I boarded the Shinkansen (bullet train) Sunday morning and an hour later found myself 125 miles away on the island of Honshu. Japan has had high-speed rail since the sixties and I can't figure out why the rest of the world hasn't jumped on board this soul train! Seriously, it is awesome. Not cheap, exactly, but for roughly the same price as a flight it sure is a lot easier. I'm not sure what the fuel source is but if you could power these things with renewable energy then we could get around without the high costs and pollution associated with air travel. Apparently there is a proposal in the California legislature to build a bullet train from LA to San Francisco and I hope they hurry it up and extend the line to Portland!
I arrived in Hiroshima in the rain and was promptly invited to lunch with two staffers at the hostel. Hiroshima is famous for its version of okonomiyaki, a sort of Japanese omelette/pancake. This local specialty features layered goodness including udon noodles, a fried egg, bacon, shredded cabbage, a thin pancake, and heaps of special sauce. They cook it right in front of you and give you your own spatula to serve yourself with. Mmm.
When the sun came out I took the tram to the Peace Park, located at the epicenter of the atom bomb attack. The "A-Bomb Dome" is the hollowed shell of a former government building that is one of the few structures to remain standing after the bomb. Everyone working inside the building was vaporized so it is an eerie and powerful reminder of the destruction of the last century.
Across the river from the Dome is the main Peace Park, with several monuments to the victims. Colorful paper cranes fill glass cases around the children's monument. Nearby is the eternal flame, which one hopes will not burn forever as it is scheduled to be extinguished when nuclear weapons are gone. The main attraction at the park is the excellent and haunting museum, chronicling the role of Hiroshima as a military city and why it was chosen as the first nuclear target and displaying artifacts from the victims. It was so strange to walk around the busy shopping streets of Hiroshima after viewing the aftermath of the bomb when nearly everything was destroyed.
The next day I took a ferry to Miyajima, a famous Shinto shrine island. Here is the famous torii guarding the main shrine. I met up with a few guys from my hostel and spent the day wandering the hills above the shrine.
My new friend Jarrad and I found several shrines on our hike around the island. I was hoping to find the monkeys I'd read about in the Lonely Planet, but we did of course see deer roaming free all over.
On my third and last day exploring the Hiroshima area, I took a local train to Fukuyama, then a bus to the coastal town of Tomonoura. I'd read about it in my guidebook and it sounded a bit off the beaten path. I certainly wasn't the only tourist, as I was often overrun on the street by streams of older Japanese tour groups, but I was one of the only foreign visitors to this small town, and I had a good day just walking around and enjoying the scenery.
Tomonoura has a fantastic harbor on the Inland Sea and the surrounding hills are dotted with shrines.
I enjoyed mango shaved ice with condensed milk and the view of the harbor from my seat outside a row of old buildings, including one that housed a group of rebels in the 17th century.
This shrine had the best view of the islands off the coast.
I ended my day overlooking the Inland Sea, the island-filled body of water between three of Japan's main islands, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. One of the shrines I visited honored a famous haiku poet, so it was appropriate that I was wearing my favorite haiku teeshirt:
Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don't make sense
Refrigerator
Anyhow, I'm back in Fukuoka now and had another great day at school! Here is a map showing all the places I went this week, and here is a slideshow if you're hungry for more photos!
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On Saturday we went to Futumigaura Beach, about an hour from my apartment. It is popular with surfers and tourists who want to see the famous white shrine. We had burgers at a beach cafe and watched the surfers. It was the first really pleasant day I've seen here, weather-speaking. It was sunny but not humid, perhaps a sign of the coming fall. 
On Sunday we took the train to Yanagawa, an old city famous for its canals. We took a boat ride through the canals with our wonderful guide who sang to us along the way. 
Here is my lunch, Yanagawa-style steamed eel, rice, and eggy "noodles". If you want to see more pictures, check them out here:
On the way home we stopped at a convenient store where I had some sake in a box! It looked more appealing than the "Zima flavored sparkling water." Today we're off to the beach!
