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Day 4- Getting lost (again) and making friends (finally)
Today we made the trek from Osaka to Kyoto and had our first ride on one of Japan's famous bullet trains (Skinkansen in Japanese). We boarded the busy train at Osaka-Shin station and were devastated when we realised we would be standing for most of the 85 minute journey. The trains go up to 300km/h but you wouldn't know from inside as they are super smooth! When we finally got a seat, about and hour into the trip, we were amazed at how clean and spacious it was!
When we arrived at Hiroshima Station we must have looked like fish out of water- as numerous Japanese people came up and offered us directions in broken English. It seemed everyone wanted to help us out and their assistance was all very welcome. Our official ruling is the people in Hiroshima are a lot more friendly than those in Osaka.
When we finally found our way out of the giant train station we were absolutely clueless as to what tram to take to our hotel and another Japanese guy came and asked if we needed help. His name was Junico and he was so excited to have someone to practice speaking English he came with us for the whole tram ride and walked us right to the door of our hotel. We were so thrilled to have his help we then asked him to stay with us for lunch. Junico took us to the most popular local Okonomiyaki restaurant in Hiroshima. It was great to go to a place that all the locals love and experience the real Japan. Okonomiyaki is the dish most famous in Hiroshima. It's like an omelette filled with seafood, pork belly, cabbage and noodles with a yummy sweet soy sauce and mayo! Delicious!!!
After relaxing at our hotel, later in the evening we wandered the streets near our hotel. The whole street (peace memorial drive) was still filled with lighting displays for Christmas! It was beautiful. We ended up finding a funny little restaurant for dinner where we had to actually order our meals through a vending machine! I guess it's a good way to stop any staff stealing the profits!
So far we love Hiroshima, it might be because we finally found someone to talk to, or perhaps it's because the sun was out!
Sayonara.
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