Our city of arrival was
Fukuoka, also known as Hakata, on the island of
Kyushu, Japan's third largest island. It's actually the part of Japan situated the closest to
Korea (you can catch a ferry from Busan), but we flew from Seoul. Our first Japanese meal after arrival was noodles in a pork-bone broth with slices of roasted pork, green onions and red pepper. At this particular
restaurant you buy a ticket from a machine, sit in a cubicle, place the ticket on the counter below the curtain in front of you, and after a few minutes a pair of disembodied hands places the food in front of you.
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| Ramen in pork-bone broth |
As Fukuoka itself doesn't have an enormous amount to see, the next day we headed to
Nagasaki, widely known along with Hiroshima as one of two sites where the
atom bomb was dropped in 1945. (In
Saipan three months before I had seen the site where the bombs were stored and from where the planes carrying them took off from).
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| epicentre of the A-bomb blast, Nagasaki |
The bomb exploded at 11:02am on August 9th 1945 about 500 metres above this black stone monolith (above).
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| Peace Park, Nagasaki |
About 150 000 people were killed or injured, and one-third of the city was destroyed. In fact this one blast killed more people than all the bombing raids in Britain during WWII.
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| garlands of paper cranes at Peace Park, Nagasaki |
The Peace Park is built on the site of an old prison that was destroyed in the explosion, and is just next to the hypocentre.
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| statue in Peace Park |
After this sobering visit, we continued our gastronomic adventures back in Fukuoka with
tonkatsu - breaded pork cutlet served with shredded cabbage and miso soup.
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| Tonkatsu |
Another meal saw us discovering
okonomiyaki which is a Japanese savoury pancake/pizza/omelette. The batter is made of flour, grated
nagaimo (a type of
yam), water or
dash (stock), eggs and shredded cabbage, and usually contains other ingredients such as green onion,
meat (generally pork or bacon),
octopus,
squid,
shrimp,
vegetables,
kimchi,
mochi (rice-cake) or
cheese.
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| an uncooked okonomiyaki on the hotplate |
Our restaurant was a do-it-yourself establishment where every table had its own hotplate, but as we didn't really know what we were doing a member of staff came and helped us!
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| two cooked okonomiyakis |
Then it was time for us to change cities, travelling to
Hiroshima in one of Japan Rail's famous
shinkansen, or bullet trains.
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| shinkansen to Hiroshima |
Hiroshima is actually the Japanese city that I liked the most. It's a manageable size, the people are very friendly, and is not at all as depressing as I imagined it might be, despite its history. The bomb was dropped here at 8:15am on August 6th 1945, three days before Nagasaki.
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| A-bomb dome |
The "
A-bomb dome" is what is left of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. It is now on the UNESCO
World Heritage List. The bomb detonated almost directly above the building, which probably explains why it was left standing.
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| at the Children's Peace Monument |
On the other side of the river lies Hiroshima's
Peace Memorial Park, which contains the key World War II sites in Hiroshima. In the park the
Children's Peace Monument can be easily identified by its colourful paper cranes. One of the main features of the Park is the
Peace Memorial Museum, with exhibits and displays about the day the bomb was dropped, and its aftermath.
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| watch stopped at 8:15 on display in the Peace Memorial Museum |
While in Hiroshima we participated in an
International Exchange home visit for a day, and Mrs Yoshie Yamamoto very kindly welcomed us into her home, served us tea, and allowed us to try on her collection of kimonos.
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| I'm quite small (1m57) but Mrs Yamamoto is tiny! |
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| My husband and I |
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| Mrs Yamamoto's traditional Japanese footwear |
Hiroshima's history is not only about the A-bomb, for example it also has a
castle originally built in the late 16th century (as the castle was destroyed in 1945 a replica was built in 1958).
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| Hiroshima castle |
Close to Hiroshima is probably one of Japan's most iconic sights: the big vermilion O-torii gate standing in water at
Miyajima island.
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| you need to take a ferry to get to Miyajima |
The gate is situated 200 metres from the
Itsukushima Shrine, which was originally founded in the 6th century, although the present structure is a 16th century copy of 12th century buildings.
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| the gate is 16 metres high and is built of camphor wood |
There has been a gate since 1168, but the current gate is the 18th version and was built in 1875.
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| the gate looking back towards the mainland |
Near the shrine is the Go-ju-no-to or Five-Storied Pagoda.
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| Five-storied pagoda |
The pagoda dates from 1407 and is 27 metres tall.
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| close-up |
The island is home to quite a few (permanently hungry) deer.
It also has a number of hotels, restaurants and shops.
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| group of Japanese high-schoolers visiting Miyajima |
Our next stopping point in Japan was one of its most famous cities - Kyoto.
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| In the train to Kyoto (five-toed socks are fairly common in Japan) |
Kyoto was the nation's capital and Imperial home until 1868, and is still the cultural and touristic capital of the country. Some parts of the city are considered to be of such historial importance that laws prohibit brightly coloured signs.
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| MacDonald's usual bright red is not allowed near Kyoto temples |
Ginkaku-ji is known as the
Temple of the Silver Pavilion as when it was built in the 15th century the outer walls were originally going to be covered in silver.
The two-storey building is surrounded by a dry garden known as the Sea of Sand.
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| this pile of sand is said to symbolise Mount Fuji |
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| I loved the way the bamboo has been used for this stairway |
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| view from the Pavilion looking west over Kyoto |
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| Philosopher's Walk (Tetsugaku-no-michi) |
Heian Jingu is one of Japan's most important shrines.
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| wishes on trees (you tie it to the tree and hope it comes true). |
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| at Heian Shrine |
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| in the street |
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| beggar near Kiyomizu-dera temple |
We spent one day visiting the city of
Nara, 40km south of Kyoto, which was established as Japan's first permanent capital in 710 until the capital moved to Kyoto in 794.
Most of the city's popular sites are in Nara Koen (Nara Park), and the biggest draw is the
Todai-ji temple complex.
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| The Great Buddha of Nara is 16.2m high |
The main building is the world's largest wooden structure and is home to a 15-tonne bronze Buddha. There's also an enormous wooden pillar with a hole, and it's said that if you can crawl through the hole you'll attain enlightenment ...
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| my husband squeezing through 'the enlightenment hole' |
Back in Kyoto on our last day we visited one of the city's most famous sights: the
Temple of the Golden Pavilion. Originally built in the late 14th century as a villa it was later converted into a temple, and had to be reconstructed in the 1950s after a monk set fire to it.
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| Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion) is covered in gold leaf |
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| in the street |
The Japanese have imported a certain number of recipes from other countries, and French crêpes can be found in several places, to my delight. Although they're not quite as good as the originals, they're still delicious!
Our penultimate stop was at
Hakone, beside
Lake Ashi, which is a National Park and resort area near Tokyo and not far from
Mount Fuji.
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| Mount Fuji is Japan's highest mountain (3776m) |
Pirate ships disguised as pleasure boats pleasure boats disguised as pirate ships sail the lake.
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| the lake was formed by the eruption of a volcano |
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| interesting menu choice |
One of the attractions in the area is the
Owaku-dani valley which you reach by ropeway (cable car) and which has active sulphur vents. The smell can be quite unpleasant as hydrogen sulphide gas escapes from the vents.
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| sulphur vents |
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| sulphur vents |
A local speciality is black eggs which have been boiled in the hot springs. Eating one is said to increase your life by 7 years.
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| Kuro-tamago (black eggs) |
At our accommodation in Hakone we had a traditional
Kaiseki dinner consisting of aperitif, hors d'oeuvres, clear broth, a raw fish dish, broiled food, soup, rice, pickled vegetables, and a dessert
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| Kaiseki dinner |
Finally it was time to head to the
nation's capital. As it was raining the day we arrived one of our first stops was
Tokyo National Museum, Japan's oldest and largest museum. I was fascinated by the collection of
haniwa figures which were erected on tombs in Japan during the 4th - 6th centuries. Figures were in the shape of humans, animals or man-made objects, and may have represented aspects of the person buried in the tomb.
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| Haniwa figures |
We also visited
Senso-ji which is Tokyo's oldest temple, founded in 628.
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| this giant straw sandal hangs at the temple's main gate |
In Japan and Korea it's fairly common for restaurants to display plastic food, and whole shops are devoted to supplying and selling (incredibly realistic) plastic food.
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| plastic food shop |
One of the distinctive buildings on Tokyo's skyline is
Tokyo Tower, a 332m-high communications and observation tower.
Nearby is
Zojo-ji temple where in one particular garden at the cemetery rows of statues of children represent unborn (miscarried, aborted, stillborn) children. Parents can choose a statue in the garden and decorate it with small clothing and toys.
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| statues in the unborn children garden |
In the
Odaiba part of the city a leisure and commercial development complex has been built, including the
Fuji Television Building.
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| the unique architecture of Fuji TV HQ |
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| wedding procession, Meiji Shrine |
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| wedding procession, Meiji Shrine |
One of our last meals in Japan was
shabu shabu, a dish where you put a thin slice of meat (or a piece of vegetable) in a pot of boiling water or broth and "swish" it back and forth (the name
shabu shabu is derived from the "swish swish" sound of cooking the meat in the pot).
Little did we know that 14 months later we would be
staying not far away on the 47th floor of the Park Hyatt hotel, having won a two-night stay there, in Beijing and in
Shanghai!
Suggested reading:
by Ramsey Zarifeh, Trailblazer guide
by Arthur Golden
by Richard Collasse is only available in French.