03.08.2015 ~ Travel from Okayama to Kobe (& Himeji)

The clothes were nearly dry when we woke at 07:30 so we asked for late checkout at reception (¥1600 for check out at 12:00). Breakfast was very good with a lot of variety and quantity; there was bacon, sausage, scrambled egg (all German style) along with the regular Japanese foods we'd become accustomed to seeing like rice and miso soup, but the was also Chicken Katsu Kare! (I am fiend for Katsu Kare so I had this, bacon & rice - amazing! M had bacon, egg, Katsu Kare, rice, miso soup) Breakfast is definitely worth the money at Kooraku hotel!

As we were leaving the hotel to sightsee the Manager came over & gave us a gift as a thank you for staying at the hotel (so lovely!). It was a box of Okayama made rice snacks/crackers & the wrapping said 'Sign of Joy & Happiness':

After thank yous all round we walked 10 minutes to the Orient Museum which was closed (many museums are closed Mondays but not always Mondays, so important to check). However the ladies at the desk said we could go in if we didn't mind the noise of children working (they were going to build a cardboard Trojan horse). We didn't and so we paid the entrance fee (¥800 each) & went in. Bitterly disappointed. There wasn't a single 'oriental' thing in the museum, perhaps 'orient' means something else in Japan..? The ground floor was special exhibit about the Trojan Horse and surrounding period; the permanent exhibit upstairs was full of artefacts from Greece, Italy, Egypt and mostly Iran. We didn't have a lot of time to spend in Okayama so I was really disappointed that we'd wasted time.

We hot-footed it over to Okayama Castle (8-10 minute walk) to take photos of the outside, and here we met a guide from the garden across the river who was offering free guided tour (in English) of the castle & garden. Would have been a great thing to do but we only had 40 minutes left at this point and the tour would've taken longer. So we headed back down to the bridge over the river to look at the garden, but the garden was huge and would've taken too much time to get to any points of interest. Disappointed we walked 20 minutes back to the hotel to pack washing and check out.

(Okayama Castle - the black castle)

We caught the 12:34 Sakura Shinkansen to Shin-Kobe where we changed to the subway to get to Sannomiya to drop our bags off at the hotel. When we arrived Hotel Villa Fontaine let us check in an hour early for free so we took the bags up and rested a while before getting the Special Rapid Service on JR Line to Himeji at 15:07. It's a 15 minute walk from Himeji station to the base of the castle with photo opportunities along the way. After crossing the bridge its a 8-10 minute walk uphill to the entrance gate to pay the entrance fee (¥1000/person). We arrived at the gate just after 16:00 and were told that the route takes 1.5 hours to complete and that although the Castle closes at 17:00, those already inside have until 18:00.

 (Himeji Castle - taken from the main street)

WARNING: Himeji Castle is not for the very young, old or infirm - especially in mid-Summer. It is about 15 minutes walk/climb uphill & up steps from the entrance gate to the main castle and once at the Main Keep there are 7 flights of super steep near-vertical stairs to climb to the top (which then you obviously need to climb back down). However the interior is very impressive and the views from each successive floor equally so. The sense of achievement on reaching the top was very satisfying.

 (Photo doesn't do the steepness justice)

 (View from the top)

(On the way back to the station we saw a huge amount of black Koi in the Castle Moat; there were so many!)

We caught the Special Rapid Service back to Sannomiya and rested in the hotel for 30 minutes before heading out to find food. I was very insistent that M try the famous Kobe beef, unfortunately the restaurants that sold beef were apparently solely beef restaurants and as I don't eat beef, this caused us some trouble to find a restaurant where we could both eat... About an hour later we made a snap decision to go into the only place that looked like it sold beef and pork. It looked like a temporary structure and could've potentially been a terrible choice. However it was great! It was another DIY hot plate 'restaurant' with really helpful staff (there is no English menu). Downstairs was the seating counter & kitchen, and upstairs there were 5-6 tables with hotplates & extraction unit each. We ordered 2x Kobe beef, 2x pork, 2x veg, 2x rice, 3x beer & 2x umeshu & water (which came to ¥7900, seems to be a common meal price for us). 

(M has said that Kobe beef has ruined regular beef for him now)

This was a great experience, and a real 'Diamond in the Rough' as from the outside you wouldn't necessarily expect the high standard of food and service we had. The only downside to it was that afterwards we stunk of smoke & grill smells, but a shower before bed easily resolved that.

02.08.2015 ~ Travel from Hiroshima to Okayama (& Kurashiki)

We had a well deserved lie-in this morning after yesterdays hectic travelling; we felt good & refreshed. We got the street-car 2 stops from the end of our street to Shukkei-en Garden as we were dying to see Koi in Japan (might seem odd but it was an important desire). The entry fee ¥260/person is paid in the hut to the right as you walk in the main gates, HOWEVER make sure you then go back across the path to the gift shop to buy fish food. We only found out you could feed the Koi/turtles at the end when we'd run out of time.

The garden is absolutely beautiful! There are 14 beautiful bridges of varying scale, design and material criss-crossing over the ponds and streams. Sure enough there are plenty of Koi and also some turtles, who will follow you around in the hope of food (if only we'd known!). Being the height of summer, the garden was very green with full foliage in the trees, I imagine the garden is even more stunning in Autumn when the leaves turn.

We began the trail around the garden delighting in all the colours and sizes of the Koi but as we crossed over the 2nd bridge a Cicada landed on my hip (Kowai!) Big, surprisingly heavy bug, eurgh! Continuing on, we chose the short trial as we had travel plans for the afternoon. We were thrilled to see Koi everywhere and so many different colours & patterns; so beautiful and relaxing.

We went to the gift shop for a drink and discovered the fish food, I think it was ¥100 a bag - we probably would've bought 6 bags if we'd known it was available.

In all we spent around 40-60 minutes in the garden and could've spent longer but our travel plans were inflexible so we had to leave to get back to the hotel to pick up our luggage. We hadn't eaten yet so we bought 2 breaded pork Bento boxes from inside Hiroshima station, and snacks and drinks from the 7/11 directly in front of the station. We got the 11:53 Shinkansen to Okayama, and when we arrived there seemed to be a festival going on at the station plaza; there were stalls, a TV crew and groups of dancers in the most amazing traditional costumes (especially as it was over 35C). Unfortunately on the way to the hotel we suffered at the hands of the tourist map with no scale so ended up walking 30 minutes further than we needed to, luckily a group of dancers on their way to their next performance were passing so we asked for directions and they very kindly escorted us to the hotel (which was only 2 streets over from the train station). The staff at Hotel Kooraku were very lovely and as we were arranging to leave our bags the Manager of the hotel came to welcome us. In a strange turn of events, he said he had travelled the UK and been to Stoke-on-Trent & Birmingham in search of ceramics as he collects pieces for the hotel (there was a ceramic display in front of the elevators on every floor).

Back at the station we caught the local train to Kurashiki where we took a 15 minute walk to get to the 'Historical Quarter'. We were here to see the Folkcraft Museum & Ohashi House. Both of which were exactly what I'd hoped for. There was an excellent array of craft goods in the Folkcraft Museum, from furniture to basket weaving to glass to ceramics to textiles. The entrance fee was well worth it, and the added novelty of wearing slippers inside (M struggled as there was only one small size provided)

After an ice-cream (can you see the theme developing here..?) we headed to the Ohashi House, a 5 minute walk away down a side street. The entrance fee here was well worth it too, as the house is deceptively huge. From the street it looks like a regular entrance gate that you could just fit a small car through if wooden posts weren't there. Immediately inside there was a gate house where you paid entrance fee, listened to a brief audio history, and received leaflets; then it was out into the courtyard where on the right was the rice store (now exhibits of furniture, jewellery, possessions); to the left was the main garden; and straight ahead was the house which looked like a barn from the outside. Once inside the house entrance you took off shoes to step up onto the tatami mat flooring and start exploring. There are so many rooms to this house, leading from one to another, each with a defined yet undefined function; beautifully proportioned and maintained. This was a truly stunning example of traditional Japanese living. The flooring, walls, doors, windows, furniture; it all felt authentic and wonderfully  suitable. Even the allowances for modernity such as the lighting didn't get in the way of the aesthetic appreciation.

It was easy to forget where we were, but we were quickly reminded on stepping into the back garden and seeing the high-rise modern buildings all around. We were at Ohashi house for about 40 minutes but you could definitely spend more time to really absorb the feeling of the house.

Back at the hotel our luggage had already been placed in our room so we checked in with ease. We put on 2 loads of washing (¥300/wash) and then borrowed a clothes dryer from reception as the tumble dryer was completely ineffective (leaving the air con off while we went for dinner ensured the clothes were nearly dry by morning).

For dinner we went to the underground complex at Okayama station, to 'Kitchen Runway' and ended up at 'Farmer's Garden' as most everything else seemed to be closing (it was about 20:30 on a Sunday). This was our first poor meal in Japan; we both ordered what looked like rice dish with fried or poached egg on top. What we got was bowl of rice and meat with raw egg dribbled all over it. Perhaps the rice should've been hotter to cook the egg? Either way it was a disappointing meal & even the drinks weren't so good. Needless to say we stopped at Lawsons on the way back to the hotel for apple juice and cake.

(M says beware of this. It is not Lemon Cake. It is a savoury bread type affair, disconcerting if you're expecting sweet cake)

01-08-2015 ~ Travel from Takeo-Onsen to Hiroshima (& Yamaguchi & Iwakuni)

(Our futon beds)

We woke at 07:00 to shower and get ready before our booked breakfast time of 08:00. I had had a restless night as being a side sleeper I found the firmness of the futon & floor a bit uncomfortable. I'd also struggled a little with the pillow which although supportive seemed to be a hard bean bag - then I found out that M had had a soft pillow... Turns out the pillows are double sided; one hard side, one soft side. Make sure to look out for this if staying in traditional hotel.
Breakfast was visually very impressive, there were lots of small bowls of food including egg, tofu, pickles, fish slices, rice, glass noodles as well as other less identifiable foods. M enjoyed most of the breakfast but I struggled with it as it was all very soft texture.

After paying and checking out at 09:30, we were given a lift to the station in the vintage Toyota Classic that sits out the front. Very comfortable and swish! We arrived in style and in very good time for our 09:51 Sasebo Line to Shin-Tosu from where we caught the 10:53 Shinkansen to Hiroshima arriving at 12:20. 

(This is looking out the front of the train! One side is the driver's compartment & the other window so you can see straight in front)

I should mention that the JR Pass is valid on all but 2 types of Shinkansen (Nozomi & Mizuho) and on most overground/JR Line trains. Once you've received your pass, all you need to do is show the guards at the window near the ticket barriers and they'll wave you through. Over the 2 weeks there was only about 5 guards that looked properly at the pass, most just checked the date was valid and quickly waved us through.

So, we arrived in Hiroshima and took the street car to Ebi Sucho & walked 150m down the high-end shopping street to Hotel Washington. We left our luggage at the hotel as we were too early to check in went straight back on the street car the Hiroshima station to catch the train to Shin-Yamaguchi. M nearly passed out from lack of food so we had udon noodles at Shin-Yamaguchi station before going to Yamaguchi station to see the 5-storey Pagoda (Ruriko-ji Temple). We arrived at 15:25 and followed the signs to the community bus stop that would take us to the temple; after waiting for 30 minutes we went to ask how long the bus would be - the bus was due to arrive at 16:15! This was one of the other 'bad' things we found about Japan; although the public transport is very efficient and timely, it seems that bus & train timetables don't interlink/communicate with one another. We didn't to wait that long for the bus so we got a taxi to the temple (¥1030 for an 8 minute journey! ouch!). We indulged in the most amazing ice cream/sorbet from the shop directly opposite the park gates before going in (the kiwi is to die for!).
Ruriko-ji is stunning, you get the perfect view of it over the pond as you enter the park:

We walked around the pond to be right at the base of the pagoda to get detail shots and then walked up the main path to the entrance again. After another ice cream we were good to start the walk back to Yamaguchi train station (The bus wasn't due for another 30minutes and we wanted to get to Iwakuni before dark). The walk took 30 minutes and would've been fairly straight forward except the police had cordoned off one road so we had to take a detour. However we arrived in time to get the 16:09 to Shin-Yamaguchi which was a steam train!

We then caught the 16:58 Kodama Shinkansen to Shin-Iwakuni where we were able to get the 17:38 bus from directly outside the station to Kintaikyo Bridge (¥290 single). There's an audio information point to the right of the bridge which was good for quick background. We were surprised to learn that one arch is replaced every 20 years, after the original was knocked down by a cyclone in the 1950s. We were charged ¥300/adult to cross the bridge and given information leaflets; we learnt on the other side that we could've done it for less as we were only crossing one way.

The bridge is beautifully constructed and in beautiful settings, the only shame is the car park behind the bridge, but that could be cropped out with careful photography... After crossing the Kintaikyo Bridge we walked along the river to the next bridge up to get a photo of the full span from the midpoint; very pleased with this photo:

The buses are fairly infrequent so after catching the 19:41 bus back to the station we made it onto the 20:10 Kodama Shinkansen back to Hiroshima. It was very definitely dinner time now so we caught the street car back to our stop to see what was around the hotel. We found a restaurant that occupied 6th & 7th floor of a building on the corner of the covered shopping street where we sat in a private 'room' at a floor level table with a hole in the floor underneath for legs. We were very impressed with the setting of our dinner, but it turned out to be an what I can only describe as an offal restaurant (tongue, feet, neck in most meats featured heavily in the menu)... However after perusing the menu thoroughly (thank the stars there was English as well) we managed to order 3x breaded chicken & ginger sauce, 5x chicken thigh skewers with sweet soy glaze, 1x pork & broccoli, 1x chicken & cheese bites. The drinks menu was very good & M had 1 draught beer & 1 bottle beer (M advises to go for bottle as you get more than draught & you can pour yourself to avoid the 1.5 inch head that is custom to Japanese beer), while I had a lemon sour 'sucho' (it was very sour) and a mango umeshu and water all for ¥7900 (about £43, good value food once again)

(The restaurant we ate at)

Finally we checked into the hotel and headed to our room which had a modern onsen-style bathroom. We'd encountered various configurations of shower & bath in our hotels but this was our favourite so far. Black marble-look floor & walls, chrome fittings, deep square-ish bath that you could actually straighten legs in (though then your top half would be out but still). We became quite accustomed to sitting on the stool to wash in the hand held shower & then relaxing in the clean bath water; now we've tried it, it seems so much more logical than the UK method of bathing. We both felt blissfully relaxed and super clean after our onsen-style wash & soak. The bed was quite hard (seemingly the norm in Japanese hotels) and there was only one soft pillow (I tried both sides of both pillows to be sure), so I had the beanbag pillow as although it was unusual it I had enjoyed it's supportive-ness.

31-07-2015 ~ [Japan Rail Pass Starts] Travel from Fukuoka to Takeo-Onsen (& Arita)

We both woke around 04:00 to see the sunrise then back to sleep until 08:00. We got ready and took a taxi to Don Quijote which sells EVERYTHING you could ever want. We found Japan as whole not to be expensive, the only thing that was expensive were Taxis. It was a 5 minute journey to the shop and cost ¥850 on the way there and ¥910 on the way back (about £4.50-£5).

We took one suitcase with us for size comparison, and found 2 new suitcases that looked super sturdy with much better wheels than ours. We also bought 2 hand towels to use during the hot days (after observing the locals this was definitely the done thing) and 2 souvenir puzzle/model type things (great idea for relatives to get a taste of Japan).

The staff at Don Quijote were great! So helpful! They gave us ¥2000 in gift vouchers as we didn't know they did tax-free shopping & so hadn't asked for it when paying. They also took the broken suitcase from us to throw away.

So back to the hotel to repack everything into the new suitcases; we'd bought one same size and one larger to account for the souvenirs we'd bought and were bound to buy later, which worked extremely well. We checked out at 11:00 and got a taxi back to Tojinmachi subway station to go to Hakata Station where we exchanged our Japan Rail Pass vouchers (pre-purchased in the UK for £246 each for a 2-week pass). We were due to catch the 12:32 train to Takeo-Onsen so we bought Bento boxes to eat while we waited: both were really good!

 (Chicken, Egg, Seaweed & Rice Bento)

(Beef & Rice Bento)

Our first Shinkansen journey started at 12:32, due to arrive Takeo-Onsen at 13:40. The Shinkansen really is as fast as they say; when standing on a platform and one goes by in the middle tracks it is so incredibly fast! and long - most Shinkansens we caught had at least 8 carriages. As we hadn't been able to get reserved seats we boarded the unreserved cars (Mostly 1-3) and found an empty 3 seats (1 each for us & 1 for big suitcase) - most Shinkansen are in the format of 3x2 seats. An amazing feature of nearly all overground trains in Japan - the seats can be turned around/flipped so that you can always face the direction of travel! Very clever & something that would be very useful in the UK.

M is exceptionally good at sleeping on public transport so he missed a fair bit of scenery, however I was awake for all journeys so was able to get some really good photos (around 400 overall from all journeys so I'll only put a selection up)

We arrived at Takeo-Onsen at 13:40 and the Ryokan (Kyotoya) was a 10 minute walk from the station, very easy to find. The staff were very helpful and let us check in early for free. We were shown to our room & things were explained in limited English. The room was so beautiful! A proper traditional room with shoji screens, tatami mats, futons to sleep on, and onsen-style bathroom.

After we'd rested a while we set out for Arita to go to the Ceramics Museum, as I'd heard that Arita is famous for it's Porcelain. We caught the 15:27 Local Sasebo Line to Arita Station, where there is a very helpful information booth to the left of the doors with maps in all languages. It's a 2 minute walk to the foot of the hill (over the bridge & then over the over-pass) & then a 10 minute walk/climb up to the museum (this was pretty challenging in 35C). It's free entry to the museum which had 4 exhibition halls & a tea room display. There is a huge array of ceramics from different periods, in different styles, including a section of the first room that explains (in Japanese) how ceramics were painted/decorated. I was able to take photos of pieces of interest in all rooms (no flash photography), below is a very small sample:

After leaving the museum we stopped at the Gallery Arita (a shop/café) across the road. This super cute Mini with the same patterns as the ceramics was parked outside. The shop had beautiful ranges of porcelain and lacquer-ware, as well as some kitsch items.

Back across the bridge to the train station (casual ceramics on the bridge, well it is the town of Porcelain after all...) and we caught the Midori Express train back to Takeo-Onsen.

We were both feeling tired so we bought dinner at FamilyMart and ate in the room & relaxed. As we arrived back at the Ryokan there was a performance happening in the lobby: a man in traditional outfit & mask was dancing/performing swordsmanship to drums and percussion - very impressive if a little intimidating as he used the space very well.

30-07-2015 ~ Snorkelling; Fly from Okinawa to Fukuoka

We were both so excited about this snorkelling excursion; I'd only booked it 3 days before we were due to fly from the UK (through Japanican again, ¥11800 for us both). We'd communicated with the company (Marine House Seasir) and given our size details for wetsuits etc & had arranged over email to be picked up at 08:10 from our hotel.

So we went for breakfast at the hotel at 07:00 which was a buffet with a great variety and amount of food (from croissants & rolls to miso soup, rice & chicken stew with a lot of juices to choose from). We met the driver at 08:10 outside the hotel entrance and joined 4 other people who were already in the mini-bus. It was a 20-25 minute drive to the company base where we were signed in, given wristbands and wetsuits (3mm thick & floatation aiding) and then to wait for the rest of the group to arrive.

We were driven to the harbour and got on the boat at 09:00. We were able to stow our bags in the room at the front of the boat (shoes off before going in) then everyone made their way to top deck for briefing. There was an Australian and a Thai guide who both explained boat safety/etiquette in English to us as well as in Japanese to the other participants. We headed to the outskirts of the Kerama Islands for our excursion which took 30 minutes from land. On the journey we saw flying fish! Very difficult to get photos as we and they were moving pretty fast but I gave it a good go. We saw some 'fly' as far as 15-20 metres!

(The splashes you see in this photo are the flying fish skimming the water)

After this we put our wetsuits on and watched the rest of the seascape go by. Once we'd arrived we got our snorkels cleaned & put our flippers on & off we went into the crystal clear water:

We were immediately surrounded by fish (I think I panicked slightly as they touched me - I haven't got a fish phobia, just don't think I expected to be mobbed). We all drifted apart and began exploring the surroundings: there were fish everywhere! We saw the whole cast of 'Finding Nemo' on the coral beds about 2m below the surface, and a plethora of other fish, some shy, some bold, and all very beautiful. There were Parrot Fish, Unicorn Fish (really!). Angel Fish, big and small rainbow fish, and very inquisitive black fish. The coral had valleys and and caves and fish would dart in and out as we floated over. The water was so clear we could see at least 40m, it was so amazing. I wish I'd bought an underwater camera or underwater bag for my phone but as it was a last minute booking I hadn't been able to prep properly for it.

We had to get out for a drink of cold green tea and water on board, and found out we had 10 minutes left and there was opportunity to feed the fish. We were each given a potato-looking chunk (which I recognised as having eaten at breakfast) and back in we went. I was immediately swamped by fish again & although I was ready for it, I wasn't ready for them to burrow into my loosely closed hand to get the food - the bold black fish was in there like a shot & surprised me so I promptly dropped the lot. Kindly M gave me some of his so I clamped it tightly in my fist and pulled small chunks off to feed them. It was great! They had no fear & excellent spatial awareness, sometimes we were pretty much eyeball to eyeball with the fish as they tried to get the food.

All in all, we were snorkelling for around just under 1.5 hours; it was such a great experience, I would definitely love to do it again! Back on board we got out of our snorkelling gear & had quick showers on deck then changed into clothes (they provided towels). We felt very relaxed on the journey back to land, and before we knew it we were back at the HQ about to be mini-bus'ed back to the hotel. We were given a website address to look at the photos taken on our dive and were told the photos stay up online for a year.

Once back at the hotel we went to Blue Seal to get ice cream (Okinawan brand - amazing) then back to the hotel for shower & change clothes. The hotel were very helpful as they booked a haircut at a local hairdressers for M as he was overheating. The hairdresser was a lovely woman and very patient with the language barrier. M had a very good cut & felt much better for it so then we went shopping for 2 glasses we'd seen yesterday. We were thrilled to find them for ¥1380 (under £8 for both)!

Then it was time to find food, though we found as we searched that most places stopped serving food at 15:00; it was 15:30 when we were looking... Luckily one guy that called to us to come for drinks was willing to cook for us, so we had 2 pork soba ramen with 1 beer, 1 passion-fruit soft drink and a pint of passion-fruit sake  for under ¥2000 (the pint of sake was a result of a miscommunication, but it was amazing!)

After we finished the meal it was time to pick up our luggage from the hotel and take the monorail back to the airport for our 18:45 ANA flight to Fukuoka. We checked our suitcases in and made our way to the security point at the end of the airport only to be told that the Samurai handle umbrella M had bought in Okinawa couldn't be taken on as hand-luggage! Lucky we had arrived with plenty of time to spare, so we went back to the desks and checked in the umbrella (?) then proceeded through security to our gate. We boarded our plane (2x3x2 seats) and took off on time (of course); flying at twilight gave gorgeous views.

We landed at 20:20 but had to wait for baggage (for the first time) and so didnt leave the airport until 21:00. We had planned to have dinner at Canal City for the Ramen shops but that wasn't going to happen. So we got the metro to Tojinmachi - the closest station to our hotel (Hilton Sea Hawk - I thought one night of luxury before the Rail Pass starts and constant travelling).

We walked for 25 minutes from the subway station to the Hilton (one of the only things we really disliked about Japan was the lack of scale to their maps!). Along the way both suitcases wheels melted! 2 on M's suitcase wheels & 1 on my suitcase. This was only the fifth day of use (& for 3 of those days they'd been sat in a hotel); deeply unimpressed we had to drag the suitcase about half the journey. As such when we arrived at the Hilton we were slightly more than dishevelled...

Perhaps the man at check-in pitied us, but which ever way we got a complimentary upgrade! We had been upgraded from a small double bedroom to a suite (at £120/night for the small room I had expected superb luxury, the suite was something else and also is more than £450/night!). The suite was beautiful! The hotel was shaped like a boat and the suite was in the point so we had great views on all sides (on the 9th floor). There was an entrance hall, bedroom to the right, curved divider wall in the middle, living room to the left (with designer cantilever light!) The bathroom was in the very point and had remote controlled blinds on either side of the jacuzzi bath. Needless to say dinner was forgotten and we had long jacuzzi bath admiring views and luxury of our surroundings, and then collapsed in bed.