After the first food trip around Japan, I was poor and tired. I spent a few days just lounging around my room eating instant ramen like a bum. When I finally decided I was ready to face the world again, I mostly spent it with friends watching Smallville dubbed in Japanese and hanging around a nearby coffee shop.
Before too long, though, my main squeeze Alvin came from the motherland to visit me! I had a rough itinerary planned with the familiar things I wanted to show him and the things we wanted to discover together, and he was on Spring break, so he only had one week to see as much as possible.
First, I showed him around my adopted Japanese hometown of Nagoya. Or tried to, at least. It rained in the afternoon, so we hid inside for a good part of the day. We did get to see some cherry blossoms at Nagoya Castle, and we ate Nagoya's specialty eel dish, hitsumabushi. In the evening, we went out for some beer and Nagoya's specialty chicken wings, tebasaki. Pretty yum-tastic. Then we hung out (for maybe a little too long) drinking sake with some of my fellow exchange students.
Early the next morning, we caught a bus to Kyoto. I knew that I wanted to take Alvin to the scenic Arashiyama area. I took him to Togetsukyo Bridge, and this time I got to explore the nearby bamboo forest.
Afterwards, we did some walking and got food around Kyoto's Gion district. The early start and all of the walking tired us out, so we headed to our hotel for a rest before heading out to Fushimi Inari Shrine. It was dark by the time we made it to Fushimi Inari, but the lighting through the looooong path or red torii gates made some interesting shadows.
The next day, we went to the golden temple Kinkakuji (you may remember it from my Kyoto blog post back in November) before hopping on a train to Osaka. I had already been to Osaka earlier that month, but I love food, and it was very important to me that Alvin taste some of my favorite dishes. I didn't really see anything new this time in Osaka, but we ate plenty of takoyaki, okonomiyaki, and yakisoba for a day before heading towards Hiroshima on the Shinkansen!
Shinkansen literally translates to "New Trunk Line" which is the name of the route, but it's commonly referred to in English as the Bullet Train. I've been told it can travel up to 270 km/hour. It was a very nice, comfortable ride, too. It was expensive, though, but since we had a lot to see on a short schedule, it was really the only option.
It was the first time visiting Hiroshima for both Alvin and me. The first thing we did was head to the nearby island of Miyajima to see the "floating" torii. The island can only be accessed by a short ferry ride that had some nice views of the shrine and torii. The island itself was really scenic, too, and the road to the shrine was lined with plenty of cute shops and restaurants... and lots of deer (not as many as I saw in Nara, but way more than I expected). When we made it to the shrine, the famous torii did not disappoint.
In the evening, we were lucky enough to return to our hostel in time for an okonomiyaki party in the lobby. The manager prepared some Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki for us while we chatted with the other travelers there. Eventually, he handed over his spatulas so that some of the guests could try their hand at cooking, and Alvin got some one-on-one okonomiyaki coaching.
We spent the next day exploring the city of Hiroshima. It is a nice, quiet city with some interesting sights. The most well-known part of Hiroshima is the A-bomb Dome and Peace Park. A-bomb Dome was the only building in the area that was still standing after the atomic bomb was dropped in WWII. This area was definitely less cheery than the rest of our trip, but still worthwhile and interesting.
After visiting this spot, we decided to lighten the mood with some yummy Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki! So, you're probably asking "Amanda, what's the difference between Hiroshima's okonomiyaki and Osaka's?" Allow me to explain. Osaka or Kansai-style okonomiyaki is prepared with cabbage and batter and fixings all mixed up and then grilled and topped with sauce and mayo. In Hiroshima, they prepare the ingredients separately and then layer them. First, the batter, then some cabbage, some meats or cheeses or whatever toppings you like, some egg, and some noodles. It's all topped with the same okonomi sauce and mayo, and it is delish. It's also HUGE. Alvin and I thought about splitting one, but when we saw the tiny Japanese women in the restaurant effortlessly devouring them, we decided we had to maintain our street cred and each order our own.
Stuffed to the max, we hobbled back over to the train station and caught the Shinkansen once more for Nagoya. The final night was a relaxing evening hanging out with some more of my friends at the dorm, and on the final day, I helped Alvin pack up and head to the airport to head back to the States.
It was a whirlwind-tour around 4 Japanese cities, and we both had a great time!
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