Anyways! When we last left you we were heading to Osaka to spend the night before heading off to Hiroshima. Bryn managed to reserve us seats on the side of the shinkansen where you can see Mount Fuji on a clear day. It was a bit cloudy when we passed by, but we did get to see the peak peeking (haha) out of the clouds!
Once we were in Osaka we checked into our hotel before moving downtown to find dinner. We decided to try an izakaya that was Kyushu themed. Kyushu is the southermost region of Japan (including Okinawa). They have a somewhat unique style of food which is really good (aside from their obsession with SPAM...). We were all pretty exhausted and decided to call it an early night since we had an early train to catch the next day.
We woke up BRIGHT and early on Friday morning to catch a fast train (shinkansen) to Hiroshima. I don’t mind waking up BRIGHT and early so much is there is a Starbucks between me and my destination. The only problem with this particular morning was that the only Starbucks around happened to be in the other part of the train station…not the shinkansen station!!
Apart from having no Starbucks to start off the day, the trip to Hiroshima was fairly uneventful. Upon arrival, we hustled to stuff our bags in a locker and find the train that would get us to the Mazda factory – our first stop of the day! We had a tour scheduled for 10:30 that morning, and found the meeting spot with no problems at all.
There were about 20 people (foreigners from all over the world) on the English tour. A cute Japanese girl with perfect English gave the tour of the factory. It was HUGE! We had to take a 15 minute bus ride from the visitors center, to the museum where the actual tour takes place.
In the entrance to the museum there were several brand new Mazdas of different makes for people to sit in. It was funny watching all the Americans jump into the passenger seat before realizing it was the other way around!
We were then led upstairs where our tour guide gave us a brief history of the company (Did you know that the name Mazda comes from the Japanese name Matsuda??) There was a showroom full of all sorts of Mazda’s starting from their very first 3-wheeled motorcycle. Next we learned about the rotary engine they use and got to get a close-up look at the actual car that won the Le Mans 24 Hour Race. (The guide made sure to point out the wide racing tires…it made me laugh since Prad has at least 2 in our basement in Maryland that he has collected from races!).
In the next room we saw how a car was made – from the inspiration drawing boards, to small models, to full scale models made of clay (pretty cool – they used the RX8 as the example, and had a full size car sitting there…no one could believe it when she told us that it was a model made from solid clay!!) then to the real car.
From there we got to go out on a cat walk above the factory where they were building the real cars (sorry, no pictures allowed). I tell you, those workers work HARD. They only had a matter of minutes (I estimated about two) to install their parts of the car, get everything screwed in correctly and have it ready for the next person on the line. It was really interesting to watch. We mainly saw them installing pieces of the interior – flooring, the dashboard…stuff like that. The cars came in as empty shells and filled up as they slowly moved down the line…pretty cool!
Finally we ended in the "Cars of the Future" exhibition. The cars of Mazda's future can be summed up in one word: UGLY. (In Mazda's defense, I don't think they have intentions of manufacturing or selling them...)
The tour lasted about an hour and a half, and then we decided that it made the most sense to catch the ferry out to Miyajima for the afternoon, since we needed to leave early the next day. Miyajima is a small island off the coast of Hiroshima. Bryn and I went there with our friend Jannie in the autumn of my first year to see the leaves (click here to read about that trip on my old blog!)
Miyajima is also one of the top three views in Japan (along with Amanohashidate and another one much further north). It is most well known for it’s “floating” torii…when the tide is in, it looks like the enormous red torii is floating in the water. The tide happened to be way out when we arrived that afternoon, so after some lunch we decided to walk out to the gate and check it out! It is seriously big!
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| There were coins stuck into the barnacles all over the base of the torii. I think mom and Prad each stuck one on there, too. |
We spend the next few hours wandering around and riding the ropeway up to the top (well, almost the top) of Mt. Misen. Jannie, Bryn and I had then hiked to the summit when we visited in the cool fall, but 35+ temperatures weren’t great for mountain climbing, so we decided to skip it this trip.
We eventually ferried back to the mainland and made our way to the hotel for a quick shower to cool down our sunburn (I think we all got a little that day!) Then, we were right back out to find some dinner! Seeing as we were in Hiroshima, the home of okonomiyaki (sort of a thick savory pancake filled with all sorts of good stuff) we decided to try and find a restaurant that served it – and we did!
I have to admit that the restaurant we ended up in was totally missable. Bryn ordered us a “Hiroshimayaki” (the real specialty of the area) and a “Kansaiyaki” (we had no idea what that was, but we live in Kansai, so we thought we should try it.) This was a place that just brought you the ingredients, and it was up to you to cook it. The problem was, there was so much of the stuff that it was near impossible to cook!!! Bryn and Prad managed to get everything together, and well…it tasted good! In the end we managed to make most of the okonomiyakis go away. Like I said, the taste was good, but it definitely wasn’t worth the effort. We’ll stick to our “local” place!! Everyone was pretty exhausted after the long day out in the hot sun, so we called it an early night.
Saturday morning we took the tram to the Hiroshima Peace Park (the site of the atomic bomb). We saw the atomic bomb dome (the one building they left standing after the bomb) and then went into the museum which chronicles the history leading up the WWII and the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It’s quite a serious museum and really well done (very unbiased…they don’t bash America for dropping it, and they also explain the Japan wasn’t completely innocent in the whole thing). I would imagine that it is an even more eye-opening experience for young Japanese people who have not learned about the war since it is not in their curriculum in schools.
It was hot, so we opted for a short taxi ride to Hiroshima Castle. It is a reconstruction (the original – well, I guess it could have been the original) was destroyed by the bomb. Like Osaka castle, it looks really neat and authentic from the outside, but the inside is completely modern in order to display things. The one thing is has over Osaka castle is that it doesn’t have an elevator! For me, a castle is a castle and I will love them no matter what!!! It also has a really cook view of the city from the top!
After wandering around the castle, we went back to the station for some omiyage (souvenir) shopping before getting bentos (my bento came in the form of a McDonalds hamburger and fries!) and catching another shinkansen to Kyoto. To make things interesting, we sat in the “Silent Car” for this leg of the trip. No talking or making any kind of noise! (they were the only seats available…we certainly wouldn’t sit there on purpose!!!)
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