Hiroshima

We left Tokyo on the 'Shinkansen Hikari Superexpress' to Hiroshima, which basically means the really fast bullet train! It was very spacious and more like an aircraft inside!

We again found the hostel in Hiroshima very easily, so headed straight out to the Peace Memorial park. The first thing we saw was the remains of the A-dome which looked eerie with it's steel dome. It's the only remaining building from the time. There were a lot of tourists at the park, most were Japanese.

The museum was very interesting, we spent about 2.5 hours in there. It explained the Japanese side of the war and the events that led to the bomb being dropped. I didn't realise Einstein signed a letter (drafted by someone else) urging the American President to invest in nuclear weapon research which led to the creation of the bomb. It was factual and not biased. It was a bit graphical with fragments of clothing from victims, worst though was a preserved tongue from a victim with a disease from the after effects! A photo would have been fine!

Everything got flattened in a 2km radius and walking around afterwards it was crazy to think that after 20 minutes of walking we were still in an area would have been flattened.

We headed back through a large shopping centre and found another 100yen shop. We have made a rule to buy something at every 100yen shop we go into, so Emma bought a pink scarf (72p for a scarf!!)!!

We had our first meal disaster as the restaurant sold a very strange mix of food. It seemed to be similar to tapas but the dishes mainly consisted of the scraps from a carcass after everyone else had taken the good bits (gizzards, giblets, tendons!) We had pork skewers, boiled beef and mashed potato. It wasn't that nice so I had to get a burger to top myself up!

When we first arrived we met a guy on the train who recommended we visit Miyajima island. It looked good and transport was free thanks to our JR rail pass. Destination for day two sorted!

The main attraction is a 'Torii' which is built at sea. We also got a cable car to the top of the mountain. The cable car had an 'emergency' box which consisted of water, chocolate and nappies which we found very funny.

We visited a few temples and took a few pictures. The view from the top was excellent although a bit hazy. We then had to walk down steeply for 1 hour as we couldn't afford to cable car both ways!! It was an excellent day out and a good chance to see the old buildings. There were also deers wandering the streets everywhere which was odd. There were meant to be monkeys aswell but the only ones we saw were in a cage. Apparently there getting a bit vicious, so I'm not sure what there going to do with them!

We went for dinner with a German guy who was learning Japanese. He took us to a really nice restaurant to try Hiroshimas local dishes. He was there to help us order but they brought out English menus anyway!!

We woke up early the next morning to catch our train to Kyoto, and what did we find when we got outside? SNOW!! It was snowing quite a but in Hiroshima, but not settling, but 5 minutes into our train journey there was thick snow everywhere!! Our bodies and clothes are not prepared for that!!