the island, so I took a tram to the port, which took nearly an hour, and then a five minute ferry ride to the island.
It was a neat little island, but very touristy and somehow less impressive than I'd imagined. Deer roam free on the island because they're sacred in Shinto Buddhism, as they are messengers of the gods but they seem to just annoy and pester people. They were kind of cute and I wanted to feed one but then I remembered how I feel about tourists feeding seagulls in Morro Bay (disdainful) and imagined that the residents there probably felt the same about the deer, so I refrained. I have to admit though, that I did laugh at a man being followed mercilessly by a pack of deer because, for some strange reason, he had several loaves of bread in his backpack.
The Torii gate was kind of cool to see but it didn't particularly inspire me. It was supposed to be best at around 10 a.m. that day, due to the tide (when the bottom would be completely covered and it would appear to really float), but I still refuse to get up early unless something is actually unavailable at any other time, not just "better," so I was there around 12, when there was about a foot of grungy lichen at the base of the shrine but the rest was covered, and I felt totally comfortable with that. I don't think seeing it bobbing under one more foot of water would've been worth two extra hours.
I felt similarly impressed but uninspired at Itsukushima shrine, another UNESCO site but was lucky enough to catch part of a free Noh or Kyogen mask performance, which was actually a bit boring, but I was happy to see it anyways.
I wandered around for a bit, then went to Senjokaku, a wooden hall/shrine with some interesting paintings mounted on the beams and looked at the nearby five-storied pagoda, then walked back towards the port through the small village mostly populated by souvenir shops.
On the way, I passed the world's largest giant wooden spoon, as Miyajima is famous for this type of rice spoon, oddly enough. I also bought a warm, freshly made red bean paste momiji manju, a pastry in the shape of a maple leaf with various fillings. Red bean paste is the traditional filling, but after taking a bite of mine, and remembering that I don't really care for red bean paste, I threw that away and bought a custard filled one, which was delicious.
On my way back to the hostel to pick up my things before getting the train to Osaka, I stopped at the Memorial and dropped off a few paper cranes I'd made last night.
I decided that I didn't want to rush in my traveling so I left the hostel where I'd left my backpack at 4:30, hoping to catch a 5:15 train from the station, which I had to take the tram to. I got to the train station at about 5:10 and saw other tourists running. I didn't want to. I knew there was a good chance I'd miss it, but I'd checked previously and there was another train at 6:15 so I'd just catch that one. Walking calmly through the station, I saw that the train was still there but had trouble figuring out the gate, which I finally figured was platform 14. It was 5:14, so I gave in and ran about 50 feet but then waited calmly behind people on the escalator and walked quickly onto the train in the nearest car, after checking that the train was the one I wanted. The doors closed behind me about ten seconds later, as I was asking an attendant where the non reserved seats were. So I made it anyway, and didn't have to feel stressed. Laura: 1, Train: 0.
From the time I left my hostel in Hiroshima to the time I arrived at my hostel in Osaka, it took me just two hours and forty minutes, amazing considering they're 175 miles apart.
After settling in, I decided that, even though it was a Sunday night, I wanted to go out and have a couple of drinks. There was also a part of Osaka, Dotonbori, that was supposed to be especially cool and "Blade Runner" -esque at night so I decided I'd go there. I got ready and was at the door putting my shoes on when I heard some other people from the hostel mentioning going out. I asked them if they were going out drinking, if they were leaving soon and where they were going. "Yes, yes, we don't really know- Dotonbori," they said, so I joined them and we left. They were three other Americans; a sister, Renee, her brother, Darian, and his friend, whose name, I think, was Josh. That sounds right. They were all there for a three week vacation and said they were having a great time.
Anyway, so we got to Dotonbori and passed this building, which I really liked, and then went over to an Irish Pub.
I got an almost Snakebite; half Strongbow, half Fullers (but no blackcurrent) and fish and chips since I hadn't had any dinner. Afterwards, we walked past these, which I had to get a picture with,
and several "love hotels" (pay by the hour places that are very popular in Korea and Japan and often have themed and zany rooms, though I didn't get to see any). They really, really liked to take pictures, so I took this of Darian next to one.
We wandered through "American Village," passing a mini Statue of Liberty because we wanted to go to Absinthe Cafe (totally logical, right?). There, Josh and Darian tried absinthe fully, while Renee just had water, and I had an Absinthe Sour that was good, but a bit, well, too sour. We all split the cost of a ride back to the hostel so it came out to about $3-4 each and went to bed.
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