Travels Around Japan--one month at a time

First, THIS IS MY TOWN: (A)






So! It has been decided that once a month I, usually in tow with fellow Saijo JET Jennifer, will take (at least) a weekend trip out of our town and go visit somewhere different! This month's trip...for Silver Week, we went to.... *drumroll* Hiroshima!
So! Here was the lineup, and the obligatory photos, below...

First:
Saijo-->Matsuyama Sat., 9/19
so, after a horrific bout with the internet ppl, Jennifer and I leave Saijo city, our town, around 5:10 a.m. on the first train to Matsuyama. Little do we know the trip is NOT the 3 hours we imagined, but instead merely about an hour and 40 minutes (huh!) this is on the LOCAL train, where we sit at middle of nowhere stations for ten minutes at a time. So...not so bad after all! So we get to Matsuyama with some time to spare... we had already scouted out all the places we wanted to go the week before when we got our visas taken care of*, so now we knew exactly where to go and in what order. First, we went to the foreigner's center, called EPIC, where we used free internet and they even allowed us to drop off our bags--awesome! Then, off for shopping, where we got useful and necessary objects. Like this sweater (new) with shirt (gift from grandmom--thanks grandmom!) combo which makes me look like a Real Elementary Teacher, lemme tell ya! Then, the cutest outfit ever assembled, to the right (in total only 60 bucks, not bad!) In a country that puts the utmost emphasis on clothes..... then, the most necessary item of the season: a good coat. It's got room all over, and I can wear it with anything. How about that for a bargain at eighty bucks! Nice, huh?

So, after a couple of hours of shopping, we kicked back with some junk food from McDonalds and Starbucks (hey, after spending all our waking hours in a city with more rice paddies and mountains per square mile than ppl, who could blame us?!)

We also took what is called here Purikura, short for Print Club (how, I dont know either, ask a Japanese person.) This is an example of the ones on my cell phone:

they're great cuz u can write over the picture after you take it, so we did that.. for $4 a pop. not bad, esp. when you can write all over them..its surprisingly addictive! So, next we hopped onto a tramcar across Matsuyama, and headed back for our bags, then straight to the ferry we had decided to take to Hiroshima. Took the express ferry, to make sure we'd make our hostel curfew! Paid off! We had a quick dinner, hopped on the ferry, and made it to the hostel in Hiroshima just in time!
Matsuyama-->Hiroshima Sat.evening, 9/19

Hiroshima-Sun.,9/20
So began our first day in Hiroshima! Waking up in a cramped bed in a full of Japanese tourists holiday season hostel out in the moutains...talk about a wake up call! At least there was a pretty mural on the walk down to the bus station and it was a quiet area... well, we got what we paid for! it was pretty cheap. First, we got off the bus in town and walked around the Hiroshima castle moat..then it was inside to take a peek at the <--shrine inside. Met a couple from San Francisco and their Japanese guide, who was nice enough to translate our fortunes for us, apparently I've already met my true love *gasp*! and things will work the way I want them to...yeah, not to boast, my fortune was pretty good. It's what helps me get up in the morning..haha. So, then a walk through the park, then over the moat on a bridge to get off the castle grounds...we witnessed a kindergarten 'sports day', after we'd already worked a sports day for our jr. high, it was interesting to compare the two events! From there, we walked over and ran <--into this interesting mural, on the walls of a government building, and from there over to the Hiroshima Prefectural Museum of Art, where they had a Russian Masters exhibit on tour from the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Not bad! My-> favorite work was this one: (yeah, thats right, i bought the catalog. im an art major. so sue me.) And, got a cheap Russian cookbook! Because, nothing says delicious in winter like a thick Russian stew!After a quick peek at Dream of Venus by Dali, some Dada and Bauhaus art and some art by Hiroshima native Ikuo, it was time to check out the gift shop...
Then, it was back to pay for entry into Shukkein Garden, behind the museum. I had no idea when I visited the last time that the garden dates from the 1600s, and the original plan was restored after the garden was devastated (all but the stone bridge, here:) after the bombing. I mean, any garden cool enough to have a nickname is good with me! Then, rode the streetcar up to the shopping area, bought some great home stuff at a Dept store called 'Tokyu Hands' (it literally means, Fast Hands. Hm..wonder if i got my money's worth?! haha...now you see your money now you don't? anyone?) Then, over to the ....Subway for lunch! Thats right, there's a Subway sandwich shop in Hiroshima. Nice. And, its totally touristy, cuz my town doesnt have it. so Hah! No Krispy Kreme though..haha only in Tokyo. Well, then we wandered up and down the shopping road a bit window shopping, then walked past a couple of smaller temples on our way back, then back to the hostel to take it easy...it was still a vacation first, after all!
Hiroshima--->Miyajima.,9/21

Well, more beautiful weather, and today Jennifer, our Dutch friend Morten, and I headed off to the famous shrine with the gate that looks like this:
and this:


depending on the tide! We also saw it riding in a little boat pushed by this guy, like you can see below. That was fun! I even got Jennifer to climb a mountain! haha... we climbed Mt. Misen, the holy mountain on the island, which has a few Buddhist temples on the way up, one of which was holy to the monk Kukai, whose trip I plan to undertake in a couple of years (in case I haven't explained to you already, the reason Why I'm here is to eventually undertake the 50 day walk around the island of Shikoku called the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage. Long story... Anyway, went to the top of the mountain, got a little girl to help us feed the deer, headed back down for a quick spot of afternoon tea, then headed back on the evening ferry. A more tiring day than it looks! And to top it all off--real Hiroshima style cooking, Hiroshima okonomiyaki at okonamura. Yummy!

Hiroshima-Tues.,9/22
Well, finally our string of good weather cut out--we rode the bus from one hostel to another, and wound up with our bags in front of the World Friendship Center near the Peace Park in Hiroshima. It's my most highly recommended spot to stay in hiroshima. Immediately when you enter there's an aura of calm about the place, and the volunteers there, Ron and Barb from Ohio, USA, are the sweetest most accomodating people you could ever hope for in meeting place and hostel managers. Honestly, next to couchsurfing it was the best, most open experience I've had staying anywhere---and we only stayed there one night! Well, off to rent bikes..which was an amusing disaster, as every time the rain began just happened to be the same time as we mounted our bikes. Go figure. But eventually we got around the Peace Park, by the Dome, rode along the river, up to an obscure Chinese Szechuan style garden, over by the castle again, then back to the World Friendship Center for karaoke that night. Karaoke was the perfect goodbye to Hiroshima, after a walk back through the street performers and artists that hung out in the shopping streets after dark, and a stroll by the river one last time, it was a great evening!

Hiroshima-Imabari-Saijo City, Wed.,9/23
Ride back on the bus, island hopping the inland sea. Views from the bridges, lovely weather. Perfect ending.

*planning on going to China, so I need the visa now.