Today was another early start as we had an early train to Hiroshima.

We were told that it would be hard to find a taxi at this very early hour from the hotel to Tokyo Station to catch our shinkansen to Osaka, so we started walking towards Ueno with the hopes of catching a taxi there. We were concerned that taking the metro with our luggage would be a problem -- even at 5:30am on a Saturday, we didn't want to take any chances!

After only a few minutes we flagged down a taxi who took us to Tokyo Station. We had a bit of time before our train departed, so we stopped at one of the ubiquitous self-serve bakery places that are all over Tokyo. You grab a tray and tongs and load up on pastries galore! I'm not sure how the Japanese stay slim given all these temptations. Efren became particularly fond of this as some of the pastries reminded him of the Mexican breads he gets at home.

Something else of note -- by now after about one week in Japan, we were starting to look towards other cuisine options. Efren mentioned several times how he was dying for his mother's mole, and Craig was frankly craving a pizza and a burger! The sushi and udon noodles and tofu were good, but we were ready for some variety!

Finally the time came to board our train. There was plenty of space to store our luggage up above our seats. The attendant came around and offered us warm wash cloths and a little airplane-style food cart rumbled by with some over priced options. Of course we couldn't resist the $3 coffees which were a bit of a disappointment.

Watching the world shoot by at 200mph outside our window was conducive to napping. Efren got majorly into a novel so he didn't sleep at all, but Craig definitely dozed off. We had a change of shinkansens at Shin-Osaka the main station outside of Osaka. Craig was a bit nervous with a 9 minute connection time, but without fail, EVERYTHING operates on time on the JR system, so we had plenty of time to find our departing track and board our shinkansen from Osaka to Hiroshima.

The Tokyo to Osaka trip was about 3.5 hours, whereas the Osaka to Hiroshima was a shorter 2 hours. On the train we had conversations with some locals who were thrilled to learn we were enjoying their country. The Japanese pride, although nowhere near in-you-face patriotism, is strong and people really were delighted to learn that exploring their country has been a wonderful experience for us. This woman had traveled to the US awhile ago and loved it, but said she was always relieved to return home where things were more "predictable and safe". We can attest to that!

We arrived at Hiroshima station around 12 noon, and easily found a taxi to take us to our hotel. Instead of staying at a ryokan, in Hiroshima we opted for 2 nights at a more traditional "business" hotel. We were concerned that business = teeny, but we would soon see that this hotel, the Daiwa Roynet Hiroshima, was quite a gem. As usual we arrived at the hotel before check in, so we left our bags and charted our way to get to Miyajima. Recall we specifically changed our plans to arrive early enough today to see Miyajima, so we wanted to be sure not to miss it.

The journey started with backtracking to Hiroshima JR station. Instead of cabbing it, we jumped on the tram which was very convenient and a station was located essentially across the street from the hotel. You jump on the tram and plop 150 yen into the bucket when you leave. I have no idea how they can enforce this payment system, but absolutely everyone paid upon exiting.

At JR station we took a local train about 30 minutes away to the port where we can jump on the ferry to Miyajima Island. All the trains and ferries are JR, so simply showing our JR pass allowed us to get on/off without paying. The path from the local JR station (Miyajima-guchi) to the ferry terminal took about 5 minutes to walk and was laid out so clearly that it would be impossible to get lost. We quickly boarded the ferry and within a few minutes were approaching Miyajima which is famous for its floating shine and herds of tamed deer.

Miyajima is a sacred island that means "shine island". The island is symbolized by the shine's prominent vermilion Otorri (Grand Gate) rising from the sea. During low tide, it appears stuck in the mud, but during high tide, it appears to float majestically on the water. We timed our visit to correspond with high tide, which was about 1pm. We arrived on the island at about 2pm, so all was good. The torri is acclaimed by the Japanese to be one of the country's 3 most scenic views. The present structure dates from 1875 and is about 50 feet high.

Right off the ferry we realized, yet again, we would not have the place to ourselves. It was packed with local tourists who wanted to visit this beautiful site on a Sunday during peak koyo season. We were starving, so right off the boat we were tempted by the numerous food stalls and restaurants lining the short walk to the shrine (officially called Itsukushima). Efren was immediately tempted by some oysters, which are a specialty in the region and were cooked right in front of us. We stopped in a restaurant and had another delicious local specialty, the okonomiyaki which is a thick pancake-shaped mix of egg and other ingredients (oysters) cooked on a griddle. In Hiroshima this is made slightly differently -- instead of mixing all the ingredients in with the egg to be more omelet-like, here they keep the items in separate layers so it almost takes on a more burrito-like appearance. Simply delicious.

With full stomachs we continued the walk to the shrine. The path was lined with souvenier stands and all sorts of food stalls selling local specialties -- grilled eel and octopus, roasted corn and chestnuts, etc. The place had a bit of a carnival like atmosphere with hoards of people and tame deer wondering around as well, but it was surprisingly enjoyable and we were able to easily overlook the kitsch factor.

Hiroshima is significantly west and south of Tokyo, so the koyo here was in full blast. Upon approaching the shine, we walked up to the beautiful pagoda which is on a bluff overlooking the shrine and a few nearby yellow ginko trees really offered some great photo ops. We headed down and entered the shrine itself which is built on stilts over a cove. The tide was quickly going out so mud flats were beginning to be exposed, but the torii gate itself was still standing in water. A wedding was occurring at the shrine so we couldn't get the best views from there. We walked over a bit to an exposed beach which offered the best views of the torii. We took probably 1000 pictures before the sun began to set and the flies became more numerous and pesty. We started our walk back to the ferry terminal, but stopped for coffee and yummy cheesecake at the Miyajima Coffee House.

If we had more time we would have liked to take the ropeway (gondola) to the top of the peak on the island (Mt. Misen), but time wasn't on our side so we'll save that for our next trip!

We reversed our journey and headed back to Hiroshima. By the time we got there it was dark, but to our delight we learned that there is a Costco near the Hiroshima station that was open until about 8pm! Efren ran out of memory card space on Miyajima (realizing he packed the wrong card), so was looking to buy a new one -- what better place than Costco? We easily found the Costco after walking about 15 minutes from the JR Hiroshima station. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but it was almost identical to a Costco at home. Most of the items were the same -- right down to the oven roasted chickens! There were definitely more sushi platters on offer than in the US, and the vitamin/beauty aids section was significantly different with more local brands and items (ie placenta drinks!).

Efren quickly found the memory card he needed and picked up some candy. Upon exiting, we were seduced by the food court! Efren couldn't resist and bought a hot dog. Not sure why, he doesn't even really like them, but a craving hit at that moment! Craig had some coffee. What was interesting is that people just left their shopping carts full of paid items at the entrance to the food court and just went in to get the food. No concerns of theft, etc. Can you imagine doing that at a Costco in the US? It was also interesting to see the large number of American service folks shopping at the Costco -- a slice of "home" when stationed so far away.

My now feet were starting to hurt so we found a taxi to take us back to the hotel. We grabbed a quick bite at a hotpot restaurant across the street and headed to bed. A very long day indeed! Tomorrow would be physically less stressful but probably emotionally intense as the plan is to visit the Memorial Peace Park and Museum which focus on the horrible atomic bomb dropping on Hiroshima in 1945.