It was another early start in Hiroshima as we pulled into Hiroshima Station at 6am. Knowing it was too early to even store our bags at our guesthouse we looked for the nearest Starbucks to satiate our caffeine cravings. Unfortunately for us the Starbucks wasn’t due to open till 7am (second time in Japan this had been an issue) so it was a whole hour of standing around before we could even find somewhere to sit down. We surfed the net and caffeinated for an hour before setting out on the 3km walk to our guesthouse. For 2 people who have always claimed not to be hikers we were getting pretty good at walking with our packs in ever increasingly large increments. Lucky for us our guesthouse, Casa Viento (¥4170/$50.55 AUD/38.10 USD per night for a studio apartment) were willing to store our bags for the day (we were staying in an apartment so we weren’t sure this would be the case) and at 8.30am they opened the doors with big smiles and let us know that we could check in earlier and they’d put our bags in our room for us as soon as the room was clean and ready. This still left us with quite a few hours so we headed into the centre of Hiroshima to start exploring. We saw the Atomic Bomb Dome from a mile away in such a stark contrast to the modern skyline that surrounded it. Interestingly though, there was a real sense of peace in the air and the dome was framed across the river by branches of cherry blossoms just starting to bloom. Hiroshima is a city I have felt I needed to visit since I read a book called Hiroshima No Pika when I was a kid. It was a children’s picture book about what happened on August 6th 1945 and the story has stuck with me my whole life. Arriving at the Peace Park and seeing the dome it brings a sense of reality to what happened but also the beauty of the memorial and the real sense of forgiveness you get. The Peace Park has a number of things to check out from the incredibly moving museum (I’m not going to lie I shed more than a few tears), the cenotaph dedicated to the victims, the peace bell, the children’s monument where people donate thousands of paper cranes and the hall of remembrance. Despite being knackered we didn’t leave the Peace Park until 3pm after having walked for hours. We probably could have stayed longer but our weary legs wouldn’t carry us and we stumbled back to our apartment. The next morning we decided to head back to the centre of town and because it was a Sunday we thought we’d check out the once weekly samurai show on at Hiroshima Castle. The grounds of Hiroshima Castle are free and on Sundays at 1pm and 3pm there is the most entertaining (in one of those 90’s romcom kind of ways) free performance which is somewhere between samurai/ninjas meets the Backstreet Boys. Totally worth it, if not only to check out the groupies who know all the words and actions to the songs. The grounds of this castle are really pretty and would be a nice spot for a picnic. We were also lucky enough to be there just as the cherry blossoms were really starting to bloom and even as two people who aren’t that into flowers, we were starting to understand the giddiness of all the Japanese people around us when walking under all the sakura suddenly bursting into life. It really is a beautiful sight that does feel just a little bit magical. Hiroshima was quickly becoming our favourite city in Japan. It’s strange the feeling of peace you get there. I think Dani and I were kind of expecting a very sad and dark vibe due to the nature of what happened there. We had been to Auschwitz a few years prior and there is a feeling of despair in the air there and we both thought Hiroshima would perpetuate but it was completely different. Contrary to the despair of Auschwitz there was a feeling of hope, peacefulness and tranquillity that abounded throughout the city. Our final full day it was time to check out Miyajima Island, which involved a tram to the ferry and then ferry to the island. Worth noting is that you can get a tram+ferry pass for the day which costs ¥820 ($10 AUD/7.50 USD) and gives you unlimited tram rides as well as a return ticket on the ferry. If you already have a JR pass though there is a train to the ferry terminal and a JR ferry you can catch all included in the price of the pass. There is plenty to do on Miyajima but the major attraction is the Itsukushima Shrine and its Inari gate. You don’t have to enter the shrine to see the gate but it is best to time your visit with the tide being in so that the gate appears to be floating on water (tide times can be got beforehand on the internet to ensure you’re there at the best point). While there, you can also check out the world’s largest rice spoon, which is worth a funny picture. Apart from this Miyajima is just pretty to walk around. It has a traditional setting although all the shops now sell generic souvenirs and there are good snacks to try as well. I’d say you only need to spend half a day on Miyajima unless you’re going to go up the mountain which you can either walk or take the cable car up. The weather the day we went wasn’t great, so we chose to give this a miss. We were sad to be leaving Hiroshima, as despite it being true about there not being a lot to do it had really captured us with its vibe and we could have easily just hung out there for a few more days. At this stage we were leaving Honshu and were going to be entering Kyushu, known for its thermal and volcanic activity. I hadn’t been able to find any information online about buses from Hiroshima to Fukuoka but it turns out it was really easy to get from one to the other. It cost ¥4150 ($50.65 AUD/38.15 USD) to get to Fukuoka’s Hakata Station from Hiroshima and was completely direct. It was here we checked into one of the worst hostels we’ve ever stayed in anywhere in the world. We are fairly tolerant when it comes to basic cheap accommodation (we once had to choose between proper flooring and window with panes of glass in Ecuador and in hindsight flooring should really be more of a priority) but in a country that prides itself on cleanliness, when is it ok to not change sheets between guests and just lint roll them instead..?! I am not kidding and the worst thing is we had already slept in someone/many someone elses skin cells and sweat for a night before we discovered this. Not only this, but some of the people we were sharing the dorm with had some of the worst hygiene habits of almost any people we’d ever encountered! I woke up to find a used sanitary napkin stuck above my head from the girl in the bunk beside me…I wish I was joking about this! We made the decision that we were too old for dorms now and after seeing out the dorm reservation we had made for a few weeks time, from that point on we were paying the extra for privacy and the guarantee of only each others questionable hygiene levels. Fukuoka itself is a strange city. It doesn’t have a lot to offer tourists but it can be used as a good base to see other things around the island. We hadn’t really done our research properly though because we had decided to use it for day trips to Kumamoto and Aso or Kagoshima. However, Kumamoto castle was heavily damaged in an earthquake in 2016 and Aso and Kagoshima were currently erupting in a way that made them a little too dangerous to visit (not if you were in Nicaragua). This meant we had a few days to enjoy the cherry blossoms, eat as much Matsuya as we could handle as we were about to loose it and chill out. We did find one day trip that we think was highly worth it and that was the trip to Yanagawa and Dazaifu that you can get a package for ¥2930 ($35.75 AUD/26.95 USD) which is transport on the train, shuttle to the boat trips and a boat trip around Yanagawa as well as vouchers for discounts on local delicacies. Dazaifu turned out to be our favourite location on this pass and it was only really a side thought to our Yanagawa trip. Dazaifu is a pretty little town with some beautiful temples and shrines to wander around. If you find yourself in Fukuoka needing something to do even if you don’t want to go on the Yanagawa boat trip through the canals I would recommend a trip to Dazaifu which isn’t far on the train. The other thing to do in Fukuoka is the Asahi Beer Factory tour, which like the Kirin Tour we did in Yokohama is free. In this free tour you also get 3 glasses of beer to try and in the spirit of responsible drinking (the tour guide actually said this) you have to down these glasses in 20 minutes. It is a great way to get a little merry while drinking some great beer for free in Japan. Grateful to be leaving behind the awful dorm we jumped on our bus to our last destination in mainland Japan. Nagasaki is a short journey away on the bus (¥4115/$50.20 AUD/37.85 USD return to Fukuoka) and curious about the city that was hit by the second atomic bomb we decided this would be a good stop. Nagasaki is a strange little place. Set in a valley a thin strip of city winds its way through the hills. We had found another AirBnB close to the Nagasaki Peace Park, which is worth checking out. The museum here is also incredibly touching and very well thought out. Other than these things there isn’t really a lot to do so we spent our time eating great food and drinking good Japanese beer (we’d highly recommend Asahi Clear as a cheaper delicious alternative to Asahi Dry). We had a flight to catch from Fukuoka to Okinawa and lucky for us there is actually a bus from Nagasaki to Fukuoka airport. Okinawa is a very different part of Japan. We came in quite late and settled into our Hostel Inn Grace Naha ($44.70 AUD/33.70 USD/¥3685). We had booked 2 nights in the centre of town due to our late arrival and then 5 nights in an AirBnB further out. Deciding to make the most of our one full day in the centre we walked the main strip, which is sadly full of tourist shops each almost identical to the next. In saying that Okinawa doesn’t really feel like Japan. It may be all the Americans, it may be the tropical climate, I’m not really sure what it is but it feels different. It is also the poorest district in Japan and that shows in the level of how run down it is. Again though before booking we hadn’t done enough research into Okinawa and on the ground we were faced with a very expensive decision. The reason one goes to Okinawa is to visit the surrounding islands which really do look like tropical paradise however as the accommodation on those islands had been so expensive we had decided to day trip it instead. The problem came when we were on Okinawa itself and discovered just how expensive the ferries to the islands are. They aren’t really worth it if you’re only doing a day trip, but to stay is so expensive…it was a catch 22 we weren’t really ready for having booked to stay for a week. Having seen just about all Naha had to offer we were starting to wonder if we had made a very expensive mistake by coming here. It turns out that there are places to go they are just not that easy to get to. I think to really experience the best of Okinawa you need to have the money to do it and it really isn’t a backpacker destination. We did find some reasonably priced snorkelling trips to the islands but unfortunately for us they cancelled our trip and it was on our last day there so we can’t tell you if they’re worth it but it is definitely an option. We also took a bus to American Village and Sunset Beach, which is probably the closest pretty beach to Naha itself. American Village is a little strange but it has a cool ferris wheel on the top of the mall that gives you some pretty views and there are some fun shops to wander around.
We also booked to do a cooking class with Taste of Okinawa (price), which was wonderful as we were able to learn a bit about the difference in culture between the mainland and this little group of islands and how that impacted the food. Okinawa has it’s own vibe and is quite different to mainland Japan I’m not sure it’s as Taiwanese as people say it is either. All in all we’re glad we went as it certainly gave us a wider view of the range of things on offer in Japan. It was time to say goodbye to Japan after 6 amazing weeks of wonderful and weird. From snow-capped mountains to tropical islands Japan has it all. I can’t say we loved every minute because traveling Japan on a budget can be hard work but it was always worth it. Japan is a fantastic country full of weird and wonderful surprises, ultra modern cities and ancient temples. Coupled with a wonderful cuisine Japan has it all. Best of all it is accessible on a budget as long as you are willing to work for it.
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We couldn’t believe it when we pulled in the Osaka Umeda bus terminal early. I’m not sure we’ve ever caught a long distance bus that’s been on time let alone early before but here we were standing in the pissing rain a 6am...Welcome to Osaka! Knowing that we couldn’t check in till midday we headed for the nearest Starbucks (a terrible habit/comfort we seem to have picked up during the last few months) only to find that even they weren’t open this early. Luckily we only had 10 minutes to wait and we were soon sipping on more weird flavoured lattes (macadamian nut toffee for me) and thawing out before braving the weather for our relatively long walk to our AirBnB. Having seen a small break in the rain we decided to start walking. Our plan was to find somewhere near where we were staying to hole up for a few hours before checking in. Unfortunately the break didn’t last long and we were soon walking across a bridge, soaking wet and miserable. Our reward on the other side however, was Matsuya with our tried and true favourite breakfast. Something to note in Japan is how difficult their addresses are to understand (they give you an area not specific street and the numbers aren’t in numerical order on the street). Aware of this I left Dani with the bags and attempted to find a place that should have been no more than a 5-minute walk away. Just over an hour later I finally found it (with the help of the lovely concierge at a nearby hotel) and was able to grab the key before going to collect my wife and bags. Our AirBnB ($37.05 AUD/27.90 USD/¥3,056) was basic, but wonderful and best of all we had got a discount (link Japan tips) due to staying for a week. It had a little kitchenette, bathroom and best of all pocket WiFi to use around the city. Being nicknamed the kitchen of Japan we thought it was only fitting that we did a Japanese cooking class there. The class (Taste Osaka) was our first activity in Osaka and we weren’t very familiar with getting around yet. I discovered that if we walked to Osaka station (across that bridge again) we could catch the JR loop line to our cooking course, which also happened to be around the back of Dotombori, a famous area in Osaka. The cooking class ($77.85 AUD/57.15 USD/¥6,500) was amazing and we were stoked to learn some new techniques when cooking our favourite cuisine, as well as finding a class that focused on something other than sushi. Being at the back of Dotombori we thought it would be worth exploring after the class. It is definitely a fun place to wander and check out the unique signage out the front of the restaurants. It’s also where Osaka’s version of Kappabashi (kitchen area) is but it was nowhere near as cheap or as all-encompassing as Tokyo. We had a friend from Australia helping us with our itinerary in Japan and he happened to share with us that there was a major sumo competition happening in Osaka while we were there. Now, by the time we found out about this there was absolutely no hope of booking tickets online as they were all sold out but they do have cheap tickets for available every day at the door for the first 200 people in line. Deciding to take a risk on getting a general admission ticket we were there bright and early. We managed to score 2 tickets (¥2,200/$25.45AUD/20USDpp) pretty easily and soon we were preparing to see our first sumo fight. Not really being into spectator sports and really not being into fighting I wasn’t sure that this would be my thing but you know… when in Rome and all that. It turns out it was a pretty incredible experience. The culture surrounding sumo is fascinating. There are only 6 competitions a year around the country so if you happen to be lucky enough to have one going on while you’re in Japan definitely go. Good to note though is that they start the matches early in the morning with the younger inexperienced wrestlers while in the afternoons and evenings you have the more elite levels. Your ticket entitles you to one re-entry so you don’t have to go in straight away and can leave and come back once during the day. We chose to get tickets, then get breakfast, enter stay till the afternoon, go and get lunch and do some shopping before coming back to see the big guns (no pun intended). This turned out to be a great way to break up the day and meant we got a taste of all the different levels and the intensity of the serious fights at the business end of the day! Having decided to use Osaka as our base to explore the surrounding areas we planned to use the Hankyu line 2 day pass (¥1,400/$17 AUD/12.80 USD) to get us from Osaka to Kyoto. While researching this we also discovered the Cup Noodle Museum is also on the Hankyu line so we planned our day to start there then head to Kyoto to temple hop. The Cup Noodle Museum (location) was one of the more obscure things we did in Japan but it was a lot of fun. For ¥300 ($3.65 AUD/2.75 USD) you get to make your own cup noodles including decorating your cup and choosing your own ingredients. It was a fun way to spend a morning before heading out to Kyoto for a more grown up activities. Our first afternoon in Kyoto we decided to see the Fushimi Inari Shrine famed for its red gates (actually orange but hey…) and Kinkaku-Ji golden temple. Unfortunately these are on the opposite sides of Kyoto but again its all well linked by public transport. To save money we decided to walk to Fushimi Inari from the Hankyu station but there is a metro line and JR line station close by. The beautiful “red” shrine is free to enter and you can do an extended loop walk, which will take you the better part of 2 hours and covers the whole complex. We hadn’t factored enough time in for this and walking to the cheaper transport stops so I would recommend planning well and giving it enough time to really explore this shrine. From there we walked back to Kyoto station (again this can be done on transportation) to catch the bus to Kinkaku-Ji (¥370/$4.50 AUD/3.40 USD). Kinkaku-Ji temple (¥400/$4.85 AUD/3.65 USD) is definitely best saved for a sunny day. If we are perfectly honest neither of us were sure that this temple was worth going to for not only the entrance fee but the cost and time to get there on public transport. For the ¥1000 ($12.10 AUD/9.15 USD) you spend on the 30mins you’re there we wouldn’t bother again when there is so much more to do in Kyoto and so many wonderful temples and shrines to chose from. This being said it was a really rainy day and the gold may look a lot more spectacular in the sunshine. Just as the heavens opened we had hopped back on to the bus (¥230/2.80 AUD/2.10 USD) to get us back to the nearest Hankyu station to get us back to Osaka. Our next day in Kyoto was focusing on the Bamboo Forest (also free) and the Gion Area known for its more traditional look and the world famous geishas (unlikely to be spotted but make sure if you do see one to have some respect as they are people and many tourists treat them like zoo animals). With the bamboo forest you can take the Hankyu line to Arashiyama Station (you need to change at Katsura Station but this is very easy). Once there it’s a 15-minute walk to the forest but is very well signposted. The best thing to do is to get there early in the morning before all the crowds. It can get packed but we had it nearly to ourselves in parts and I would imagine with 100s of tourists it would detract from it’s peacefulness and overall beauty. There are many shrines and temples you can walk to in this area so it’s worth giving yourself a few hours to explore before heading into Kyoto itself. From here you must head back to Katsura station to change onto the line heading to Kyoto. We booked ourselves on to the free walking tour in Kyoto to explore Gion but unfortunately they seem to pack far to many people on to the tour which means you don’t learn very much so I think you may be better off exploring Gion on your own. If you really want to see a geisha we heard the best time is about 5pm when they are off to entertain for the evening. It is more common to see maiko (trainee geishas) leaving school in the afternoons too.
Our time in the Kansai area was coming to an end but we had another full day before catching our night bus to Hiroshima. We checked out of our apartment and walked to the bus station where we were going to store our bags for the day (a large locker could store both our big bags and our front packs (¥500/$6 AUD/4.50 USD for 24 hours). We had decided to do one last day trip to Nara and this turned out to be an excellent decision. To get to Nara we took the circle line from Osaka station to (¥180/$2.20 AUD/1.65 USD) Tsuruhashi Station where you can then transfer onto the train to Nara (¥670/$8.10 AUD/6.10 USD). This was a lot cheaper than going from Umeda Station to Naha and then transferring to the Nara train. Nara was one of our favorite places in Japan. It has all the beauty of Kyoto but fewer crowds and the added bonus of herds of deer roaming the streets (strange but true). There are many beautiful shines and temples to see and most of them are free to enter. There is also the very large Buddha but we chose not to see this as we had seen the one in Kamakura a few weeks earlier and couldn’t justify the entrance fee (you need to pick and choose in Japan as the small entrance fees add up very quickly). It was a great last day in Kansai and we were ready to explore Hiroshima, a city I had been curious about since I was a little kid. The bus wasn’t due to leave till 11pm so we had some time to kill, but Willer Bus station has good WiFi and a coffee shop you can hang out in. The buses are also really comfortable and an efficient way to get around as well as save money on a nights accommodation. The bus to Hiroshima was one of the most expensive journeys around Japan at ¥13000 ($78.25 AUD/59 USD) but if you have one of the Willer passes you may be able to get this journey a lot cheaper as part of the 3-5 ride packages. |
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