So many photo OPS on Miyajima Island, WTRD 24 of 49, September 27, 2017

Shrines, Temples, and Deer, Oh My!

We missed our blue sky window by one day for  Miyajima Island on either side of today.  It sprinkled, it poured, it misted.  Turned out to be a pretty good day though for photographs because of the lighting and the glisten of new rain on the foliage that is just starting to turn from greens to oranges and red.  Plus the island of Shinto Shrines and Buddhist temples provides excellent opportunities to capture beauty and interest without much work on the part of the photographer.

Our Japan Rail pass took us by train from Hiroshima to Miyajimaguchi station and then onto the ferry to the island in the inland sea.  We had our rain jackets, an umbrella we bought in Korea, and some recycled plastic bags to keep the camera from getting wet.  I brought the big girl camera along to take photos from the top of the mountain if it cleared.  It never cleared, but the long lens came in handy taking photos while not being obtrusive of people going about their daily lives

Here are some of the best photos  of the day.  It was pretty magical in the mist.

SHRINES

The tide was low when we arrived at Shinto Itsukushima Shrine, a large sprawling structure elevated on poles.

The Shrine is covered so it made excellent protection when the sky opened up and the rain poured down.  We took advantage of the shelter to watch people received purification and blessings, and later in the day when the tide crept in under the shrine to be married.  

Shinto Priest

Young Family, Father, Mother, Toddler, and new infant kneel while Priest Prepares the Blessing

This little girl was restless but well behaved during the ceremony.

Later in the day we caught the last of a wedding ceremony

The Bride

Wedding Party

The tide comes in and the Shrine appears to float.  With a very high tide , the water is right up to the floor boards.

Temples

In addition to the Shinto Shrine, there is also a large Buddhist Temple with small temples ad gardens.  The Daisho-InTemple.

One thousand Fudo images of Immovable King

Shaka Buddha, entering Nirvana surrounded by his sixteen disciples.

Hen Jyokutsu Cave

Hakkaku Manpuku Hall - Seven Deities of Good Fortune are enshrined in this octagonal hall.

Knit caps designate different sects of monks that line the path.

Oh Deer!

And let's not forget about the deer.  The island is loaded with these miniature deer.  At first because of their size and their spots, we thought these were fawn.  No they are full size.  There are signs posted not to feed the deer, but it doesn't seem like folks pay attention to the signs.  The deer are expecting food.  All you  have to do is rattle a plastic bag and they come up to you ready to snatch it out of your hand.

As we walked up the stairs to the Buddhist Temple we heard what sounded like a baby crying.  A doe had come up to investigate the plastic bag I had wrapped around my camera to keep it dry from the rain.  When she heard the baby cry, she turned and ran up the stairs to a little ravine where her baby was hiding.

This must be the Granddaddy of the Deer!

We walked back to the Ferry Dock and along the way we saw some rickshaw drivers working very hard pulling their rides up the hills.  

Looking for a ride or for some exercise?

And there are always places to shop.

All is Well With the Worrall Travel R's Leaving Miyajima  & Hiroshima and heading for Okayama tomorrow.

No More Hiroshimas, WTRD 23, September 26, 2017

First order of the day...wishing Russ, my wonderful husband and best friend, a happy birthday.  It seems that Russ's birthday is always in a special place.  Last year we were in Chefchaouen, the blue city, in Morocco.

This year we are in Hiroshima, Japan, a beautiful city today,

but a scene of terror, sadness and despair on August 6, 1945 when America dropped a nuclear bomb, the first of its kind 600 meters above Hiroshima, in an attempt to stop the Pacific War perpetrated by Japan.

The bomb claimed 200,000 lives in a horrifying flash.  Those in a 3 km radius of the bomb center incinerated immediately.  Those in outer areas suffered immense burns, wounds, and blindness, and those even farther away suffered from radiation illness. Hiroshima was leveled. The following week, America dropped another bomb on Nagasaki.  Japan surrendered.  The difference then and now, is that America was the only country in possession of such a devastating weapon.  Today several countries have this weapon and we have the capability of annihilating the entire planet.

Kim Jong Un and Donald J Trump are you listening?  Do you know your history?  Do you have any horrifying awareness of what the future could be for people around the world and especially in America and Korea if a nuclear war is initiated?   Are we so far removed from our history that we are doomed to repeat it?  What will it take for us to embrace peace instead of aggression?  Must we the people  suffer devastation of war for ill conceived and vengeful show of strength by two men trying to prove who has the the bigger D?    Let's have no more HIroshimas. Please let it not be the USA to perpetrate conflict with the misguided notion that a single strike will prevent damage on our own soil and keep our citizens safe.   It won't. It will be the beginning of a miserable ending for all of us.

Japanese children by the hundreds were visiting Hiroshima's museums, peace memorials, and museums, today.  Seems scary to introduce the horrors of war on children so young, but Japan finds it necessary to do so because they are committed to no more war or more Hiroshimas, and the only way to do this is to train the future early and frequently.

Remains of a dead child's clothing after the bomb.

One can only imagine what is going on the minds of these students.  

Here are photos of our sobering day today.

Surprise!  Our Japan Rail Pass covers us on the Hop on Hop Off Bus..

The Hall of Remembrance

Peace Memorial - bombed out shell of domed building  (commercial exhibition hall) in the background.

The only building left standing after the bomb. The artistically refurbished  dome is a reminder of peace.

We have lunch at the Okonomi Yaki Restaurant and enjoy regional dish.  Okonomi Yaki.

Lotus Root Tempura with Okonomi Yaki sauce.

Happy Birthday Russ!

Covered Street creates semi closed shopping mall

Hiroshima castle rebuilt after the Bomb.  Inside is a Samurai Museum.

Hiroshima Shinto Shrine

Shinto faithful, clean hands and mouth before approaching the shrine..

At the entrance of the Shrine, the couple bows twice, clap their hands twice, and reflect in silence.

We did end it on our day on a high note by spending time in a beautiful Shukkeien garden, celebrating a birthday dinner, and having chocolate cake.

First signs of Fall

Koi feeding

Bird and Turtle

All is Well With the Worrall Travel R's in Hiroshima

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Hiroshima, WTRD 22, September 25, 2017

Hiroshima Tea and Sleeping Room

We really loved our retreat in the woods, and it was hard to leave this lovely Japanese wooden house. But the time had come, so we packed up our gear and moved out by 8:30 am.  We sighed a collaborative sigh of relief when we brought the rental car back without any dents or scratches.  The narrow mountain roads, lack of shoulders, cyclists with nowhere to get out of the way forcing cars over the line of opposing traffic, and big fat buses and delivery vans taking up their entire lane did not make for enjoyable country driving.

We turned in the car, boarded the train from Hakone to Odawara.  We got to Odawara almost two hours before our train, so I sat in Starbucks having a long leisurely latte.  Russ used the  time to find a cola, some take out lunch, and reserve train tickets for the upcoming days.   It sure is nice having a Japan Rail pass, and we appreciated it even more after the goofy mistake we were about to make.

The trains roll through the station at amazing speeds.

They stop just long enough for passengers to disembark, embark, and the train  rolls out.  Trains run about 2 minutes apart.  We were on the right track lined up for car number nine, the reserved first class car.  Our ticket was for 12:08.  A train came into the station  at 12:02.  We boarded and failed to notice an important detail.  It wasn't our train!

We sat down in what we thought were our assigned seats in a car with only a few passengers.  The train sped out of the station and the written welcome announcement flashed on the screen telling us the train number and destination.  Uh oh!

Uh Oh!

Our train didn't leave until 12:08.   It wasn't early.  We were on the wrong train, and our train was probably rolling into the station on the track right behind us as we took off and is now shooting ahead of us.  Oh well, we will have to pay better attention next time, but what to do now?

This train was headed for Nagoya, but we didn't recognize any of the stops along the way.  We were going in the right direction, but with many more stops,  and we wouldn't make our connecting train to Hiroshima if we stayed on this train. We couldn't find a conductor, so we decided to get off the train at the next station.  There were two young men sitting in the last seat of the car where we were collecting our baggage that was stowed behind their seats.  While Russ was getting our luggage, I pulled out my ticket and pointed to it to confirm whether we were on the right train or not.  No he said, we were going in the right direction but much more slowly than the train we had booked.  He suggested, we get off and find a platform conductor.

So we piled out of the train.  I saw a conductor two cars down.  I ran down the track while Russ stood by the luggage.  In my non-existent Japanese and his non-existent English, he looked at my ticket and told me to get back on the train.  By this time, the young man who had advised us to get off the train, had thought better of it and had gotten off to help.  He ran up to the conductor and he got the same story.  So he helped us toss the luggage back in the train, and we got back on the train just as it was pulling out.  He advised us to find the in-train conductor.

Once again, we stowed the luggage and sat down in some vacant seats close to the exit and in front of the young man who had helped us.  Russ went forward and then aft looking for a conductor.  He came back with a look of bemusement on his face. The conductor speaking and understanding only Japanese, finally conveyed to Russ that he would come back to us and tell us when to get off the train. We made one stop after another.  Finally the conductor came back and in fast Japanese (not that we would have understood if had spoken slower) explained to us where and when to get off.  We didn't understand at all what he was conveying to us.  Once again, I asked the young man sitting behind us. "What did he say"?

The man asked the conductor for the timetable book he was carrying, thumbed through the pages and told us to get off at a station before Nagoya where we could catch a faster train that would take us to Shin-Osaka in time to make our original connection to Hiroshima.  We asked if we needed to go to the ticket station and get re-ticketed for the change over to a faster train. No, he told us the conductor could ticket us on the train since we had a Japan Rail pass.  We thanked him and got off the train where we were instructed.  Before the train left, the young man saw us standing where we disembarked.   He scrambled out of the train before it took off and told us to walk up the platform and board cars 1,2,3,4 or 5 second class cars on the transfer train since we would not have a reserved seat. We thanked him again for the 10th time and waved goodbye as the train sped off, and our new train sped in as we walked to car 5 gate.

We boarded car 5, second class.  It was nice, but many more passengers.  We took the last two seats in a three seat row in the back of the car near our luggage.

When the conductor came through, he re-ticketed us to a first car class car with reserved seats.  We were only going two stops on this train and weren't sure it was even worth our while to move, but since he had taken the time to re-ticket us, we moved back to the first class car for two stops.

After two stops, we disembarked hoping that our connection was just across the platform.  It wasn't, but it was close enough.  We just had to go down the escalator, under the track, and up the other side. On our original ticket, we would have had to wait 35 minutes between train transfers.  Now we had only a 6 minute wait. We boarded the right train on the right track, going to the right destination!.

High five!

So it all turned out fine. and we arrived in Hiroshima on the correct train and on schedule time.

Lessons learned:
1)  Pay attention to the clock.  The time on the ticket is exactly when it leaves.
2)  Pay attention to the neon sign on the side of the train to confirm the number and destination.
3)  Relax, there are so many options and frequency of trains, that it will all work out in the end even if you screw up.
4)  It is nice to have the rail pass.  Not sure how we would have quickly resolved a wrong train issue otherwise.
5)  The Japanese people we have met are wonderfully kind and helpful even if we don't speak their language.

We arrived in Hiroshima, found our way to our new digs.  Nothing compares to our wooded house in the forest, but our new Airbnb will work out just fine.

Another height challenged door.

It has all the necessities and two tea rooms or sleeping rooms, plus a dedicated bedroom with a queen size bed.

Internet is pretty slow, so not sure how many photos we will be able to upload the next few days.


I didn't think  we would have much to write about tonight, so I thought I would share a new packing bag I bought for this trip.  In trips past I have used packing bags to separate out underwear, short sleeve and long sleeve tops, pants and skirts.  This has worked fined, but it does require opening each bag to assemble an outfit and to repack fresh laundry.   To avoid anything that causes undo  travel fatigue, I wanted to try something more casual in the way of packing and repacking every night.

I found this hanging closet online, and I love it.  I pack my skirts/pants in a regular packing bag that fits in the bottom of my carry-on.  The hanging closet holds all of the other clothes and accessories (scarves, underwear, etc.), and a dirty clothes basket at the bottom.  It collapses into the suitcase

 and extends while in the closet.  My cosmetic shower bag fits on top.   Love it, love it, love it. Soooo easy.

All is well with the Worrall Travel R's who made it to Hiroshima.