Big In Japan

My two favourite people. A view of a little cove from Sakurajima vocano.

 Another early start got us to Kagoshima around 12.30am and we left our bags at the hotel and went straight off to see the still active & smoldering volcano on Sakurajima island, 4km offshore. After a 15min ferry ride we hopped on a tourist tour bus round the island. It wasn’t bad, would have been much better in summer when the volcano wasn’t covered in mist. Our first viewpoint stop you couldn’t see more than 30m in any direction, we did stop at a lava field a bit later which was more interesting.

Sakurajimi volcano in the mist. How it should have looked!!! Another view of the volcano crater. Let's call it enigmatic...

Two hours later we were back at the ferry terminal slightly under whelmed, but thems the breaks I suppose. Then it was back to the hotel via a drugstore to find Curtis some food (there aren’t many of these about in Japan I can tell you!) What do they feed their babies on? We did toy with the idea of stopping an extra night Kagoshima, but due to the foggy weather conditions it seemed pointless, so we carried on to Aso very early the following morning.

Some of Curtis's nappies can be a bit challenging. A thing of beauty, and great speed of course.

Another town, another Shinkansen, I could get quite used to this sort of travel….very helpful staff, spotless trains, faultlessly on time, comfortable, warm and train indicators in English. Shame we have to return to London soon, where non of the above apply. We got the 7.30am train and arrived in the sleepy little town of Aso around 9.45am, plenty of time to get the bus up to the volcano to see the crater. Or, that was the plan, the very helpful Information centre at the station showed us the feed from the live cam on the various viewpoints and they were all shrouded in mist again. so we opted not to stay the night, as the forecast for the next day was similar and it’s all about the volcano & Onsen round these parts, so we cut our loses and decided to move on again. Well, it saved us a couple of bus trips and a few quid. Shame tho, denied two volcanoes in two days. We had a couple of hours to kill before our ongoing train to Beppu so we had some brunch and did some re- planning.

Curtis and that coffee.  Our cute little local train to Beppu. 'Damn it, if you're not gonna make my lunch, I'll do it myself!"

After our early afternoon arrival in Beppu with nowhere booked to stay, we wandered off to find a backpackers place recommended in the book as everywhere else appeared to be full. It turned out to be a very nice place, with it’s own ‘Onsen’ (hot spring bath) the guys on reception were very helpful and our Japanese style room very comfortable. We headed out for the last part of the afternoon and casually wandered round Beppu seafront and went to the mall to stock up on food for Curtis. After that it was back to the hotel to check out the onsen and have an early night. Their onsen was nice enough, very hot, but a bit like a small 70s swimming pool changing room, the shower before and after was freezing tho, bit of a shock to the system! Woke you up tho.

View of the countryside from the train to Beppu. The TV tower in Beppu.

Up early again the next day to check out the Jigokui’s (hells) in the nearby area of Kannawa. These are basically natural hot springs bursting out all over the area due to the volcanic activity beneath the surface. Once again they were great to see, but very touristy, in fact you entered one thru a big gift shop. Oh well. The Jigoku’s themselves (well the two we saw, and apparently the best ones) were nice enough, the first was the best with a pond of stunning Cobalt Blue water steaming away, the second was more about the mud, with gloopy grey ponds bubbling away. It took us a lot less time than we thought to stroll round the ‘hells’ as they aren’t very big, so we got the bus back to Beppu and got an earlier train to our next stop, Fukuyama.

The Jigoku's at Kannawa near Beppu. Basically, glorified steam baths that smells of eggs.... and you have to pay to get in.

Fukuyama is basically just a convenient hop off point to visit the quaint sea port of Tononoura which we both wanted to see. Fukuyama itself is no great shakes, a bit liker many medium size Japanese cities, but with none of the accompanying temples and tourist spots. We did pop out to see the castle round the corner from the hotel, but it have all been rebuilt after being pounded during the war, but was fairly impressive all the same.

At the Jigoku's (for once the smell isn't Curtis). Sculpture in Fukuyama. The Fukuyama-jo castle.

Another early night and another early start the next morning for our trip to Tononoura, 14km south of the city. This is a charming little fishing port in a beautiful setting, and the inspiration for Hato Miyazaki’s ‘Ponyo’ anima fans. When we were there it was misty and overcast, but it was still very lovely place, I bet it looks amazing in the summer, all hills, twisting lanes, little temples and old houses. We wandered round for a couple of hours, having arrived before the tourists, we had the place to ourselves and all seemed very ghostly, I think we only saw 3 or 4 people the first hour we were there, but then it was 9am on a Sunday morning!

Early morning at Tomonoura harbour and the view of the town from the hillside.

A local fishing vessel, like the industrial revolution never happened. One of the many small, cute shops in Tomonoura

Around midday we headed back to Fukuyama to pick our bag up and catch the train to our next stop, Matsue on the Northern coast of Japan. The train journey across country on the local train was really nice, we had to go thru the central hills and small one horse towns and they were covered with snow, very picturesque. We arrived at Matsue around late afternoon and walked to our hotel, checked in, Curtis fell out of bed (again) and went out for some food.

Now THAT'S a snow drift! From the train to Matsue. . French style former museum in Matsue.

Another early start the next day, Curtis up at 6am ish so we were at breakfast for 7am. This was the first hotel for a while that had breakfast included in the price, so I was looking forward to a good nosh up, unfortunately it was a Japanese style breakfast, and I’m not one for fish, pork in breadcrumbs, rice and broth first thing in the morning. Thwarted! So, we wandered down to the towns main attraction Matsue-jo, which was pretty interesting, but again a very cold day.

Samurai helmets and armour inside Matsue-jo castle and a view of the castle itself. Pretty impressive.

From there we walked around the outside of the castle moat, popped in a couple of the old Samurai residences close by that have been converted into museums including Buke-yashida. We spent a couple of hours strolling, but it was pretty nippy, so we headed back to hotel via a Pizza/pasta place we'd spotted earlier and had lunch. Veggie pasta! Proper food, at last, and very nice it was too, a fine very well priced lunch set, so goods we vowed to come back for dinner later, which we did. In the meantime we went back to the hotel to warm up and book our hotels in our final destinations Nikko and of course, Tokyo.

Carp? You're nothing but a glorified goldfish... Old Samurai residence, Matsue. Curtis loves a laminated menu.

Next morning we had a very early start, alarm set for 6.10am, but our other alarm decided he would wake up just after 5am! Nice. So rather then try to get him back to sleep we got ourselves sorted, checked out and in for breakfast at 6.45. To our surprise there was snow falling and all over the ground, no wonder in was so cold yesterday, it had been snowing during the night. We opted for a taxi to the station to catch the first of four trains in what was to be our longest travel day so far. The first leg from Matuse to Okayame was beautiful, those small towns, hills and valleys covered with a thick layer of perfect white snow, with more still falling as we trundled along, and us sat comfortably in our heated train carriage.

More countryside on the long, long journey to Nikko. A local train in one of the small stations. Yes, it WAS cold!

We arrived at Nikko safely around 6pm, but due to a mixup on their emails, the Ryokan we were staying in weren't there to pick us up so we had to get a cab (it was way to cold to walk, and it had been a very long day). They were very apologetic when we arrived and as soon as we were camped out in our bed (complete with electrci blankets!) all was forgotten.

The beautiful countryside around Nikko and Curtis & the missus outside the Nikko Park Lodge.

Next morning we started out on our walking tour of the sights of Nikko, firstly dropping by (and straight out again) the Woodcarving Centre before heading on towards the main attractions, the temples & shrines around Rinno-ji & Tosho-gu. It really was a lovely walk down, snow everywhere, a very pretty little town set on a hillside.

The stunning temples at Tosho-gu covered in giltwork and intricate design, and ......snow.

The temples themselves were once again very nice, but the main temple of Tosho-gu was absolutely stunning, beautifully painted in Reds and golds and with lot's of intricate gilt decorations and carvings. However, I gotta say, the no shoes rule in temples has worn very thin now. We both understand it's to be respectful to the temple, but jeez, you try walking round on wood floors in sub-zero temperatures for more than a few seconds. It's painful! So, we skipped a couple of shrines due to the frozen feet scenario and headed off for some well earned (and piping hot) lunch.

More views of the temple complexes around Nikko. Gotta be worth a bob or two surely?

After filling up on noodle soup we headed on to see the stone Buddhas on the walk thru the Ganman-ga-fuchi abyss (sounds cool don't it) a pathway along the beautiful valley riverbank. Basically there are around 50 decaying statues of Jizo the Buddhist saint of travelers. Problem was the river path was so covered in trodden snow, which had unfortunately turn to thick ice, that we could push the buggy over it, and couldn't rick carrying Curtis in the sling in case we fell. So Susan went halfway and turned back and I went on carefully tho se the rest of the statues. Feeling very cold and tried we trudged back to our room, a quick dip in the onsen close by, a nice hot veggie curry and ultimately.... a nice warm bed.

The stone Buddhas along the Ganman-ga-fuchi abyss. A deserted shop near the river in Nikko.

Next morning we awoke to find the snow falling heavily and the Ryoken surrounded by deep snow. We were so glad the hotel did drop offs to the local station, but did wonder how he was going to drive in this weather. I guess the snow tyres helped a bit, anyway we were at the station in good time for the first of our trains on our journey to our final destination.... Tokyo!

Curtis, our own little Kilroy. Mmm, can you see the similarities? Cute statue in Niiko, with what looks like a baseball bat!

Hiroshima mon amour....

This is what Japan is all about, giant Robots, cool looking towers and mad streetlamps.... love it.

From Kyoto we decided to do a quick detour to Kobe, scene of the terrible 1995 earthquake. This city has had such a regeneration after those dreadful events, it’s a real testament to Japans ability to endure and overcome disaster. First up was the amazing 18m tall Tetsujin 28 giant robot sculpture in Wakamatsu Park, an area of the city hardest hit by the quake and a symbol of the cities revival. After that we headed to the Kobe Fashion Musuem on Rokko Island just to see the building itself, sort of like a parked Starship Enterprise, although getting there on the monorail from town was very cool too. The inside of the building was pretty amazing too, we naturally gave the Fashion exhibits a miss tho (you’ve seen the way I dress, they’d have asked me to leave!).

I like a nice skyscraper and Japan certainly has plenty of those. The weird & wonderful Fashion Museum in Kobe, 'seam me up Scotty' , and Curtis strikes a pose 'work that snow suit'!

Following this we got the monorail off of the island, and visited the oddly named Disaster Reduction & Human Renovation Museum dedicated to the quake and it’s aftermath. It’s a very moving exhibition, and delves deeply into the effects both short & long term of that day Jan 171995. The quake happened at  5.46am so it was still dark and most people were asleep. The most moving part for me was the fact that it was the local people who dug out their neighbors from the rubble, as emergency services where so overwhelmed, and the hardship the survivors faced in freezing conditions in the weeks following the quake. We were given a tour by a volunteer quake survivor who told us the main thing that the people of Kobe have learnt from the experience is the importance of co-operation and helping each other. A lesson for us all I think.

The clock outside the Disaster Reduction & Human Renovation Museum, Kobe and a view over the city at night

 After leaving the museum we told a sobering walk to Kobe City Hall where they have an observation lounge on the 25^th floor for a stunning early evening view over the city, although i must admit after the quake museum, being that high up gave me the heebie jeebies and I was glad when we were back on terra firma. So, after a packed day we headed back to our hotel for a well deserved kip.

Next day we got up early, well, to be fair, Curtis gets us up early every day anyway, and headed to Hiroshima via a morning trip to the Castle at Himeji, one of the most famous and impressive in Japan. Well, it would have been if it hadn’t been in the middle of a 6 year renovation. Slightly disappointed, we decided to go on the tour of the inside of the castle and it’s grounds, and we were very glad we did. A lovely Japanese lady volunteer gave us a insightful (and bl**dy freezing it has to be said) 90 min tour, so the journey wasn’t wasted.

2 shots of sections of Himeji castlec, as you can see from the scaffolding behind it'll be great when it's finished....

After the tour we picked our pack up from the station locker and jumped on our first Shinkanshen (bullet train) to Hiroshima. We’d seen one whiz thru a station a couple of days before and jeez do they move! So, it pulls up to the station looking exactly as you expect (and want) it too look. Like a cross between Concorde and the missing Thunderbird. It’s a truly beautiful thing, all sleek lines and Japanese efficiency, and of course very, very fast, but you don’t feel it on the train itself. We arrived in Hiroshima an hour or so later and checked in at our hotel. One thing we hadn’t banked on was the fact that as Hiroshima is such a popular destination for Japanese weekend tourist, that all the hotels double their prices on Sat night, and we arrived on Fri night, so we had to check out of our hotel the next night (or pay (£120) and find alternative accommodation.

The ruins of the A-bomb dome complete with snow and the Memorial Cenotaph in the Peace Park in Hiroshima

So we checked out early the next morning, left our bags in the storage room and went of sightseeing. I’m so glad we got an early start, as we were in the Peace Memorial Park by around 9am and had it mostly too ourselves for that first 30 mins or so. It had been sowing the night before so the whole park was covered in a blanket of snow, and it was still snowing slightly as we wandered thru the park. I’d always wanted to visit Hiroshima for many years, since I was a kid really, I felt from an early age that what the Americans did in Hiroshima & Nagasaki was wrong, just a convenient way of testing their new toys and justifying the huge expense in their research and production to the American people. After gazing at the many touching and thought provoking statues and monuments to the victims of the Atomic blast we went into the excellent Peace Memorial Museum. If you weren’t against Nuclear arms before you entered the museum, you sure as hell were when you left.

Various statues given to Japan from many different countries as symbols of peace, in the Peace Park in Hiroshima

It’s a very balanced  exhibition about the lead up to the dropping of the bomb, Japans role in the war, and of course, the horrific effects, both long and short term of Aug 8^th 1945. It’s genuinely moving and harrowing experience, but above all you do leave with a positive air, and a hope that this will never happen again. The two models of Hiroshima, one before the bomb dropped and one the day after did it for me, the utter devastation that happened in a few seconds, the complete flattening of an entire city and it’s citizens. You learn a great deal about the after effects of the explosion and the battle for survival of the people of Hiroshima afterwards, again showing the Japanese strength to rebuild and move on. Much like leaving the Vietnamese War Musuem in Saigon, the experience just made me want to punch the first American I saw, or is that just a natural reaction to American sin general?. After this we went to visit a couple of recommended Art  Museums on the outskirts of the city, mainly to see a couple of Dali’s and a famous Japanese painting that wasn’t on display at the time.

Curtis like a Warhol or two, bit of a mad sign in Hiroshima, and yes, another skyscraper.

The night before I’d booked us into a cheap-ish Ryoken on the other side of town, so after a quick detour to do some record shopping, we headed there. It took us a while to find, and when we got there the room was freezing cold, but we stuck the heater on and after about 3 hours we could take our coats off! It was our first taste of sleeping Japanese style on a tatami mat and futon mattress, and a very nice nights sleep we had.

Curtis just can't function without that first canned coffee of the day. The striking Itsukushima shrine on Miyajima Island

 After a little discussion, and as we’d seen most of the sights in Hiroshima the day before, we decided to do another full on day and head to Nagasaki via a morning trip to the Itsukushima shrine on Miyajima Island. I must say, we nearly didn’t do it, but it turned out to be one of the highlights (temple wise) of the trip so far. It took a fair few hours planning the night before, but we left early again and got a tram, train and ferry to the island and once again got there just before the masses of Japanese weekend visitors.

Me and the missus (and for some reason, the Japanese lady didn't want Curtis in the photo!). Another view of the shrine.

The shrine itself is actually in the ocean just offshore, and is quite an impressive site with the mainland behind it. The site itself is very touristy, you go thru a maze of platforms before getting to the main viewing platform where everyone queues up in an orderly fashion to have their picture taken in front of the shrine. On a whim we decided to stroll up to Daisho-in, the Buddhist temple uphill from the shrine. An amazing place, dotted with little walkways, ponds, and shrines, with hundreds of small Buddha statues dotted along paths and a great cave with hundreds of lanterns above a room full of more Buddha statues. But the view itself looking up the hillside with the waterfall next to it was just so special, just the whole vibe of the place was relaxing and calming. So glad we did it.

I think these bales are kegs of Sake. The very cool shrine in Daisho-in Buddhist temple on Miyajima Island.

After getting the ferry back to the mainland and the train back to Hiroshima station we got another bullet train to Nagasaki our next destination.

We both liked Nagasaki as soon as we got there, it’s a pleasant small-ish city surround by hllls on three sides and the sea on the fourth. We arrived around 4pm and headed to the hotel to relax for the rest of the evening and plan a full day tomorrow. We left the hotel early again and headed for the Nagasaki Peace Park, again lot’s of statues and memorials to the victims of the 2^nd atomic bomb dropped 3 days after the first. Not as pretty as the Hiroshima park, but still engaging enough.

Bell sculpture in the Peace Park, Nagasaki, a strange pile of statue heads in Urakami Cathedral & the Peace Memorial Hall.

We then visited the Atomic Bomb Museum & Peace Hall, our second in 2 days. We both felt Nagasaki’s museum was more graphic than Hiroshima’s and accordingly more harrowing. There were more photos of the dead, many of them children, and more of the radiation and scarring suffered by the survivors after the event. Again it still packed a punch, and we found out a lot about the events leading up to the dropping of both bombs. It’s clear Japan was ready to surrender, and would have done had the terms been right, but America had some testing to do, so the rest is unfortunately history. It’s good that these museums are here as a grim reminder of the power of these weapons. 

A view over Nagasaki city from the hills behind Oura Church and one of the old colonial houses on the dutch slopes.

After here we wandered past the Urakami Cathedral, itself destroyed in the blast and rebuilt after the war with two surviving  charred statues in front as a reminder of what happened. From here we took the tram South to see Oura Church, which was pretty enough, nothing much to see inside so we strolled thru the church graveyard to the Dutch slopes, an pretty area on the hillside with old Western style houses. After this we walked down to the harbour area and past the Art Museum and Dejima Wharf, a tacky recreation of a Dutch community next to the harbour. Naturally, we gave this a miss and went to find Sonny Boy, Nagasaki’s only record shop. After leaving there empty handed we headed home via the cute ‘spectacles bridge’ (Megane bashi). We went to find food a shopping centre close by early evening and found a great pizza place, it looked like any other tacky shopping centre franchise, but the pizza was one of the best I’ve had for ages. Result. No tofu & noodle soup for me tonight!

Recreated Dutch warehouse near the docks in Nagasaki, and the lovely canal system there.

Back at the hotel we made a plan for the next day, we were going to head to Unzen to see the Jigoko’s (hot springs) and the volcano at Fugen-dake but realised it was a long, and expensive day out, and with Curtis we were unsure of how far we got go up the volcano surrounds.

Battleship Island (Gunkanjima), you can see where it gets it's nickname....

Instead we opted  to visit Battleship Island (Gunkanjima), an abandoned island 15k offshore with it’s buildings left in a state of decay,  and early morning we headed off to catch the 9am ferry. Unfortunately, children under 6 were not allowed to disembark from the ferry due to the dangerous tides, so I went reluctantly off on my own. So glad I did tho, this was right up my dori, the island was abandoned in the mid-seventies after the coal mine closed and was opened to tourism a few years ago. It’s called battleship island due to it’s resemblance to said battleship as you near the island. Your only allowed to visit 3 view points on the island due to the danger of falling buildings, but it was well worth it, there was a real sense of desolate eeriness to the place, not helped by the fact that it was bloody freezing!

One old ruin standing in front of some others.... another shot of the eerily deserted buildings on Gunkanjima.

Another shot of the ruins on Gunkanjima, and the unusual ferry terminal at Nagasaki port.

 I met Susan back at the ferry terminal and we wandered off to the Church/monument of the 26 Martyrs, a sort of Gaudi-esque church with a nice monument in front. After that we strolled around the hills thru what seemed like miles of graveyards till we got to Fukasai-ji a weird looking Zen temple set on the back of a giant turtle, with a tacky 18m tall goddess behind. Close by was Shofoku-ji a nice enough temple on the hill. Susan then headed off to go to the Inasa-yama viewpoint accessible via a ropeway (cable car) and giving panoramic views over the city. I took Curtis back to the hotel and researched our next brief destination, Kagoshima.

The 26 martyrs memorial and the entrance to Fukusai-ji Zen temple, Nagasaki (complete with giant turtle, as you do...)