The Real Life Fantastic

My stay in Hiroshima was lovely!

It started out with some emotional moments, though. Not wanting to waste time, I went straight from the bus to the Hiroshima Peace Park. I spent the entire morning there, looking at the A-bomb dome, the monuments, the museum and the park in general.

It's hard to describe the sorrow I felt when I looked at the A-bomb dome. The dome has been preserved the way it was after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and it's a very powerful reminder of how destructive nuclear power can be. The A-bomb dome is also called the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and it is a memorial to the people who were killed in the bombing. It's hard to imagine what it must have been like. You're just going about your business in one instant, and in the next moment...

The museum was an even more emotional experience. Among the things that they have on display are the destroyed garments that were worn by little children who died in the bombing, along with the mangled remains of a little tricycle.

Another thing that left a deep impression on me were all the letters. Letters of protest from the mayors of Hiroshima to various presidents and leaders of nations that continue to preform nuclear tests. There were so many.

I think I'd have trouble sleeping at night if I were the recipient of such a letter.

The park itself is very beautiful. It has all sorts of trees and flowers, and at least two very nice fountains. Then there are the monuments. I didn't look at all of them. I mainly looked at the Children's Peace Monument. While I was there a group of schoolchildren came by and sang a song in Japanese, and dedicated some colourful origami cranes to it. It was a lovely ceremony.

I took the afternoon off in order to recover from my emotional morning. Thankfully I was able to just relax at the house of my couchsurfing host. His name is Joel and he's an American marine who works at a military base in Hiroshima. We got along famously!

He took me to a really cool restaurant for dinner. It was another one of those 'do it yourself' places that the Japanese seem to be so fond of. We received a miniature coal barbecue which we used to grill various pieces of meat. Apparently I tried tongue! (I had no idea what I was eating most of the time - I only checked if I was allergic, not what it actually was!)

The next day we went to Miyajima island. I enjoyed it immensely! The ferry was nice, the view was gorgeous, the temples were serene, the deer were friendly, and the Okonomi-yaki was delicious! (I'm serious about the deer. They even let you close enough to pet them. I felt like a Disney princess!)

My favourite place on the island was this little underground passageway in one of the temples. It was pitch black down there so you had to feel your way along the walls, but once you got past the first corner you could see the most amazing softly glowing pictures of Bhuddist deities!

After Joel and I got back to the mainland he took me to visit his military base. It was pretty fun. Kind of like going to the United States. I got apple pie and everything! I love pie. ♥ We also went to a bar on the base where I was able to pass for a Californian. (Joel wasn't in the mood to linger at the bar for too long, and he knew that if this one guy found out I was Icelandic he would want to question me about it endlessly, so he told me to say I was American instead. Funnily enough, the guy made me say: 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, I don't have an accent' in order to prove that I didn't have an accent, and then I had to think quickly when he asked me what part of the States I was from. I ended up saying I was a Californian from Pasadena. He totally bought it.)

My last day in Hiroshima was spent strolling through the main shopping street and being amused that there is apparently a store called 'Womb' in Japan. I also tried the iced coffee at Tully's because Elin said it was worth trying. Since I'm not much of a coffee person I needed three packets of syrup before I liked it, but then it was delicious!

I also tried another Hiroshima speciality - Oysters! I only had one because they're kind of expensive, but it was really fresh and tasty. I also succumbed to temptation and had another dose of Hiroshima Okonomi-yaki.

Japan is all about the food you guys. (No wonder my jeans are starting to feel a little bit too tight...)

Anyway, right now I'm at Snaevar's place again. I spent today recovering from the twelve hour bus ride to Tokyo from Hiroshima, but tomorrow I might do some tourist stuff. Depends on the weather - apparently it's supposed to rain tomorrow.

Happy Golden Jubilee to the Queen of England! (I think she's immortal.)

Today is my last day in Aizuwakamatsu. I'm off to Osaka tonight. Since I'm only staying one night in Osaka, I'm treating myself to a stay at a four star hotel which is right next to the train station. I was quite lucky and got the room for only 5800 yen. (Just under 10.000 ISK.)

Anyway, I've been having such a wonderful time with Tommy and Natsumi. Tommy took me to the school where he teaches yesterday. It's in Shimogo, a town which is 35 minutes away from Aizu by train. I got to go to a few classes and introduce myself to the kids, and then they asked me a lot of questions. Mainly they were interested in whether I had a boyfriend, and whether 'I loved Tommy' (they don't know that he has a girlfriend), but I also got really random questions like: 'Do you like bananas?' and 'what is your favourite food chain?'

I was so amused when I said that I came from Iceland and one kid exclaimed: 'From ice cream?!'

Oh, and two of the classes had a group of boys that insisted I pick 'who is coolest'. They all stood up, and wanted me to pick one of them. I was a little worried that the ones who didn't get picked would take it personally, but apparently this is a common practice and there are no hard feelings involved. In both cases I picked small, shy looking boys with glasses. I think I made their day! They looked very pleased in any case.



After the classes and a lovely lunch with the teachers, Tommy took me to see Ouchijuku - an old village just outside Shimogo, famous for the traditional thatched buildings from the Edo Period that line its main street. The weather was beautiful, and the surrounding nature was absolutely stunning. Mountains covered in trees with emerald green foliage, sparkling rice fields, and blue skies. ♥

In the evening we decided to go for a shabu shabu dinner. I loved it so much last time that I wanted to try it again, and Tommy hadn't actually ever had any! It was just as good as last time, and just as fun. Maybe I'll just start a shabu shabu restaurant when I come home?



After dinner we ended up checking out a game center. Natsumi is a wiz at this drum game they have there. It's a little like the Rock Band drums. Notes show up on the screen, and you have to hit your drum at the right time to get the note. It was amazing to watch Natsumi at it. She is so fast!

Today we went to the Miyaizumi sake brewery. They have converted part of the brewery into a museum. It was really interesting to see the traditional sake brewing equipment, and it was a lot of fun to sample some of the sake. Very tasty! They also had a gift shop where you could buy traditional sake cups, and there was this one set where you got different kinds of cups and a sort of die which had pictures of the cups on it. A person throws the die and has to drink the sake from the cup that it indicates!

After the brewery I went with Natsumi to the Higashiyama onsen. It was amazing! It's a hot spring resort where you can bathe in hot water while enjoying a beautiful view of a waterfall and a hillside covered with enormous trees. Perfectly blissful! I would have loved to stay there forever, but it was probably a good thing that Natsumi pulled me out when she did - the heat made me all dizzy when I got out!



For lunch we went to a sushi train with a special 'shinkansen' track above the usual train, where your special orders are brought to you by a little shinkansen train! Among the things that I tried was a piece with salmon eggs and mint leaves. Quite good, and very pretty. I love how pretty sushi is. I think food presentation is such a huge part of the dining experience.

Right now I need to get ready for my trip to Fukushima. I need to go there in order to catch the bus to Osaka. Hopefully I'll be able to keep my eyes open during the train ride to Fukushima. The views out here are so stunning.

I had quite the adventure today!

I bought a day pass for the trains in the area around Lake Biwa and put it to use! First I went to Hikone to look at the famous Hikone castle, and to Nagahama to have a general look around.

Turns out that I could have picked a better day for this trip than today. Both in Hikone and in Nagahama I got caught in brief rainstorms. Thunder and lightening and everything! Thankfully they passed by quickly, and as I had the umbrella I borrowed from Halla with me I barely even got a drop on me. The lightening was very pretty to watch, and no one can say that walking through plum tree thickets with thunder booming in the distance and raindrops pitter-pattering on your umbrella isn't atmospheric.

When I got back to Kyoto I had a culinary adventure with my couchsurfing host, Tomoko. She took me to a huge sushi train place, and I tried squid and eel sushi! The eel was much better than the eel I tried in Sydney. I think I may try to eat more of it while I'm here. The squid was just okay. Not bad, but not a very memorable flavour.

Mostly it was just weird to try to get all the chewy tentacles sorted out.


Yesterday was less eventful, although I did go to the top of the Kyoto train station. There is a fantastic view up there! I noticed the Toji pagoda while I was up there and decided to go visit it. I really enjoyed it. The garden around the pagoda is beautiful. Also, more statues of Bhuddist deities!

Yesterday was probably one of the happiest days of my life. I got to live my childhood dream of Disney land. A dream that started with an Aladdin sticker book. There was this competition where you could win a trip to Disney land for your family if you collected all of the stickers and entered your book into a lottery. I was so sad when my masterful sticker-collecting plan failed. But it doesn't matter now. I went to Disney land and it was magical and amazing. ♥

The Disney experience begins as you walk from the train station to the park gates. The classic Disney music which can be heard, and the resort hotel, which looks like a beautiful palace, set the mood. But it's when you walk through the gates and see the quintessential Disney castle in the distance that you really know. Know that you're really in Disney land! ... I may have become slightly teary eyed.



The day was enjoyably spent. I went on some rides with Snaevar and his family, watched the parades, and ate too much ice cream. My favourite rides were Pirates of the Caribbean - which now includes cameos from some of the characters (Jack Sparrow!) from the movie - and the Space Mountain rollercoaster. Honorable mention goes to Captain EO for being hilariously 80s-tastic. Oh, Michael Jackson. ♥

The parades with all the characters and the shiny floats were so pretty. There were three parades, first the Jubilee parade, then the themed Easter parade, and lastly the electric lit up parade that they did after it got dark. I got some serious costume envy. What I wouldn't give for those princess dresses...

I was a bit sad that it was apparently too windy for the traditional firework display at the end of the day, but I've decided that it simply gives me an excuse to go again sometime!

The day before Disney land was quite busy as well. I went with Snaevar and his family into Tokyo to see the Harajuku and Shibuya districts, and we went to the top of Tokyo tower!

Harajuku wasn't all that busy, but I took some pictures and looked at some very interesting window displays. I didn't buy much, just a box of chocolate mochi. Mochi is a Japanese dessert. It's made out of rice, but it more like a marshmallow than anything else. A slightly less sweet marshmallow that can have different types of flavour. Really delicious!



Shibuya was bustling with people. I really liked watching when people crossed the street. Like an ocean of Japanese people! It was such a nice day to go for a walk, too. Sunny and warm, but with a breeze to keep you from melting.

Tokyo tower was a lot of fun. I loved seeing Tokyo city spread out in all directions. So many buildings! From the top of the tower I could see all the way to Mt. Fuji! But conditions weren't ideal, so it was a bit blurry. I also saw into a traditional old cemetery. Full of statues and things.

I took a lot of trains that day. The stations are always supplied with vending machines. I decided to try my vending machine skills and got a can of coke. But it wasn't really a can because it had a screw cap like a bottle. I'm calling it a canottle. Can-bottle. Very convenient for train travel!

Lastly, I want to tell you that shabu shabu is an awesome way to eat. I tried it on Tuesday. You basically go to a shabu shabu place and they give you raw meat and a boiling tasty broth of your choice. It is kept boiling because there is a hotplate on your table. You cook your strips of meat by dipping them in the boiling broth and swishing it around (shabu shabu is the noise that the swishing makes). It is so delicious and excellent fun!

Tonight I'm going to take my first overnight bus to Kyoto. I'll try to post something here or on Facebook when I arrive.

Hope you are all healthy and happy!