Japan!!!

Some of you may know but, Matt and I went to Japan for 8 days back at the end of June. June is also known as Monsoon Season in Japan so we expected to be wet most of our time there. We were happily surprised when it only rained on our way from the airport to our hotel on the first night and then when we were on the same bus back to the airport at the end of the trip. Travelers luck if you ask me but it was so nice to not have to worry about the rain and bringing an umbrella everywhere. We spent the first night of the trip in Tokyo where we visited Shubuya, the biggest street intersection in the world! The mixture of jet lag and all of the people made this stop pretty dizzying. Sadly this also ment that we didn't get a good picture of all the people criss-crossing the intersection in every direction. The next morning we woke up early to catch a bullet train headed west. We rode for 5 hours total to reach our first destinations, Hiroshima and Miyajima. 

Visiting the peace park in Hiroshima was a neat experience for me especially because I am so interested in World War II history. In this photo is the A-Bomb dome (the only remaining building close to the epicenter of the bomb) and the Peace Flame (or some name to the nature). We also visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum to see artifacts left over from the atom bomb explosion, including several watches which all stopped at the same time, 8:15 am, the time that the first A-bomb exploded. 

We then caught a train to the ferry dock to ride over to the island of Miyajima. This island is known for the red Shinto gate which seams to float in the shallow bay during high tide. 

Matt found a great hotel on the island which had traditional Japanese style rooms and an amazing view of the red gate. This is the view from our outdoor bath. Relaxing Huh?

Of course a traditional Japanese style room comes with a traditional Japanese dinner and breakfast. The dinner included 10 courses of sashimi, raw eel, various pickled veggies, miso soup, yakiniku, shabu shabu, and other foods that I can't pronounce and mostly didn't eat:) I did try at least a bite of most of it. Here is a picture of Matt with this traditional breakfast, fish and eggs! Yummy! I opted for a Western style breakfast which included bread and rolls and yogurt and more yummy breads:) I was happy and so was Matt. 

Since we stayed the night on the Island of Miyajima we were able to see it when it was less crowded with the daily tourists. This is a self portrait from the morning we left Miyajima. I think you can even see the first ferry pulling in behind the gate. 

The day we left Miyajima, we hopped on another bullet train in Hiroshima and headed to Kyoto but stopped in Himeji on the way to see this World Cultural Heritage site. The castle/fort was first built on this site in 1333 and the current buildings, walls and moats were completed 1618. Thats pretty old if you ask me! Obviously the castle has been rebuilt over time so that people can continue to visit it. (Most of the restoration was done in the 50's and 60's). The temperature on this particular day was not in the 60's however, but rather the 90's with about 90% humidity. We were dripping from head to toe, grumpy from not drinking enough water and from walking the "short" distance from the train station to the castle itself, but this was one of the most amazing castles that we have ever seen, or will ever see! Not only the castle was amazing but the grounds were green and beautiful and filled with subtle details on everything from the eves of the roof to the hinges on the heavy doors. I loved taking pictures here and enjoying the shade that the castle tour brought:) We were happy to finally get back on an air conditioned train and continue our journey on to Kyoto.