Robot Claw

Today we visited two of the more touristy parts of Osaka: the shopping districts of Dotonbori and Shinsekai.

The crowds in Dotonbori were bonkers. A sea of people everywhere you looked, it was almost difficult just to walk around! I imagine this is part new years and part the overtourism that Japan is struggling with. We’d been here before so it wasn’t a bother, but I imagine were you a tourist with only a day in Osaka and chose to spend it there today you’d be a bit frustrated!

Shinsekai is a mile or so south, and while it was busy it was far from as popular as Dotonbori. I visited this part of town when I was here myself years ago but it was early in the day and almost nothing was open: today we got to see the lit signs of the landmark kushikatsu restaurants in all their glory.

Shinsekai is a bit low brow, a bit run down and seems proud to keep one foot in the past. The amusement arcades there have shooting games for instance, and there’s a pachinko parlour using very old fashioned mechanical games. There are lots of tiny pub/restaurants – many of which allow smoking – and some establishments a bit far from the norm like one in which you can eat fried gecko! It’s fun to walk around, and I imagine gets very rowdy at night. If you’re ever in Osaka, I’d recommend this part of town even over Dotonbori.

That happy inflatable man is enticing you to go in and play the shooting game (which in retrospect I should have!). But by this time we’d been strolling for many hours and it was time to head back for dinner and some relaxing (perhaps past time in fact since I’m feeling a little unwell).

I’ll end with a mention that I purchased an extraordinary retro-game-related item (or two) in Denden town as we walked through it on the way to Shinsekai… but those details can wait for a future post 🙂

We traveled to Osaka today, where we shall spend the longest time of this trip. We’re a bit tired and I may have caught a mild bug, so we’ll try to dial back the activities a bit for a while.

Kristins bento on the train was very traditional Japanese food. Don’t ask what half this was: we don’t know! As usual the packaging was meticulous.

Osaka is extremely busy probably due to new years travel. The amount of people downtown in the Umeda area is bonkers. Our hotel is smack bang in the middle of the city, and we have a wonderful view from the 34th floor.

Tomorrow will be the first day in a while we don’t set an alarm. What’s the bet we’re up with the sun anyway? 🙂

Miyajima island is about a half hour by train southwest of Hiroshima, and is a very famous tourist site with a rich history. Today we had a very full day visiting.

The ferry ride from the mainland is brief, and crosses the Seto Inland Sea. Naturally I didn’t get seasick, since I’ve got astonishing vigor, and I’m sure the calmness of the water had nothing to do with that!

Almost immediately we were greeted by the wild deer native to the island. Unlike Nara (which we’ve visited a few times), the deer on Miyajima can’t be fed and as a result they beg less and mostly just walk around and aren’t bothered at all by the people.

These are ‘sika’, a different species of deer from Nara (or the ones we get in our backyard at home). They’re smaller and have tiny (nonexistent?) tails. They’re cute to see and very popular with the tourists and I hope they’re living happy lives.

The island has several temples, one of which has a very famous ‘floating’ torii gate just offshore. When it is high tide – as was when we visited – the gate rises dramatically from the water and is very scenic.

At low tide it’s possible to walk out to the gate but at this time of year that doesn’t happen until early evening. The island has many inns on it for overnight stays, and is apparently very peaceful once the majority of tourists have taken the last boats to the mainland.

The mountain I refer to is Mount Misen, which at 535 m is the highest on the island. Two ropeways take you about 80% of the way to the top, and then you have to hike. And – in typical Japanese style – the hike wasn’t easy!

We navigated steep stairs and uneven ground as we relentlessly climbed, and the temperature rose high enough that our coats came off. We passed through a small temple complex which holds an eternal flame that has allegedly been burning for 1200 years, and continued on toward the very top.

It was worth the climb since the view from the top was wonderful, and you could see almost the entire Seto sea in every direction. It was a little hazy but we could clearly see Hiroshima (on the right in the above pic) and the countless oyster beds and many boats cross-crossing the waters.

We returned to the base for some shopping and eating. By now (about 3 hours after we arrived) the place was mobbed with tourists. The thing to do on Miyajima (aside from admiring the scenery) seems to be eating oysters, and there were dozens of stands selling them fresh or grilled or fried or even on burgers! We passed on the oysters but the fried dango (sticky rice cakes) were absolutely phenomenal!

It was a long day and we may have worn ourselves out a bit. But Miyajima was a beautiful place and absolutely worth the visit.

We bought this yesterday:

It’s a Fukubukuro, or ‘lucky bag’ that claims to contain 40-50 ‘character goods’ (anime merch). We got it from an anime shop for only ¥2024.

Fukubukuro is a new years custom here and most shops sell them. We had great fun with the ones we bought last year and have been looking forward to getting them again, so this deal was irresistible. As for why it was already on sale; we didn’t question that 🙂

The above were the contents. 58 items in total, including a few duplicates. They ranged from badges and stickers to paper craft kits and Yu-Gi-Oh card packs and even a pair of salt and pepper shakers. Much of it is trash (common for many Fukubukuro) but we easily got items exceeding the money we put in, and even if we didn’t it was fun to open!

This won’t be our last Fukubukuro this trip…

We visited the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Museum this morning. It chronicles the experience of the inhabitants of this city after the first use of an atomic weapon on August 6 1945.

It was a harrowing and very emotional experience, to the point some visitors were openly weeping. The museum does not hold back and presents history in grim detail, including photos of the dead and injured. I don’t want to say much except that I wish everyone on this Earth could visit this museum to get a first-hand account of the effect of war on those most affected: innocent civilians.

The above is the ‘A-Bomb Dome’, one of the few structures that survived the bomb and has been preserved as a testament. Where once this structure was at the hypocentre of ruin, now it is surrounded by a vibrant and modern city. This is a measure of the strength of the people of this country, and is an achievement I hope no other nation ever again has to reproduce.

Not far from peace park is Hiroshima Castle, which we also visited today. It is of course a reconstruction since the original was destroyed in the atomic blast, and to be true its little more than a facade with a museum inside, but it was worth the visit regardless to see a blade made by none other than the legendary Masamune himself:

The castle grounds were quite lovely, and since it was warm today and felt more like Spring than winter, we enjoyed our stroll around the moat.

The afternoon was spent shopping, and snacking and game-centering. We had learned yesterday that Hiroshima is known for hand-made brushes for calligraphy or cosmetics, and Kristin wanted to buy some. Look at this display we found in a dedicated brush store:

Many of those are made from natural fibers and are very expensive. Kristin found a nice set she liked, and her brushes are made from squirrel and goat fur! We also saw some made from weasel, horse and even raccoon fur. A single brush can cost up to $2000, although the ones we saw today were much less.

Tomorrow we’ll visit one of Japan’s major tourist attractions, and the other reason we’re here in Hiroshima. The weather forecast is lovely, so it promises to be a wonderful day.