Observations about Japan, musings, stuff that doesn’t really fit anywhere else…

Saw a lot of these vehicles around Japan. Must have been a popular rental vehicle, I think. Is it just me, or do they look like Decepticons?

When in Tokyo, drink:

These are some photos of the interior details of the bus that drives us from our station on the Disney Resort line to our hotel. It’s about a three minute walk. We swore we wouldn’t take it, but it’s hard to resist at the end of a 20,000+ step, 14 hour day.

A selection of some of my favourite Japanese toilet signs and instructions. Or, at least, the ones I managed to take photos of:

Always grateful for the ones that had an obvious flush button. Where it wasn’t obvious, we had to guess. With mixed success…

This one wasn’t so much a flush button as…

I liked this one. None of this gymnastic, crossfit-style toilet use:

Now this one was a mystery for a long time. Turns out that it is the control for the running water sound that plays very loudly in some toilets as soon as you get into the cubicle. Perhaps useful for those with prostate issues. Of course, this was in the women’s loo…

And now a series of armrest toilet controls:

I particularly like this one. It promises a “flushing sound” but will it actually flush?:

And now to share a little bit of genius. These were in most toilets in malls and large train stations (women’s toilets, anyway). I thought they were a very clever idea for Mums with young kids:

Back to Disney Sea today. We have 4-day passes which restricted us to Disneyland on day 1 and Disney Sea on day 2, but on days 3 and 4 we can do as we please. Easy choice to go back to Disney Sea today.

Maeve was feeling a bit better so we started with Raging Spirits – the 360 degree loop roller coaster she skipped yesterday. She loved it. Wanted to repeat it right away but the queue had become a bit horrendous.

Used our first fastpass of the day on the Toy Story ride that we didn’t do yesterday. Even though we got the passes first thing, our time wasn’t till early afternoon.

Good news – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ride was open today.

More good news – the ride was much better than the movie. Which isn’t saying much. Actually, the ride was great.

After that we headed to Port Discovery to do the Nemo and Friends ride, which Corwin hadn’t done yet. Short wait time, which was good. Fun again.

Then did Aquatopia again. The hard-to-describe, random ride that we all really enjoy but isn’t rated all that well by the general public. It was about this point that it started raining. Pretty feeble rain, but it was on and off for the rest of the day. Too humid for any of us to wear a raincoat, except Maeve.

Went and did the lottery for show tickets. Missed out on tickets for the Big Band Beat show but got tickets for the Tip Top Easter show (Easter is the theme at the Disney parks at the moment). Anyone can actually watch the show, we just got tickets for a prime seating area.

Then to an Italian place in the Mediterranean Harbour area for lunch. Got Maeve to eat food other than plain rice or vanilla ice-cream for the first time in a couple of days.

After lunch we went back to the Arabian Coast part to see the Magic Lamp Theatre. Essentially a 3D movie thing like the Philharmagic show we saw at Disneyland yesterday, but with some live on stage stuff mixed in too.

Then we went back to Mermaid Lagoon and discovered a whole little world underground there that we had missed the previous day, while walking through.

We rode the Whirlpool ride and the Blowfish Balloon Race – definitely little kid rides (so short!!) but enjoyable.

Then it was finally time for our fastpass ride on Toy Story Mania.

I hadn’t very high hopes, despite its popularity, but it was actually great fun. It is a ride around and shoot at things ride (like the two in Disneyland) but it’s a much better set up. It’s more of a shooting gallery scenario, and you move from area to area. Very enjoyable. We’d have happily done it again if the queue was less than 40 mins.

We then did the Tower of Terror again – on fastpasses.

Was the first time we’d done it all together as a family, so was good fun. Is one of those rides where you drop suddenly and laugh hysterically.

Then we walked back to the Lost River Delta and did what felt like our longest queue ever – for another go on the Indiana Jones ride. Was less than an hour, but felt like longer.

Then we rode Raging Spirits again before rushing back to the Mediterranean Harbour for the show we “won” good “seats” for.

The word “seats” is in quote marks because we had to sit on the ground. The locals are pros at this stuff and people carry around their own wee mats which they use for sitting and watching parades and shows. We struggled a bit, sitting on the ground for an hour, but at least it wasn’t raining then. Here are some show photos:

It’s all pretty random, but the performers are very good and the while thing is very slick – as you’d expect from Disney.

Dinner time then. We went back to Lost River Delta to eat slightly Mexican food. Maeve ate rice. *sigh* Then Morgan took the kids away to do some rides so that I could do some blogging (not much free time in these action-packed Disney days).

Apparently they rode Aquatopia 6 times! Morgan has some photos on his phone so I’ll try to load them on here later.

Then it was time to meet up again and find a spot to watch Fastasmic – the night show. Again, a bit random plot-wise, but spectacular to watch:

Awesome.

Then we were going to stay for Disney Light the Night (about 5 min fireworks show over the park) but they called it off because of the weather. It had started to rain again towards the end of Fantasmic but not very heavily.

Tomorrow is our last Disney day. No solid plans but we do plan on being at Disneyland at 8.30pm for the electrical lights parade.

Another less-than-awesome start to the day. Maeve had been quite feverish in the night and was still running a temp when we woke up. Dosed her with some paracetamol in the night and in the morning and we managed to get moving. She was keen, bless her, even though her body just had to stop for rests from time to time.We arrived at the park earlier than we had at Disneyland the day before. The plan had been for Morgan to run to the Mysterious Island area and grab us fastpass tickets to Journey to the Centre of the Earth, while we walked fast to the same area and queued for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. But, as it turned out, there was no real queue for either ride that early in the day. Which was good, because there was no getting Maeve to walk fast. We grabbed the fast pass tickets to Journey and then went on the ride on standby (normal tickets).It was a fun ride. The “set” (for want of a better word) was wonderful. Mysterious Island is very steampunk. The inside of the mountain is beautifully done. That is true of every area (or ‘land’) at Disney Sea. Disneyland is cleverly and creatively presented too, of course, but Disney Sea seems (to me, at least) to be a step up.Anyway, the ride was great but, as mentioned, Maeve was ill and was not her usual adventurous self. There was a point where the ride dipped quite steeply and suddenly, and she was not a fan.We did 20,000 Leagues next. Not quite as effective. A slower ride – a ‘submarine’ moving slowly through the depths – which means the special effects and set are more easily scrutinised and there isn’t the same thrill aspect you get with something like Journey (which is effectively a roller coaster). But a nice calming down for Maeve.Our fastpasses for Journey were quite early, so we did that again next. Maeve did it again, slightly under protest, but did enjoy it.Took a break at this point to let her have a lie down on a bench (and me) and rest. Morgan went for Tower of Terror fastpasses. We tried curry popcorn. Was surprisingly good.After that we strolled through Arabian Coast (above) and couldn’t say no to Maeve when she asked to go on Jasmine’s Flying Carpet Ride. Pretty tame – round and round, up and down, with someone in your “carpet” controlling the up and down. Maeve loved it.Then we did the Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage – very reminiscent of It’s a Small World: boat, slow, puppets on all sides. Story and singing was all in Japanese but we got the gist. Enjoyable. Relaxing for Maeve.We hadn’t managed to get her to eat any breakfast so I was happy to get her an icecream. The kids both ate icecreams in the sun while Morgan sought a photo with Jafar:It was a really warm day – not too humid but very warm in the sun. Maeve and I found a shady spot for her to lie down while the boys went and rode the Tower of Terror on our fastpasses. They really loved it and came out singing its praises. Somehow, they convinced Maeve so she and I rode it together on the two remaining fastpasses. She really enjoyed it – thank goodness – so the boys weren’t in trouble.Took the Electric Railroad back to the other side of the park because it was very difficult to convince Maeve to walk anywhere – she was just too tired and sore. Saw a couple of rides while on that which we wanted to come back to later.We ate lunch at the restaurant in Mysterious Island. They had a lovely allergen-free option but she couldn’t be convinced to eat anything other than plain rice. Said everything tasted horrible. 😦Bit of a rest there and then on to the Lost River Delta to use our latest fastpasses on Raging Spirits. We were a bit disappointed that we hadn’t headed straight for that area first thing in the morning, as the Indiana Jones ride had been going in the morning but from mid-morning was “temporarily closed” for the rest of the day. Bummer.Raging Spirits is a pretty vanilla roller coaster, but does have a (very small) 360 degree loop. Maeve saw that on the sign and wasn’t having a bar of it. This despite having ridden The Flying Dinosaur (with a huge 360) at Universal Studios 4 times. So Corwin and I rode that one, and enjoyed it.Maeve had been dying to see Mermaid Lagoon, so we headed there next. Found the caramel popcorn and that was that – I can’t imagine eating any other flavour now.Rode the Flounder Fish Coaster (kids roller coaster – ride possibly less than 1 minute in duration). Made Maeve happy. Wasn’t awful.Went on to Port Discovery to try a couple of rides we’d spotted from the Electric Railway. First was Aquatopia. Neat ride – looks very simple but was neat fun. We all loved it. Rode it again straight away.The boys went off to ride Raging Spirits, which Morgan had missed out on earlier. Maeve and I cashed in fastpasses to ride Nemo and Friends – Searider. A good one for Maeve – a simulator ride. In Japanese but easy to follow. Cute. She wanted to take Morgan on it with the two remaining fastpasses so Corwin and I sat it out. I got more caramel popcorn and he got a Nemo churro.When Maeve got upset at the end of the Nemo ride (because the ‘story’ was different for the one she and Morgan went on, and she wanted him to see the one we’d seen – clearly it rotates through a few story options) we decided to call it a day. She’d done so well to make it to 5pm.

We took her back to the hotel and put her to bed.Tomorrow we think we will come back to Disney Sea. Our passes allow us to choose for the next two days – we can even split the day between parks if we want. We had hoped to do a late night in each park, seeing the night parades, and intended to spread them. Either Mon/Weds or Tues/Thurs, so we didn’t get too tired. But with Maeve being crook that hasn’t been possible. Looks like we’ll do Weds/Thurs.

We didn’t do the most popular ride at Disney Sea yet – the Toy Story one. Wasn’t a big priority for me, as it’s another one of those ‘ride around in a cart shooting at things’ rides – like Buzz Lightyear and Monsters, Inc. were at Disneyland – and I’m not fussed on them. But Corwin is keen.

And we’d like to try and get Maeve on the ride she skipped today too, as it’s well within her normal tolerance and she has this tendency to get all regretful later… “Oh, I wish I’d done that roller coaster with the loop at Disney Sea in Japan. Now I’ll never get to do it…”

But all will depend on how she sleeps tonight and how she feels in the morning. Fingers crossed.

Awoke bright and early to find that Maeve woke up with a nasty cold. Poor thing. She was so looking forward to Disneyland but she felt pretty rubbish. Was a trooper though:

We arrived a little later than we’d hoped to – only about 10 minutes before opening time. Morgan had made a plan of action – we run to queue for Space Mountain while he gets fastpass tickets to the Monsters, Inc. ride.

So, first ride of the day was Space Mountain – which I’d last ridden 30 years ago! And it was even longer for Morgan.

So much fun – still. Kids loved it too. Next up – Star Tours. Disney remain the masters of queue entertainment:

It was fun, but some of the plot of our little adventure was lost on us, as all dialogue was in Japanese.

Next up – urgent purchase of a sunhat, as we’d forgotten Maeve’s.

Then urgent purchase of Disney ice-creams, as it was a warm day.

We wandered around for a while, browsed some shops, and then grabbed an early lunch at The Queen of Hearts (wanted to go at a non-super-busy time as we needed to negotiate the allergen menu). Maeve was able to have the roast chicken meal, which was a victory.

It was around this time that we finally bowed to the pressure and bought ourselves one of the popcorn containers. Meet Darth:

The top of his head opens up and popcorn of various flavours can be inserted. Initially we’d thought it might be pay once and free refills… Dream on. There are popcorn carts dotted all around the park and each sells a different flavour. Our first flavour was corn potage. Sounds weird, was delicious. Stay tuned for more flavour tries.

We did the Roger Rabbit ride next – essentially a spinning teacup ride but through multiple rooms. Maeve actually put that in her top 3 for the day.

Then our first fastpass ride – Monsters, Inc. Hide and Seek. It’s the first ride at the park to run out of fastpasses each day – so, fair to say it’s the most popular – but it’s not really a “ride”, as such. It’s all very slick and clever though. You go through multiple rooms in a little vehicle, trying to shine your torch on any hiding monsters. Very interactive, but we’ve discovered we much prefer more traditional theme park rides.

Next up – another vintage item – The Haunted Mansion.

Silly, but fun.

Then another fastpass ride – Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters. Same concept as the Monsters, Inc. ride but with guns to shoot at targets. Fun, but we wouldn’t do it twice.

Salted popcorn. Pretty boring, as expected.

And by popular demand, our next ride was A Small World.

Countries of the world, plus Disney movie characters. Of course. And who is this?…

Maeve was really tired and grumpy by this point, so we decided to take in a “show” so she could sit down for a bit. Saw Mickey’s Philharmagic, which was good fun. Photo is from the foyer, so not really related – just wanted to share for Dad.

After that it was time for dinner. We went to The Hungry Bear near Big Thunder Mountain, which turned out to be a curry restaurant. Maeve had (some of) an allergen-free curry. It was all really filling and I don’t think any of us finished our food.

We had thought the park might be more quiet after dark.

Nope. Some people leave, sure, but Disney offer an after 6 ticket. You can stay till the park closes at ten. So, much the same in terms of crowds.

We weren’t sure that Maeve was going to make it, but she hung in there for Big Thunder Mountain.

Great fun ride but now Maeve was well past it. We still had fastpasses for Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain, so the boys stayed in the park and Maeve and I headed back to the hotel.

The boys tried milk chocolate popcorn. Corwin gave it a 6/10.

They rode Big Thunder Mountain twice more and Space Mountain twice more. Caught most of the Nighttime Electrical Parade before leaving.

Very successful day in all. The only major ride we didn’t get to was Splash Mountain. Our longest queuing time was about 40 minutes, and all queues moved constantly. Could really only have been better with a healthy Maeve.

Tomorrow – Disney Sea!

Lazy morning in our new hotel. Little bit of a sleep in. Diligent blog readers might remember my mentioning on about the Weds of our first week here that the activity I’d planned for that day had sold out. So we booked tickets then for our return to Tokyo. For today.

Found a Pikachu vending machine. Had to share photos for Charlie. Note: dispensed drinks, not Pokemon, in exchange for money.

We travelled to Odaiba – a journey which required us to take 3 different trains – and attempted to find MORI Building Digital Art Museum. Unfortunately, our portable wi-fi, which had served us so well up to that point, let us down that day and our access to google maps was spotty. We got close – at DiverCity Tokyo Plaza. Had some lunch there then headed out the other side of the mall, in what we hoped was the right direction, only to stumble upon this:

It’s a life-sized Unicorn Gundam statue. And it was very impressive.

Managed to locate the MORI Building Digital Art Museum and the installation we wanted to see: teamLab borderless. It’s pretty hard to explain so I’ll just copy and paste the blurb:

“teamLab Borderless is a world of art without boundaries, a museum without a map.

teamLab Borderless is a group of artworks that form one borderless world. Artworks move out of rooms, communicate with other works, influence, and sometimes intermingle with each other with no boundaries.

Immerse your body in borderless art in this vast, complex, three-dimensional 10,000 square metre world. Wander, explore with intention, discover, and create a new world with others.”

Having read that, I’m not sure it helps. I’ll post some photos, that will no doubt fail to do it justice.

Essentially, there are big rooms and small rooms – some easier to find than others. They all have digital art. There is no set way to make your way around. There is no guarantee you’ll find all the artwork. Some is interactive (will respond to your touch, to noise, to movement). Some move from room to room. Some do interesting things when they meet another particular artwork. We had fun:

I’m understating it actually. We loved it. And we’re pretty sure we were in there for between 3-4 hours. It was amazing – highly recommended.

After that we went back to the hotel to attempt to have an early-ish night. Because…. DISNEYLAND tomorrow!

Last day in Kyoto today but we really wanted to get to Fushimi Inari Taisha before we left. So we checked out early, left our bags at the hotel and set off.

Fushimi Inari Taisha (shrine) is another one of those places that is always deserted in promotional photos, but we knew it would get busy. We had thought that an early start might spare us some of thep crowds, but we’d forgotten it was Saturday. It was so crowded. Very hard to get a photo without at least one stranger in it!

Fushimi Inari is the most important of several thousand shrines dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice. It is famous for its thousands of red/orange torii gates, which run along a network of paths behind the main buildings. The paths lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 meters and belongs to the shrine grounds.

We climbed past most of the crowds (a lot of people stop at the first point where trails meet – there are some stalls there – so long as they have their photos) but we stopped about 15 minutes from the top as we were getting a little anxious about all we had left to do (get back down, go back to hotel and get luggage, buy shinkansen tickets, get to Kyoto Pokemon Centre, take 3 hour shinkansen to Tokyo, get from Tokyo station to our hotel, and check in). And, of course, Maeve was moaning about “even more stairs!” and Corwin’s cold was giving him some grief so it seemed like a good point to call it.

If you climb high enough, you walk down a different path to the one you climbed up, which is nice:

So, we left Fushimi Inari and decided to split up. Morgan and Corwin went and fetched the luggage, while Maeve and I went and joined the very long, Saturday line for shinkansen tickets (we were not going to go unreserved and risk standing up for 3 hours).

The boys rejoined us at Kyoto Station and then I took Corwin to hit the last of his 5 Pokemon Centres. He had wanted to go to one in each of the three main cities we visited, so he did pretty well.

After buying a few things for pokemon fans at home, we headed back to Kyoto Station and grabbed some late lunch before boarding our last shinkansen. Here are some more of my spectacular shinkansen-on-the-move photos:

Arrived back in Tokyo in the evening and took a subway train and then the Disney train to our hotel. It’s one of the Disney affiliate hotels, so it’s on that Disney train loop line. Nice and convenient.

Took ages to check in, but luckily enough time was left for these crazies to get in the pool:

This was my view, from one of the poolside loungers:

Relaxing…

And, finally, a shot of the view from our balcony at night. So pretty.

The darkness in the background is Tokyo Bay.

Tomorrow is Sunday. Easter Sunday, to be precise. We will not be going to either of the Disney parks on a weekend, so we’re going to check out teamlab borderless at the Mori Digital Art Museum. Tune in tomorrow to find out what that is.

We were all pretty shattered after our day in Hiroshima and late return to the hotel, so we indulged and had a sleep in. No photos of that, I’m afraid. Morgan took one for the team and went on a laundry mission. When he returned we finally got our lazy selves sorted.

Successfully negotiated our first Kyoto bus (we were quite proud of ourselves) and then walked a little way to Kinkaku-ji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion).

Kikaku-ji is a Zen Buddhist temple that has been rebuilt several times over the years (after being damaged or destroyed by fire). The iteration we saw dates from 1955. And no – it isn’t gold-coloured paint. It’s actually coated in gold leaf covered in Japanese lacquer.

It is surrounded by lovely gardens and grounds (including Kyokochi – the mirror pond) – as we’ve come to expect in Japan.

Next up we took a bus to Gion – Kyoto’s most famous Geisha district. We didn’t see any real geisha though – just loads of people dressed up as geisha. This is a big thing around the popular tourist spots in Japan. You can hire a kimono and the people in the shop will do your hair and makeup and dress you up and then you can spend the rest of the day walking around in your flash get-up (right down to split-toed socks and geta). I wasn’t keen because a. it just felt a little inappropriate somehow – hard to explain – and b. I need decent walking shoes to do 15-20,000 steps a day.

So, we set off up the hill towards Kiyomezu-dera (“pure water temple”). Came across Hokanji temple (above) en route.

You walk up a very busy shopping street. Narrow and crowded (below).

We were most excited to see the Hon-Do (Main Hall) but saw these other temple buildings on the way:

Then we came around the corner and – oh no! Renovations! Kiyomizu-dera is best known for its wooden stage that juts out from the main hall – 13m above the hillside. Beautiful views. It’s supposed to look like this…

(Not my picture, obviously) but its roof is being re-done so it actually looks like this right now:

Never mind. We still saw some views.

And the walk back down through the temple gardens/forest was also lovely.

When we got back down it was around 5pm so we decided to have an early dinner. We were keen to try okonomiyaki and I had a recommendation on a place in Gion that did a gluten-free version (courtesy of the g-f eating in Japan Facebook group that has saved our asses a bunch of times since we’ve been here).

Maeve and I shared a gluten-free set menu and the boys shared a steak one (I think it only differed from ours in 1 of the 8 courses, so they must be in the habit of using g-f soy sauce). Here are some food photos:

Deep-fried tofu went down well with everyone:

Okonomiyaki!!!

A very successful night. The food was delicious and the people were lovely. We’d eaten so much we decided to walk back to the hotel. Saw some pretty sights:

Tomorrow we leave Kyoto – back to Tokyo for us.

Today didn’t get off to the most fabulous start, as we got a bit turned around getting to Kyoto Station. As much as we love Kyoto, we have not had as much success with navigating public transport here as we’ve had in Tokyo and Osaka. For starters, there is more reliance here on the bus service, which we have not yet figured out. There is a subway, but it doesn’t have as much coverage of the city and there is much less information in English. We were spoiled in Tokyo and Osaka.

Anyway, we eventually got to Kyoto Station only to find that Hiroshima was a very popular destination and we couldn’t get on a shinkansen for another hour or so. Kind of a big deal, because Hiroshima is about an hour and 40 mins away from Kyoto on the shinkansen, so it really cut into our Hiroshima time. Even then, we could only get unreserved tickets (i.e. no guarantee of a seat) and we ended up standing for a good 30 mins of the journey.

Once we got to Hiroshima, we went straight to the JR office to book reserved seats on the return shinkansen that night. Bit of a wait but worth it. Couldn’t imagine the kids gracefully accepting the need to stand for an hour and a half after a day of walking around.

Hiroshima was really sunny and warm. Our JR passes gave us free use of the hop on-hop off bus around the major landmarks in Hiroshima, so we took advantage of that and went straight to the A-bomb dome.

On 8.45am on 6 August 1945, the first atomic bomb to be used against humankind exploded about 600 metres over Shima hospital in Hiroshima. Nothing remained of the hospital, but a skeletal frame of the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall stood nearby and it was decided to keep it as a memorial. It is known as the A-bomb dome. You will be able to see the reinforcing work that has been done over the years to keep the structure standing.

This is what it looked like before the bombing:

Now, like all the Hiroshima landmarks and memorials, the focus there is very much on ‘this must never happen again’ – seeking a ban on nuclear weapons and promoting peace.

We sat next to this fountain to eat some lunch and ended up folding cranes with a lovely Japanese lady for a while.

This is the nearby Memorial Tower to the Mobilized Students. To make up for a labour shortage due to the war, the Japanese government had enacted the Student Labor Force Act – requiring students in middle school and above to work in munitions factories and doing building demolition (to create fire-breaks). A lot of those students were in Hiroshima city doing that kind of work on the day of the bombing. Of the 8,400 students in the upper level schools in Hiroshima, about 6,300 died on the day of the bombing.

The goddess of peace stands at the front and 8 doves are featured around the tower. The colourful hangings you can see in the photos are strands of hundreds of origami cranes stacked on top of one another.

Next we crossed the Motoyasu Bridge – damaged but not destroyed in the bombing.

This is the Children’s Peace Monument – in memory of all the children who died as a result of the atomic bombing.

Originally it was inspired by Sadako Sasaki. She was 2 when the bomb fell, quite near her home, but she survived. However, she was exposed to radiation and later developed leukaemia and she died age 12. Her classmates were inspired to call for a memorial to all children who died as a result of the atomic bomb – again the focus is a call for peace.

We moved through the Peace Memorial Park to the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall. This is a lovely, peaceful place to mourn the victims and think about peace. You walk down a spiral slope counter-clockwise – the impression is intended to be that you are travelling back in time to when the bomb exploded. The main room you arrive in is circular and all around the wall surface is projected the bombed cityscape – so you view the city as if standing in the hypocentre shortly after the bombing. 140,000 tiles make up the wall surface – the number of atomic bomb victims as at Dec 1945.

In the next room, photos and names of atomic bomb victims are displayed. You can look up individual victims if you know their names.

Then we went to an area where a film was playing. It was an account of the stories of three girls who died in the bombing. Two from the perspective of their families, as the girls died instantly. One though, was in the child’s own words, as she died a few days later. It was absolutely gutwrenching. She talked about being at school on a nearby island with two of her friends when they saw the parachutes and ran closer because they thought they were “pretty”. Then they saw a bright light that blinded them. They all survived the initial blast but as they tried to make their way towards help, her two friends died. She talked about feeling rain on her face, and drinking it – then throwing up blood later. It was the ‘black rain’ – mud, dust, soot and radioactive materials from the explosion. Poor old Maeve lost it at that stage. I think we all had tears at various times that day.

We took a walk outside in the sun for a while and then went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. As well as telling the story of the development of the atomic bomb, the background to the decision to use it against Japan, the process of selecting target cities, what happened on the day and thereafter as a result of the bombing, and the ongoing use and development of nuclear weapons in the world, the museum also has exhibits on Hiroshima’s history – before and after the bombing.

The museum also collects and displays belongings left by the victims, photos and other items that convey the horror of the event. Clothing worn by victims on the day of the bombing. Glass bottles fused together by the heat. Photos of shadows of people on concrete walls or steps – indicating exactly where they were when the bomb went off. A little tricycle owned by a wee boy who died. Roof tiles melted by the heat (the surface temperature was 6000 degrees C).

And the photos of victims. Dear God. We didn’t let Maeve see that part of the exhibit.

You will have noticed that there are no more photos after the Children’s Peace Monument. That’s because we stopped taking them. You’re allowed to take photos in the Memorial Hall and the Museum, but it just didn’t seem right. We didn’t want to. I understand that they want to get the message out – never again – and that they don’t want what happened to be forgotten, but we’ll just remember it our way. People did take photos, but to us it just felt crass and inappropriate. Each to their own.

We were pretty wrung out at this point. Emotionally shattered. So we headed across the park to a place I’d heard about that had gluten-free options. We ate there outdoors and sat and people-watched for a while. Maeve was very happy with her food:

We rode the bus around one more time and then headed for the station to await our shinkansen. Maeve and Morgan were excited to see a shinkansen that was a different colour – and possibly more pointy.

Got back to Kyoto pretty late. Got a shot of the Kyoto Tower all lit up.

Tomorrow we’ll be around Kyoto.

Woke up refreshed from a night sleeping on futons and went down to our traditional Japanese breakfast.

Cooked our own tofu – locally made and very good – and had other, more mysterious, Japanese breakfast foods.

After that we packed up, checked out and trundled off 5 mins down the road to our second (less traditional, less expensive) Kyoto hotel. We were too early to check in but, with the aid of google translate, we organised to leave our luggage there while we went exploring.

We decided to go and check out Arashiyama – an area on the far west edge of Kyoto, about a 30 minute train ride from the centre of the city.

We started out by walking over the Togetsu-kyo Bridge (above) and on to the main street of Arashiyama.

Miffy bakery:

It was a warm day so we grabbed an ice cream. I tried the cherry blossom flavour – in the spirit of the season – and it was… weird. Edible, but definitely strange.

Next up was Tenryu-ji (a zen temple with several buildings spread out over well-tended gardens). Another world cultural heritage site – we should have kept a running count of how many of those we’ve seen. Nice buildings (above) but absolutely lovely gardens. Hopefully my photos do them some justice. Thinking of Mum and Narmada when I took some of these (non-gardening people may want to skim):

From here we headed to the famous Arashiyama bamboo forest. In all the promotional pictures you see of it, there’s either one person walking the path alone or it’s completely deserted. In reality, of course – like everywhere else in Japan – it is rammed with people. However, it was still a lovely walk and if we concentrated we could hear the wind rustling the leaves far above us.

At this point we had some general flagging. Corwin has a decent cold and was getting very tired, and Maeve got a pain in her foot that we couldn’t find the source of. So, time to head back to the station and our hotel. Photos below of the “kimono forest” at the station:

And the weekend train we came back on:

We got back to the hotel mid-afternoon and the kids blobbed right away. I decided to go to the local Nishiki market and, as no one was game to come with me, I headed off on my own.

This photo (below) is of Nishiki but from earlier in the day. We’d decided to start there but changed our plans when we found many of the shops closed. Gives you an idea of what it looks like. Now add several thousand more people to the picture. That’s what it was like when I was walking through.

Walked around for about 3 hours. Mostly food stalls but I found some galleries and a Japanese paper shop, as well as some other cute wee stalls.

A couple of other beautiful Kyoto photos to round out the day:

Tomorrow we go to Hiroshima.