Japan Adventure - Sapporo

I'm off to Sapporo, the last stop on my trip, but the main reason I came! I'm here visiting Amy, one of my oldest friends. We met in gifted in Gr 4 (... 29 years ago!!) and have stayed good friends throughout the years. Amy married a Japanese man, Kentaro a few years ago and moved to Sapporo and had her first child, a daughter, Ritsuko (nick name = Richan) 2 years ago. We were a little nervous about the timing because Amy is pregnant again! But at 37 weeks, little baby stayed where he was supposed to and my visit went off so smoothly. 

Amy, Kentaro and Ritsuko welcomed me into their home, a cute apartment building in Sapporo. Kentaro has a car, so it was my first time driving around in Japan. But thanks and love to him for being our chauffeur on this visit!

I flew over from Osaka on Peach Airlines, a very no frills quick 2 hr flight. Luckily none of the typhoon brouhaha from yesterday affected me. Amy and Ritusko met me at Sapporo Station at the classic gaijin (foreigner) spot... Starbucks! Haha, Amy had a good chuckle at my choice of meet up location. Kentaro picked us up and after we dropped off my luggage went to a delicious sushi restaurant nearby. 

I haven't been used to eating with other people so that alone was a pleasant treat. We demolished many plates and I was quite impressed with Ritsuko's chopstick skills. I'm 100% sure she's more adept at it than I am. And she's 2. 

I was kindly offered the spare room/Ritsuko's play room to sleep on, but this poor Canadian is definitely not used to floor futon sleeping! Too hard for my delicate back. Haha. Luckily, the couch was right next door and I'm small enough to fit comfortably on it! I am so grateful they had space for me!

Sapporo Beer Museum 

The only way I used to remember where Amy lived was because of Sapporo Beer. So, it was obviously the only thing I knew I wanted to do. Amy and Kentaro had actually never been before so it was new for all of us! They had a free tour with informative signs about the history of Sapporo and of brewing beer in Japan.

It was the first brewery built in Hokkaido because of the easy availability of snow/ice and a colder climate to preserve and make German style beer. In 1875, Seibei Nakagawa, the first brew master, went to Germany to learn how to brew beer and brought the idea (as well as a certificate of German beer brewery accreditation) back with him! 

Since beer was such a new concept in Japan, the first advertisements were a bunch of barrels outside the brewery that stated: "The production of barley and hops leads to an alcoholic drink called beer". 

In 1878, Sapporo began selling and producing its beer. The company was originally called "Kaitakushi Beer Brewery", but the labels still said "Sapporo Lager Beer". As beer became more and more popular in the early 20th century, they opened up a brewery in Tokyo, "ushering in a reorganization of the Beer industry".

After the tour, a flight was in order. The 3 flights of beer cost 1000¥ and each were 240 ml! The three were Black Label - the kind we have in North America, Classic - Only available in Hokkaido, and Kaitakushi - a hoppier, closer to the original one. I think my preference order went: Classic, Black Label and Kaitakushi. I'm not a big hops girl.

Unfortunately, as Kentaro was driving, Amy was pregnant, and Ritsuko is a toddler, I was the only one to enjoy the beverages. But, Amy did try a non-alcoholic version (0 stars, doesn't reccomend lol).

Odori Park & Sapporo TV Tower

For lunch, Amy really wanted me to try a Hokkaido specialty, Soup Curry. Kentaro found a place with vegetarian broth and it was delicious! You added some rice to the soup and I could see it being very popular in colder times of the year as it was very warm and satisfying. 

Oh, and in general, Sapporo has had a MUCH nicer summer climate. A lovely 29/30 degrees most days. :)

After lunch, we did some souviener shopping at Don Quiotje and I stocked up on all the unique kit-kats to bring back!

Odori Park is Sapporo's central park, right infront of the TV tower. As I had been kinda "tower"ed out, we didn't end up going up, but collected an eki stamp and then chilled by a beautiful fountain which Ritsuko enjoyed running around in. Japan doesn't really have a patio culture so Amy said she loves coming here to enjoy some fresh air in a social setting.

Our evening was wrapped up with some convenience store snacks for a light dinner and my inaugural viewing of "Fatal Attraction" (Amy was surprised by this fact and excitedly watched me watching it). 

Visiting Shiraoi & The National Ainu Museum

We took a roadtrip to visit and stay at Kentaro's parents place in Shiraoi where Kentaro grew up. It was about 1.5 hours from Sapporo by car and we loaded up on car snacks like melon pan and iced coffees. We drove through green forests and beautiful massive lakes, such as Shikotsuko Lake. Thanks for letting me be a passenger princess!

Kentaro's parents are so kind and lovely. They had a massive snack spread waiting for us upon our arrival (inari, red bean rice balls, pickles, potato salad). While they didn't speak much English, Amy was a great communicator for me and I hope I conveyed my gratitude effectively! They did a great job providing me with pescatarian options. 

Amy and I then ventured to the Upopoy Musuem - The National Ainu Musuem. The Ainu are an Indigenous people that live in the Hokkaido region. They share similariteis with Indigenous communities around the world in that they have faced colonization, assimilation, and persecution. This museum honours their traditions and histories. We saw gorgeous ritual clothing, traditional religious totems/ symbols made of sticks and wood shavings, tools and weapons from the Ainu people. 

The bear is a huge religious symbol for the Ainu people. There are wooden bear carvings everywhere and they even capture and sacrifice bears as a way of appreciating and communicating with thier religious deities. 

They hunt salmon, deer and seals (utilizing their furs and skins for clothing and tools). I saw a pair of skis that used seal skin with "the hairs pointing backwards to allow the skis to slide forward, thereby offering a smooth glide downslope and a firm grip upslope". 

We also got to view traditional dances and singing during a performance. It was beautiful. It reminded me of the Western Indigenous peoples of Canada's culture in a way.

We also had some hands on interaction, like me attempting to shoot an arrow (I did so poorly) and playing with a stick toy where you had to get the circle on a string onto the stick (I'm a pro). 

The museum mascot (because everywhere in Japan has a mascot) is a giant cartoon "turep" ( edible lily bulb) named TureppoN. According to the website: "Japanese, cuteness is often indicated by adding an “n” to the end of a word. TureppoN’s name has a capital N because she’s VERY cute!". 

After the museum, Kentaro and Ritsuko met us for ice cream. Hokkaido soft ice cream is famous and Amy wanted me to try some, but we found a delicious gelato place instead. It old there that it's just a throwback to our high school years at Holywood Gelato in Leaside!

We came back to another feast laid out for us by Kentaro's parents. This time it also included tempura vegetables and scallops! It also had natto, a "fermented soybean superfood", which Amy has been dying to have me try. She absolutely hates it and it almost made her barf the first time she tried it. Her husband and daughter love it though. So with that glowing review for me to go upon, she fervently videotaped my reaction (which while wasn't great, it wasn't THAT bad). Haha. 

The next day, I had to say goodbye to Amy and her family as Kentaro dropped me off at the airport. It was short and sweet and an absolutely lovely way to end my time here in Japan.

Japan Adventure - Osaka

My time in Osaka was short and sweet. I didn't get to see much but I did see a baseball game, explore Dontonburi and experienced a Typhoon Day!

Baseball - Hanshin Tigers vs. Tokyo Yakult Swallows

One of the big things I wanted to do here was go to a baseball game. I may not know much Japanese but I'm pretty sure I won't be tooooo much out of my element even if I didn't understand what was going on.

Much thanks to Amy's husband Kentaro who got me my ticket which Amy mailed to me at my hostel in Kyoto! It was a match between the Hanshin Tigers and the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.

Normally the Hanshin Tigers do not play at the Kyocera Dome (their home team is the Orix Buffaloes), but in August they share it with the tigers? Either way, it was an impressive stadium that holds about 36,500 for baseball games and I didn't see one empty seat.

The seats were slightly terrifying as they did not have any rails or backs to them. I feel like if you got drunk, you'd easily fall. I was situated in center-left Outfield, smack between the Tigers and Swallows cheering sections. (I wasn't sure where I was sitting and if you sit in a cheering section you CANNOT wear clothing or support the other team). Great view of the game and alot of fun fans around me.

Some things I noticed about watching a baseball game in Japan:
- They seem to review calls more than Jay's games. Reviewed at least 2 before the 4th inning was done.
- The Swallows had this fun umbrella cheer/choreographed routine they did whenever they got a runner home. Like legit popped open these tiny umbrellas. Rihanna would be so proud.
- there were at least 2 wild pitches that hit players! And you could hear a PIN drop in the stadium while the fans waited to see if the player was ok
- Theey let each time have thier own 7th inning stretch song which they call the Lucky 7
- They have cheers for individual players like "katobasay oh yo hama" 
- There were LOTS of mound huddles. I feel like they really support their teammates
- Trumpets and drums help to lead the cheers!
- Snacks included a mix of Japanese food (I.e yakatori, tayoyaki) and western food (I.e. French fries). I had draft beer, French fries and a chocolate churrito.

The Tigers ended up winning the game (5-3), so that was icing on the cake.

A night in Dontonburi
After two cancelled food/drink tours (one out of fear of the typhoon and one from a sick tour leader), Daisy (my American travel friend who I met in Tokyo) and I decided to still meet up and do our own thing in the Dontonburi area of Japan.
Dontonburi is the bright lights, bar and good area of Osaka. It gives off a mix of consumerism and Blade runner... and the misty rain only added more to its vibe.

We met up at the Glico Running Man, a very specific and busy landmark of the area. Dodging selfies, we went to a restaurant to try Osaka's version of Okonomiyaki. This time we didn't get seated at the teppanyaki grill but rather they brought it over to us and served it to us on our own hot grill after it was made. It was delicious but didn't have the noodles that the Hiroshima version did, so I think in the end I preferred Hiroshima style.

We walked around and tried some more street food. We ate candied strawberries and grapes (muscat). They were like tiny candy apples and if I find out I got a cavity in a few weeks, this would be it's culprit.

Next snack was the Cheese Coin. It's basically a hot pancake that is filled with hot and stringy white cheese. Basically, my vibe. The sly joke of it being in the shape of a 10 ¥ coin but actually costing 500, is not lost on me either.

Then it started to rain a little harder so we popped into a random alley that turned out to showcase different murals and paintings of Dontonburi! Such luck!

We decided to go get a drink and when pondering where to go, we looked up and saw a neon sign for "bar". Why don't we go there? I suggested.  So we headed it up and it was this ADORABLE kawaii bar with cute neon lights and a partnership with New Zealand Manuka honey? They gave us a phrase book written in English so we could communicate with the adorable servers even better.  The owner was there too to give us tips and his business card for us to check out his other karaoke snake bar ? (We declined). Daisy had some whisky drinks and I had a lychee cocktail and a plum wine with soda and rocks. We never really did find out its name. But wander down the right back alley in Dontonburi, look up and you may find it like we did.

Daisy had to catch the last train back to Kyoto and it was SO much fun to spend a night with a new friend. We were a little worried about the weather because tomorrow was...

Typhoon Day - Tuesday Aug 15th
Typhoon Lan had been in the news all weekend with lots of a fanfare and hype. It was to hit Osaka in the early morning of the 15th and last for the day. I had heard of the devastation it left in the southern tip of Japan at the beginning of my trip so I was a little nervous going to bed.

Trains were cancelled, flights grounded in advance, stores were shut, people were buying everything off the shelves in Family Mart...  but turns out, it was nothing! I heard rain and wind outside in the wee hours of like 5-6 am and it rained consistently until about 4pm, but it wasn't flooding or trees down or power outages. It apparently got downgraded to a tropical stoem. We have had WAY scarier thunderstorms in Canada.

My hostel, Fon Su, was a quirky little place with a comfy bed and a nice little Cafe for breakfast. The biggest quirk I saw was that the entrance to the shower was like half a door that you had to scoot under to get inside and then slide the door for privacy. When I returned home from my Dontonburi night, I saw this posted on the wall.

How fun! I had tried tayoyaki at my bar tour in Tokyo, but to make it here with a local would be next level. So after I woke up, had breakfast, chatted with a dude named Omar from Israel, and sorted through some photos and napped, I went to the common room to try my hand at making takoyaki.

Takoyaki is this famous Osaka street food. It's basically small balls of dough with octopus inside and a delicious sauce & mayo poured on top. Some of the other ingredients inside were tuna flakes, shrimp crunchies (mini tempura crunches?), green onions and ginger. The batter is similar to a pancake kind of batter.

You grill it on a special tayoyaki grill, making sure to rotate them to cook each side a golden brown. I was told that it is likely for most homes to have one of these grills and most people enjoyed them as snacks. At the stalls in Dontonburi, they sell them in groups of 8 which seemed like a lot to me, but I ended up eating 10 of my 16 I made. They were so good and the octopus doesn't really add too much taste, just a bit of chewy texture for that part. They are also piping hot.

After the takoyaki expeience,  I asked the staff where I could go since most everything was closed (🙄). Apparently the mall near the Kyocera Dome was open so I headed back there to Aeon Mall. I wandered through each floor, taking time to notice things I probably wouldn't have if I had been rushing. Almost bought 1000 cute clothes for Hannah but couldn't figure out sizing. I DID buy some of my Korean face moisturizer (Nature Republic) which I got for half the price I would pay for it in Canada!!!

In the mall, I got suckered into a kids Gachapon and claw game amusement area. I tried some vending machine popcorn (meh), won 2 hair scrunchies from a claw game and spent about $25 on a scooping/pushing game to win a Keychain that I have no idea what it's from. But the dopamine rush of finally getting it was worth it! 😅😅😅

I was on the hunt for a Hanshin Tigers shirt but didn't find one there, so figuring that maybe Dontonburi would be open for tourists, I headed back there with my umbrella in hand. No luck. Found the shop, but it was shuttered for the Typhoon. I hit up a Don Quijote, a cheap souviner/catch all store and then headed home to enjoy my soba noodles dish and ice cream from Family Mart. Typhoon Day complete.

Japan Adventure - Nara

I took a day trip to Nara which was only about an hour away from my hostel in Osaka. Since my JR pass had expired, i took the local train to Kintetsu-Nara station. A misstep on this trip was tuat definitely did not use the JR pass to my full advantage as you can use it a lot in Osaka and I didn't even use it for 3 days when I was in Hakone! Oh well, hopefully my mistake won't be yours in the future!

On my train ride there, an older Japanese lady tapped me on the shoulder with a google translate note of "do you want too switch seats for scenery?". Using our phones, we communicated and had a lovely broken english/tech assiated conversation! Her name is Ms. S, she lives in Osaka and was going to lunch with her friend in Nara. She has a 25 year old son who speaks good English and a black cat. I told her about my job, travels and dog Lucy. She reccomended shrines/temples for me to see and warned me about the typhoon tomorrow. This conversation was the first time I've really interacted with a local and it was amazing. 

Nara was Japan's first permanent capital, but honestly is mostly know now for... its deer!

The Nara Deer Park (and indeed also the streets and roads as well) houses many tame deer that you can feed. It was basically a giant petting zoo and I was in love. 

Deer 💩 smell aside (and thank God it rained later to clean off my shoes), it was so fun to purchase the 200 ¥ packages of round deer crackers. I actually purchased 2 of them. The deer have been taught to bow to you for a cracker so they are known as the bowing deer of Nara. 

After spending like an hour viewing, petting, and feeding deer, I made my way to a shrine that Ms. S had shown me to go to.

It was Kasuga Taisha, a Shinto shrine deep in Nara-kōen (Nara Park). The biggest takeaway from here was the fact that deer were wandering in and up to the shrine area as well as the lanterns that lined the walls. There were many unlit ones outside (it was daytime afterall), but there was a small section where you go inside to see the lit lanterns. Beautiful. 

I was starting to miss western food, so for lunch I found a place that served burgers with a veggie option! It was called Sakura Burger. Their veggie burger was jusr grilled onion and a whack ton of veggies with tarter sauce but it was exactly what I wanted. Plus some homemade ketchup to go with the potato Wedges and a Nara branded club soda.  

It wasn't a long time in Nara, but it was enough time. If I were to return, I'd definitely check out the Tōdai-ji temple with its massive Great Buddha as well as the Nara National Museum (closed on Mondays when I was there). 

Japan Adventure - Kyoto

🎶 Temples, temples, templestemplestemples 🎶 (sung to the tune of "Peaches" by Jack Black).

Japan has a lot of temples and shrines. But Kyoto has the most. In the city there are approximately 2,000 religious places – 1,600 Buddhist temples and 400 Shinto shrines and you could throw a stone and hit a temple. But you wouldn't, because that's clearly not very Buddhist or Shintoist eh?

I visited three specific temples in my day and a half in Kyoto. Jōtoku-ji Temple, Fushimi Inari Shrine and Kinkaku-ji Temple. I should have done more, but the heat and my energy levels were both too high and too low by this point in my trip.

Jōtoku-ji Temple & Japanese Tea Cermony

I had booked this tea ceremony before coming to Japan and it was based in a Buddhist temple about a 20 minute walk away from my hotel. Before it started I was able to walk around the temple grounds and thanks to Google translate, learned a little bit about the temple. 

For example, here were "7 gods that bring good luck". The first one was Ebisu, the guardian deity of business and travel safety and is said to be the God of the common people. 

The tea ceremony was wonderfully done..the guide spoke great English and showed us with care the tradition and correct way to serve and make green tea. Here were some of the notes I took during the presentation:

- Matcha is ground up tea leaves. They are young leaves, picked fresh and immediately steamed and then ground. This specific matcha is from a suburb in Kyoto. 

- The teaspoon used in the ceremony is chosen specifically for each season and has its own nickname

- The Tea container is chosen specifically for the guests (ours had Carpe diem on it, in english)

- When the presenter holds the ladel in a specific way, it is to calm herself down, like looking at a mirror to refocus.

- When you drink, you turn bowl clockwise. It has a front with a pretty design. Then you turn it twice so the picture is shown back to the host when you are done.

- We were served light tea rather than strong tea. Strong Tea is 3 scoops per person and shared. It's like a paste. 

- There is no music in tea ceremony presentation, just silence. We can hear small sounds like tapping of spoon to have tranquality. 

After the presentation, I got to make my own cup. She was proud of my frothiness. 💁🏼‍♀️

Fushimi Inari Taisha

The incredibly instagrammable hot spot is a must for visitors to Kyoto and indeed it was a beautiful site. The more you walk up the 4km trail, the less tourists and less crowded it is and you can enjoy it even more.

This temple is dedicated to the gods of rice / agriculture. There are allegedly 10,000 of the famous red-orange tori gates that line the path up the mountain. 

 I wish I was able to hike to the summet of Mt. Inari, but I was incredibly over heated. Most movement in 38° (44° with humidity) is bananas, let alone walking up a mountain in the early afternoon sun.

However, I did make it up to the "Crossroads" section. Here I peeled off from the tourist route and came across a massive area of stone foxes. The fox is considered a messenger of Inari (the God of grain/rice/cereal). Google informed me it was "Kojingamine (Tanakasha Shinseki)" shrine. It was oddly quiet as I navigated its tiny labyrinth, but beautiful regardless and it led me to a breathtaking view of Kyoto city. 

On my way back down I ran into one of the cats that the shrine takes care of! I ended up buying a postcard photo to support their continued care. 

I got kind of backwards turned about when heading out and saw a few more smaller shrines as I made my way towards the train station. One had a golden Buddha and another was reflecting the Chinese zodiac symbols. I was quite enamored with a large, crazy-eyed statue made out of wood where you could buy a good luck stone to take from its belly. 

Speaking of fortunes, I tried my hand again at pulling one from this temple. Since it's so busy, instead of doing it yourself, you would pull a stick that remained in the box, read the number and tell an attendant what number while you paid. I got really excited because Google translate regarded it as a "medium blessing" (as opposed to a curse). I was so happy! But upon further investigation and translation from my friend Saya, it didn't seem to be that good with such things as "Love affair - will not come, "competition - know you'll lose" or "Marriage - not fruitful if rushing". Watch out for job burn out too because "if you lose passion for your job, it may cause trouble in the future". 2/2 fortunes have been a bust.

Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Temple

On my last morning in Kyoto, I took a long but easily navigable bus ride to see the Kinkaku-ji Temple. This temple complex is famous for its Golden Pavilion which sits on a reflective lake and is quite spectacular to behold. Like all places in summer, it was packed with visitors, but it was worth it. 

Also, my bad luck has been broken!! I drew my fortune again. Although this time, perhaps due to Japan's love of vending machines, I got it from a vending machine instead of shaking and pulling a stick. Clearly mechanical objects are more on my side because this fortune stated: "an unexpected misfortune will happen to you, but you can get it over if you behave yourself and are prudent. One of your relatives or friends will write to you after a long absence which will bring you happiness. Believe in God. Don't be serious" and "someone will help you realize your wish. Take it easy". Gotcha... things may not work out right now so just chill out and let it unfold. Pretty sure my therapist says the same things to me. 😁

Kyoto Meals 

Since I was on a bit of a downswing and tired, I didn't do too much other than these temples and tea ceremony. However, I did have some delicious meals. After the tea ceremony, I walked north to Nishiki Market. They had a mix of food stalls and a few souvenirs. I wandered around a bit but unfortunately most shops closed around 5 so there wasn't too much to see. I then headed to an amazing ramen restaurant that had vegan ramen!

I know everyone loves ramen, but I'm not a big ramen girl. I don't really love soup and the idea of eating something hot when I was boiling didn't appeal to me. But, when in Japan, you must Japan. So the hunt for a good vegan ramen (most ramen has pork in it) began. 

Kyoto Engine Ramen was amazing. The miso based soup was creamy and the egg free noodles were perfect. It had fried buckwheat seeds, Shinso leaves, corn, carrots, green onions and sesame. Highly reccomend it!

I also had another dinner at a conveyor sushi restaurant in the basement of a mall! Surprisngly a lot of great food can be found in the lower levels of department stores or malls here. I met a mom and daughter from California and talked their ears off while we sat together and enjoyed a meal. 

Unfortunately, my plan to meet up with a travel buddy, Daisy (from the Tokyo bar crawl), didn't pan out due to her losing her bag and staying in Tokyo for a night! But we plan to meet up in Osaka for an evening later. 

All in all, I definitely need to come back to Kyoto. I think I would make it my base and do day trips to Osaka as there's still a lot of the city I didn't explore like the Gion area, spotting a geisha, the imperial palace, and like 19,997 more temples & shrines.

Japan Adventure - Hiroshima

And now for something of a completly different vibe... Hiroshima and the Peace Park and Museum. 

I love history. Along with film, I studied it in undergrad with a focus on 1918 ~1975, WWII/Vietnam and American history. I also seem to have a morbid curiosity about sites of atrocities (as I've now been to Auschwitz, The Killing Fields, Pearl Harbour and the World Trade Centre). So obviously visiting Hiroshima was a must on my Japan list. 

The shinkansen was packed for this trip! It is the beginning of oban, a Japanese holiday where many people return to their homes and celebrate their ancestors. Reservations were tight and I had to book a later train that I originally wanted, but since I was finally adjusted to the time change, sleeping in a little bit longer was ok with me. Unfortunately, I overslept and my breakfast on the ride was an iced coffee and water from a vending machine just before boarding.

When I got to Hiroshima (about 2.5 hours from Kyoto), I quickly ran to a pastry shop to grab a breakfast snack. I had this amazing cheese curry bun/croquette and a banana pastry that seemed to look a bit more phallic than it was supposed to.

With my JR pass, I had free run of the Sightseeing loop which hit up a bunch of landmarks to see like the castle and the peace park. Due to heavy rains in the morning, the trains to Mayajima were all outta whack so I decided to forgo that famous water shrine and stick to just the Hiroshima core. 

I visited the Hypocenter location first. This was where, 600m above, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by the United States on August 6th, 1945. 66,000 residents died right away, while thousands more died in the following days and years. According to the City of Hiroshima website: "The exact number of deaths from the atomic bombing is still unknown. Estimates place the number of dead by the end of December 1945, when the acute effects of radiation poisoning had largely subsided, at roughly 140,000". At the hypocenter, there is just a plaque and a picture since most of the area has been rebuilt.

Hiroshima Peace Park & Memorial Museum

Next, I walked over to the Atomic Bomb Dome. This structure was the only thing that remained standing after the explosion. This UNESCO World Heritage site was certainly impactful juxtaposed with modern day Hiroshima.

At this area, there are often survivors giving their stories. One survivor was busy telling his stories to a Japanese couple so I just read the English booklets he had available. This excerpt caught my eye.

To most of the Japanese, it seems Hiroshima is a tragic incident but they hold no lingering hostility towards Americans. They built this memorial not to only mourn those lost but to strongly advocate for the de-escalation of nuclear armament and a future with NO NUKES. Obama was the first American President to visit this site.

One of the most important places I visited was the Children's Peace Monument. When I was in Grade 5, we read Sadako and her story about the paper cranes. We diligently learned how to fold cranes (a skill I retain to this day) and I remember we did a whole thing for Rememberance Day about it. Mr. Finlayson really was the best.

Seeing the monument to Sadako and all the children who were victims of the bombing, as well as the thousands of paper cranes in closed in cases surrounding it, was very touching. Those cranes came from children all over the world. 

I took a/c refuge in a Cafe nearby that housed two interesting artifacts. One was a piano which was restored after the bombing in honour of a little girl, Akiko Kawamoto, who played it. Akiko died a day after the bombing. It was restored and now is played yearly during the anniversary. 

I also went to the basement that has been preserved and which used to be the basement of a Fuel Hall Rationing Site. A worker, Eizo, who just happened to go down to get some papers from the basement at that time, was the only worker out of the 36 employees to survive. There were panels in the basement to tell his story.

I walked around the rest of the park, finding the cenotaph, flame of peace and burial mound. I stood in line for about half an hour to gain entrance to the museum. 

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum was pretty heavy, but important. It houses articles like clothing and personalarticles from those who died. A particularly evocative one was that of a burnt up tricycle. I didn't take any pictures in this museum out of respect. It's something you should see for yourself.

Okonomiyaki & Bon Dori Festival 

I decided to have a late lunch of Okonomiyaki. This Japanese dish is found both in Osaka and Hiroshima with regional varieties between the two. It's made teppanyaki style on a hot grill infront of you. It is a savory pancake style dish with layers upon layers if different ingredients. I found one that had a pescatarian/vegetarian option with no pork and waited about 40 minutes to get in. 

It was worth it! The performance of them making it was almost like an art and the dish was delicious! 10/10 would reccomend upon a visit to Japan.

After gorging on food, I realized it was now too late to go to the castle (my 2nd plan for the day), so I wandered around for a bit before stumbling upon Hiroshima's Bon Dance Festival. They had dance, drumming and singing performances, games for little kids, and tons of food and drink stalls (I tried a delicious strawberry drink but definitely had no room for food). 

They had a big metal paper crane (symbol of hiroshima) at the entrance where you could make a crane and attach it. A guide was so incredibly impressed that this little white girl could make a crane without help that she wanted a picture with me afterwards. 💁🏼‍♀️😅💁🏼‍♀️. I also got a whole whack of stickers from a kind booth who thought it was very exciting to have a foreigner visit.

I was so glad to have experienced such a full and enriching day in Hiroshima. I am so impressed with their resiliency and kindness. I will definitely want to come back here to visit again.