Tag: japan

Japan 2018 Day 11: Hiroshima

May 13, 2018
Japan2018

Today we toured around Hiroshima. Our first stop was the Atomic Bomb Dome, which is the remaining structure after the bomb destroyed most of the city.


This was the hypocenter where the bomb fell, it was detonated approximately 180m above this spot. The surface temperatures reached 4000 degrees Celsius.


We toured the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.

Our next stop was the Hiroshima Castle.


A pussy willow tree that is 770 meters from the hypocenter, that survived the blast.


This was a circular escalator in a mall.


A bin full of onigiri in a Don Quijote store.


The parking is fascinating, the circular turntables are used to maneuver cars into the right position.


For dinner we had okonomiyaki.


Okonomiyaki is a savory pancake containing a variety of ingredients.


Gillian getting fitted for a Yukata.

Japan 2018 Day 10: Nachi-Katsuura to Tanabe to Hiroshima

May 12, 2018
Japan2018

We started the day travelling from Nachi-Katsuura to Tanabe City with our final destination Hiroshima.


Standing in front of the Tanabe Tourist Information Center.


We walked around Tanabe, as we had some time before our train to Osaka.


The Tanabe train station on the left.


Gillian by the Tanabe clock.


It wasn’t a very busy city.


Not a lot of touristy bling in any of the stores that were near the train station.


From Tanabe, it was back on the train to Osaka and then a transfer to the bullet train to Hiroshima.


Arrived in Hiroshima.


Walking to our hotel. We had used one of the luggage services to send our bags ahead to the hotel from our Osaka hotel so we didn’t have to deal with them on our side trip.


In the evening we headed to Miyajima Island in Hiroshima Bay.


More deer on the island.


The famous Great Torii Gate is partially submerged at high tide


We were there for sunset.


Group shot.


The Toyokuni Shrine (5 storey).


It was nice to see the Tori gate at sunset, but a lot of the stores and restaurants were closed already, so it would have been nice to spend some more time on the island. After we got off the ferry we had dinner at one of the local restaurants before catching the train back to our hotel.

Japan 2018 Day 9: Osaka to Nachi-Katsuura

May 11, 2018
Japan2018

Today we headed to Nachi-Katsuura in the Wakayama region. This is the area Dad’s family came from.


There are a lot of cemeteries along the way.


Once we got off the train, we left our bags in a locker by the hotel and then caught a bus to Nachi Falls. Shanna and Gillian hiked from the bottom up to the waterfall, Susan and I stayed on the bus a couple of stops more to have a shorted walk to Nachi Falls.


Nachi Falls in Nachikatsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, is one of the best-known waterfalls in Japan. With a drop of 133 meters, it is the country’s tallest water fall with single uninterrupted drop


The Seigantoji Temple.


We met up with Shanna and Gillian somewhere along the trail.


We stayed staying at another traditional style ryokan type hotel in Nachi-Katsuura. There were very few stores and restaurants open.

Japan 2018 Day 8: Osaka/Nara

May 10, 2018
Japan2018

We headed to Nara Park to visit some temples and see the wild deer roaming the streets.


The Kofukuji Temple pagoda.


On the way to Todaiji Temple.


There were lots of school groups.


The girls were stopped by a group of school kids asking them questions for a school project.


Todaiji Temple‘s Daibutsu Hall.


The Great Bhudda.


The kids in the school groups would wear the same colour hats so they could keep track of them.


It was on to Kasuga Taisha, Nara’s most celebrated Shinto Shrine.


Shanna trying to make the deer bow to her.


We headed back to Osaka, stopping to reload our Pasmo card.


Osaka Castle rising above the foliage.


Some of the old Osaka Castle walls.


Osaka Castle in the background.


More school groups.


The views from the top of the castle.


Gillian and Shanna mapping out our next stop.


We finished the day exploring the streets of Osaka, including Dotonbori.