Day 10 - Hiroshima

The speedboat track(?)

These guys were going absolutely flat-out

Today we planned to spend day with Yuko & Gorou. After meeting them we drove for some time to catch the ferry to Miyajima island.

On the way, I was completely amazed when we passed a huge inland speedboat race track. There were small speedboats racing around this completely manufactured purpose-built facility. No different I suppose to the construction of a motor race-track, but it just took me by surprise.

The Itsukushima Shrine

Footbridge on Miyajima between the
the island and the Itsukushima Shrine

From the ferry terminal, it's about a 30 minute trip to Miyajima island. Miyajima is most famous for its giant torii gate, which at high tide seems to float on the water. The sight is ranked as one of Japan's three best views and the island is World Heritage listed.

The island is officially named Itsukushima, Japanese for "shrine island", after its main shrine, the Itsukushima Shrine, but more commonly known as Miyajima.

Gorou, Yuko and Frances with the
torii gate in the background

The Itsukushima Shrine during the
typhoon in early 2004 (copy photo)

Like the torii gate, the shrine's main buildings are built over water and in fact was almost destroyed in a major typhoon earlier in 2004. It was first built in 1168 by the powerful warlord Taira-no-Kiyomori.

Although it has been damaged by fire, storms and battle since then, it still looks like new. That's because it is always repaired using similar materials, tools and techniques that were originally used.

The wedding party - seriously

The bride and groom

Ride in a rickshaw pulled by a ninja

The shrine, and the island, is also popular for weddings and we were fortunate enough to see a wedding in progress. The entire wedding party then posed for a very serious formal photograph, even though the entire group was laughing and smiling seconds before and after the photo was taken.

Gorou standing below one
of the older paintings on a
wooden panel

As a major tourist destination, the island has all the usual trinket shops, but outside of the main ferry terminal it still retains a lot of its original charm. We walked up to one of the many temples on the island. The temple had no walls and consisted mainly of a timber platform, columns and roof, with a small altar in the centre.

A feature of the temple was the paintings mounted in the rafters that had been donated by benefactors, mainly families, some of which had been there for many years and were quite weather damaged, but some were relatively new.

Frances and Yuko eating the grilled oysters

There was no shortage of opportunities to buy snacks, but Frances and Yuko decided that they had to sample the freshly cooked oysters, grilled in their shells. I gave that on a miss. While waiting for a return ferry, we all went to one of the very pleasant cafes for tea.

Fernando (standing) in is okonomiyaki
restaurant

By now we were all getting a bit hungry, so Yuko & Gorou took us to lunch at Lopez, their favourite okonomiyaki restaurant run by Guatamalan Fernando Lopez in Yokogawa.

Okonomiyaki (not my photo)

I was surprised that they chose this restaurant rather than one run by Japanese, but Gorou said that he tried harder than the rest! Each person had a small metal-bladed spatula to cut off pieces of their okonomiyaki.

Okonomiyaki is a Japanese savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients. The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki meaning "grilled" or "cooked". Okonomiyaki is mainly associated with the Kansai or Hiroshima areas of Japan, but is now widely available throughout the country. Toppings and batters tend to vary according to region.

In the afternoon, we all visited an onsen near Kurea. An onsen is a term for hot springs in the Japanese language, though the term is often used to describe the bathing facilities and inns around the hot springs. Men and women bathe and wash naked on little stools, and I was a little surprised when one of the female attendants can into the men's area to clean and tidy up - no embarrassment anywhere! That night we had a dinner of yaki-niku (grilled beef) and other meaty delicacies at local all-Japanese restaurant with Yuko & Gorou. Later Yuko & Gorou took us for ice creams on the  11th floor food court of Fukuya Departo (a popular venue in central Hiroshima) which was incredibly busy for that time of night.