Hiroshima in 2 Days

My company is doing some big changes come April, and snags in training new teachers have caused some temporary shortages which is why I got a free trip to Hiroshima this past week. 'Ray!

Let me quickly mention the obvious reason people visit Hiroshima, the A-bomb memorial, or Peace Park. It wasn't lame, it was tasteful, informative but not pretentious, worth the trip. Just a note about Japanese culture at this junction, it seems that every kid in Japan goes on a field trip to the Hiroshima Peace Park either in elementary school or Jr high school. It is some kind of unsaid mandatory practice, which makes it pretty safe to say that all Japanese in Japan have been to Hiroshima.

The lesser (only slightly) known Hiroshima tourist attraction is Itsukushima (sometimes Miyajima) where the famous Shinto shrine gate built on water is located. The Itsukushima Shrine is a pretty bad ass shrine that's basically half built on in inlet. The place is a series of elegant platforms connected by wooden arteries that stretch of sea or mud, depending on the tide. Supposedly, in the ancient days, people had to enter the shrine by way of the water, which is why the famous gates (torii) were built there, so that people could pass through it in a little boat, all cool theatrical and shit.

But no, really, it was a damn nice place and the trip involved a short boat ride, which as everyone knows, turns every 'trip' into an 'adventure'.

The rest of my fun in Hiroshima came from sampling the local flavor, famed Hiroshima-styled okonomiyaki. It was very good, much better than the supposed Hiroshima okonomiyaki I get in Kagoshima, because they use too much sauce in Kagoshima. I've come to appreciate that okonomiyaki is rarely fast food, the grilling takes some time so the best way to enjoy a fresh cold beer with your meal is to wait till they are done cooking it before you order the beer, otherwise it gets cold while you eat.

I also discovered the most inexpensive bowl of tolerably good ramen in Japan. For 180 yen (roughly $1.50) you can get an OK-sized bowl of noodles even with a slice of meat in it. The place is called Bikkuri Ramen which incidentally can be translated as 'Surprise! Ramen!'.