Hiroshima, Part 2

It's no secret that Jay and I get incredibly excited about food. Especially when we're travelling. Whether it's pizzas in Napoli, or momos in Kathmandu, we love sinking our teeth into the specialties of different cities. So when Jay's sister and brother-in-law, Erin and Rob, mentioned that we HAVE to try the okonomiyaki in Hiroshima, we were very happy to oblige.

Trying some of the local sweets, which are filled with various flavours such as chocolate, custard and red bean.

Prior to visiting Hiroshima, we knew okonomiyaki as Japanese savoury pancakes. We'd eaten them with various ingredients such as cabbage, spring onions and dried seaweed mixed into a batter, cooked, and topped with delicious sauces. As you can imagine, they're positively delicious so we were excited to try the ones in Hiroshima.  

Jay and I heard about a five storeyed building in Hiroshima with hundreds of stalls solely dedicated to this Japanese culinary delight - an okonomiyaki Mecca if you will - so we headed straight for there at our first opportunity.

At this building, each floor is made up of a number of square-shaped stalls, with a U-shaped bench around its perimeter where the customers sit (refer to image below). This bench also doubles up as a giant hotplate that the okonomiyaki are cooked on. As it was late in the afternoon when we arrived, most of the stalls had shut. However, the one in the back corner was still open, so we joined a few of the locals who were already there. The owner/chef was an older man, and to our delight we found out that he had been making okonomiyaki for 50 years. We figured we were in safe hands.

The layout of our okonomiyaki restaurant

Having had okonomiyaki previously, we were confident that it would be a quick and easy meal to prepare, which suited us just fine because we were very hungry by this stage. The owner's ample experience only added to our confidence that we would be in and out of there quickly. However it was clear that the chef had other ideas about the running of his restaurant when forty minutes in we were still no closer to eating our okonomiyaki. Instead, the chef was unnervingly unhurried in preparing our food, answering constant phone calls and fetching drinks for the other customers in between.

The long wait wasn't our only surprise. As the chef was preparing our okonomiyaki, it became clear that we wouldn't be served the batter-filled pancakes we'd previously been accustomed to. Instead, these ones had the ingredients piled on top of each other, with only a small amount of batter keeping it all together. We started to panic – we'd come all this way to try okonomiyaki in Hiroshima, and we'd visited a restaurant offering their own wacky version of it. We were failures.

Our very experienced chef

These were all for us (they weren't)

Almost an hour later, our okonomiyaki were finally ready to be eaten. Despite not being what we thought we'd be eating, the wait was worth it as they turned out to be bloody delicious. Eating them straight off the hotplate only added to the enjoyment of the whole experience. 

An Hiroshima style okonomiyaki. 

To our great pleasure and relief, we did find out that the style of okonomiyaki served to us was actually the signature style of Hiroshima (the other type are known as Osaka style ones), so we weren't failures after all. In fact, it turns out they were hands down, the best okonomiyaki we had our entire trip. High-five!

We also visited Miyajima, a mountainous island off the coast of Hiroshima. Miyajima has a torii gate that rather spectaularly looks like it's floating on water at high tide.

The Torii of Miyajima at Itsukishima Shrine

Itsukishima Shrine

Hi deer. Deers are everywhere in Miyajima.

Another activity recommended to us by Erin and Rob (thanks guys!!), was the hike up Mount Misen, the tallest mountain in Miyajima. We were  keen to give our bodies a bit of a work out after all of the food we'd been eating, so we made our way up one of the trails. 

One thing we've found in Japan is that the signs will often lead you 90% towards your intended destination. You generally need to work out the last 10% for yourself. This is quite ironic for a country that is so highly organised, particularly as this final 10% can be surprisingly difficult to work out, causing us to become lost a number of times. Hence on this occasion, we accidentally found ourselves at a beautifully tranquil Buddhist temple; complete with incense, chanting and rugged-up Buddha statues.

Re-orienting ourselves, we got back on track, and recommenced our climb upwards. As expected, it was a steep, and at times quite tiring, walk. Actually, it was very tiring - we were huffing and puffing and giving our bodies a proper, sweat inducing workout.

Back on track

Eventually we reached a rest area near the top of the summit, feeling thoroughly exhausted. However, it just so happened that another couple were taking a breather in the same area too - a Japanese husband and wife who were well into their seventies, if not eighties. The couple had just climbed the same arduous trail that we had, yet were a good half a century older than us. Surprisingly, they looked more refreshed than we did. After chatting to them briefly and asking for their advice on longevity, Jay translated that the couple lived on a simple but healthy Japanese diet and exercised regularly. That was it. They were  living proof that a healthy and wholesome lifestyle, such as their Japanese one, pays off. If there was ever motivation for adopting such a lifestyle they were it. So, after bidding this friendly couple sayonara, Jay and I conquered the last leg of our climb, completely inspired by the couple we'd just met.

We made it!

The not-too-shabby view from the top, with Hiroshima on the right handside

Spot the deer

Deciding that we'd worked hard enough on the way up, we opted for the less arduous way down via the cable lift. Needless to say it came with its own challenges: I was terrified during the ride.

Finally, I'll finish off by celebrating the absolute brilliance of modern Japanese toilets. Because they've truly been a source of enjoyment for me on this trip, and are quite simply the most superior, ichiban toilets I've ever used in my entire life. And to me, that's quite the achievement. So, without further ado, here is why Japanese toilets are incredible works of engineering to be marvelled at:

1. You can push a button that plays music when you're using the toilet. Perfect for those not wanting their business to be heard by others.
2. The bidet. It's surprisingly pleasant (warm water) and convenient (decreases wiping time). 
3. Warm toilet seats. Incredible. Especially during wintertime. It's one of those things that you don't realise you've been missing out on until you've experienced it. But once you do, you don't know how you'll cope without it ever again.

These points may not seem all that impressive in isolation, but they've honestly made a world of difference for me throughout this trip. Thus, I'm seriously considering having a Japanese toilet installed into our home if our landlord permits it.

Another sight to be marvelled - the stunning Hiroshima Castle

Kyoto: Getting to the Heart of Japan

Youkoso. Jay and I have jet-setted off to Japan and we're so excited about this trip. Jay lived in Japan for 10 months when he did a school-exchange trip here 10 years ago and has been itching to return ever since. I've heard so many fun and quirky stories about it from Jay and have been just as eager to visit and experience it all for myself.

Our first stop was Kyoto, considered the cultural heart of Japan. Renowned for its vast amounts of temples, gardens, shrines, and (if you're lucky enough to see them) geisha, this was a wonderfully fitting and enriching introduction to Japan.

We stayed at a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn. The pictures and accompanying captions below detail what an incredibly unique and memorable stay it was.

The front of our ryokan, Kikokuso Lodging

 

Our room, complete with tatami-mat flooring, futon, shoji screens...

...and a beautiful sitting area overlooking a Japanese garden below.

Ready for our traditional Japanese breakfast...

...including rice, tofu, egg, miso soup, green tea and a variety of pickled vegetables. Not for the faint-hearted.

Jay and I wearing our yukata (casual summer kimono)

At the end of the day we bathed the traditional Japanese way. The bathing room contained a shower area where we cleansed ourselves with soap, rinsed ourselves off, and then hopped into the bath pictured above. It was the perfect way to wind down after each arduous day of walking around and exploring Kyoto.  

Staying at the ryokan was a truly special experience, and one which I highly recommend to anyone visiting Kyoto with the opportunity to do so.

Keen to get a true 'taste' of Kyoto, we visited the four hundred year-old Nishiki Market on our first day there. It's a bustling hub selling many of Kyoto's specialties, including - but certainly not limited to - vegetables, pickles, dried fish and a ridiculous variety of tofu (including tofu donuts. Before you ask, yes, they were delicious).

Nishiki Market

An assortment of vegetables commonly used in Japanese cuisine. Note that they are all individually packaged, including the carrots.

Tsukemono, pickled vegetables

Mochi, glutenised rice balls dipped in a sweet paste. Positively delicious.

Bonito fish, which is commonly shaved and served on top of vegetables or rice.

Fishy fish

More fishy fish

So much tea

With this being my first visit to Japan, and my first proper introduction to Japanese culture, I've obviously learnt a lot over my initial few days here. I'll now share some of my new-found pieces of wisdom with you:

1. Shoes. You have to change them, a lot. And it's not just about taking them off when you enter a house (or in our case, a ryokan). Once inside, there will be a pair of slippers you put on to walk around the residence in. If there are tatami mats in a room, you will have to take off the slippers before entering it*. And in some cases, there will be another pair of slippers you will have to change into when entering a bathroom. So far the most amount of shoe/slipper changes in one location have happened at a temple we visited: there were 4.

2. Vending machines. You can buy warm drinks from them. I don't mean ones where you buy a cup, put it onto a tray, and hot liquid pours into it; I've seen those ones often enough. The ones I'm talking about here look like you're purchasing an ordinary plastic bottle of drink. Except that when you open it, steam comes out of it because it actually contains a heated beverage. Wowzas.

3. Free tastings are commonly offered in food stores. For example, in the image pictured below, green tea was offered to prospective customers upon entry to the shop. And it wasn't just a token small portion that would otherwise leave you craving for more. Instead, it was a proper, real-world serving of tea. But it didn't finish there. Once inside the store, tastings were available for most of the varieties of sweets sold there. As with the green tea tastings, these were generous sized servings, to the point that we left the store quite full. So technically, if you wanted to be super stingy, you could just visit a few shops and fill yourself up on the variety of tastings in them. I'm still getting over how amazing this is.

4. Traffic light sounds. Some chirp like birds when they turn green.

5. Toilets. Buttons like the ones pictured below are on the sides of some toilets. I haven't been game enough to press any of them yet, but who knows what will happen over my next couple of weeks here.

There's just so much to say about Kyoto that I couldn't possibly fit it all into one blog without overwhelming you. So stay tuned to hear about more of our Kyotan adventures.

Arigato gozaimasu.

* confession: I've forgotten to do so at times