Saying Farewell to our Favorite Flavors of Japan

The last segment in Japan! We covered more distance by train in one day than any other of the trip just to say we made it onto the island of Kyushu. We spent some time in Hiroshima learning about the impact of the atomic bomb, visited several castles, and ended our time in Japan with an excellent cooking class where we learned to make two of our favorites, ramen and gyoza!

Hiroshima

Train Day Through Kyushu Island

We had reservations for an early train from Kyoto to Hiroshima from several days prior, but had since learned about a city just on the northern end of the south island that is known for their ramen, so of course we had to go. After stashing the bags in lockers, we hopped on a train and arrived in Kitakyushu just in time for the ramen place we picked to open. After figuring out the minimal English vending machine, Mr. Wander got the rich broth and I got the light broth, both with extra pork, and a draft beer. It is definitely in my top 3 ramens so far and the smoky pork being the best we had.

After this we walked to the Kokura Castle we started with the garden which I don’t think was worth the price of admission. It was mostly just a pond. We at least got the combo ticket with the castle which according to a sign, is “the most interesting castle in Japan”, and I might have to agree, with what I’ve visited so far.

First you saw a timeline with a ton of figurines depicting different eras in the castles history. There was a theater showing reenactments (with subtitles) of battles and duels and some CGI showing the castle back in the day. Then they had Augmented Reality that I could try in traditional outfits, a real fitting room to try on outfits, a video game with archery from horseback, and fun interactive photo spots.

On the 4th of five floors there was a room of photos on canvas with a caption below with a word in Japanese and some of these I found very funny. My favorites are the rubber chicken, “Orabu” meaning to shout; the kid staring at vegetables, “Sukan” which are things that you don’t like or hate; and the four soldiers, “Haburu”, to leave ones friends out.

After this we headed back to the station because we had decided to make it a ‘relaxing” train day, and take a train to the other end of the island to Kagoshima and back, just because we could and it was “free” with our rail pass. We mostly walked out of the station to take a quick glance and upon turning around, we saw a ferris wheel on top of the station! We snapped a quick picture, headed back inside to get snacks, and boarded the train headed back for Hiroshima.

We checked into our hotel and then walked a few blocks away to find some ramen…and yes we had ramen for lunch too! It was a more modern looking place, but one where you could get unlimited rice to help you finish all the broth in the bowl, yum! It was a more modern funky vibe, the music reminded me of high school, back in the early 2000s and had fun looking comics at the tables.

Burning for World Peace

We had a full day to explore Hiroshima, and started with the gardens and castle. The gardens were actually cheaper than the tiny one at Kokura castle, and was at least ten times as large. They had several really fun bridges you could cross and the islands in the main pond were shaped as turtles or cranes. They also had a small bamboo forest and herb garden hiding in the back. There were a ton of Koi in the pond as well, most staying close to where the water fall or a smaller stream was entering the main body of water.

At one end of the garden there was a display of bonsai trees, most were about 50 years old but a few were between 80 and 100! I didn’t realize there were so many different varieties.

We headed over to the main castle which was nice, mostly history of where the castle came from and a few interactive spots but the best was the top floor had a walkway outside you could get views from every direction, including the A-bomb dome (more on that in a minute). The castle itself had collapsed due to the force of the bomb explosion but it was not close enough to burn, it was about 1 km from the epicenter.

After leaving the castle we walked to the dome and Peace Memorial park, finding a few tents and food trucks selling food along the way, so we decided to get some lunch. We got some gyoza and a pork & rice bowl that we split and of course a candied apple, although this one was without extra flavors.

We made it to the park got pictures of what is now known as the A-bomb dome, but originally it was a government building, built in about 1915. Hiroshima was the location for the first ever nuclear bomb dropped in war on August 6th 1945, at the end of World War II.

The bomb exploded almost directly above this building, and so the vertical walls were able to withstand the blast, as well as the supports for the dome on top of the building. One of the more famous images of Hiroshima is the one of this building where only a few had any walls standing within about 1km radius. 

Nearby were a few fountains and the children’s peace memorial, built in memory of a girl who had died of leukemia 10 years after the bomb at age 12 and in honor of the thousands of other children who were killed as a result of the a-bomb.

Several glass structures surrounding the sculpture are filled with millions of paper cranes in elaborate mosaics and with words of hope for peace in the future.

Across the street is the peace flame, burning since 1964 and will continue to burn until there are no longer any nuclear warheads present on the earth. At the other end of a pool is a cenotaph memorial for the victims of the A-bomb, in a perfect line with the flame and the A-bomb dome, and lined up behind where we took this picture is the museum.

Inside the museum you learned about many stories of survivors or those who were victims of the A-bomb, and the absolute horror that victims and survivors experienced over the hours, days, and decades after the bomb was dropped.

After the initial explosion, anyone far enough away to have survived the blast or collapse of buildings on top of them were burned 3rd degree or beyond from the intense heat created by the atomic reaction. This heat caused many of the buildings to catch fire and a huge firestorm swept through the city. Only those that made it to the river survived this third wave of danger. The next danger was the lingering radiation, killing those who were nearby within a day or two, depending on exposure. Some who had come into the city for rescue and relief efforts were exposed because the topsoil was affected. This was a much less intensive dose and may not have had an affect for many years, often leading to cancer even decades later. Radioactive water, known as “black rain” fell over a very wide area, with people tens and hundreds of kilometers away remembering the rain.

The bomb in Hiroshima is estimated to have killed 140,000 people both in the immediate effects and in the long term dangers from radiation exposure. The second bomb, dropped over Nagasaki just 2 days after, is estimated to have killed about 70,000. There was an entire exhibit dedicated to the history of the development of this first bomb and the cold war and nuclear developments since. While more countries than ever before have developed nuclear programs, the positive thought is that there are considerably fewer weapons that exist throughout the world than at its height in the cold war. I can only hope that the number continues to decrease, and nuclear power is only used for things like electricity, and that someday the peace flame in Hiroshima can finally be extinguished.

A Most Notible Torii Gate

That afternoon we booked a ferry to the island of Isukushima. There was a festival for the environment which had live shows and at the end of the night, the movie “the Lorax” played. The video, lights, and speakers were powered by people (mostly kids) pedaling bikes! Such a creative idea!

As we walked into the town we noticed so many deer either sitting under a tree, or sometimes following people that had food.

We walked through a street full of shops and restaurant for a snacky dinner, finding many items shaped like maple leaves.

Our favorites were the leaf shaped pies filled with fruit or custard, so tasty! Then we walked out to see probably one of the most picturesque Torii gates. You’ve likely seen it in tourism photos for Japan, although I have never seen it at such low tide! We walked around as near to the base as we could get and then went up on the wall to get a good seat for the sunset.

After the sunset we walked up to one of the temples with a pagoda at the top of a smaller hill but most places were closed by the time we had arrived.

We got beef and curry cheese croquettes from one stall and some sort of flat bread filled with cheese from a brazilian stand near the festival, but I lumped the pictures with the food gallery above. Then we boarded the ferry and headed back to our hotel.

A Series of Quick Stops

We had decided to add Kurashiki because we had heard it was a unique place in Japan to visit for a day, and then had a plan to bike through the Setonaikai National Park from Onomichi to Imabari. It is a series of islands with ferries or bridges that are all cycle-friendly connecting between Japan’s Main island of Honshu to Shikoku. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate and it was rainy, windy, and cold, we felt it was better (and safer) in warmer weather. Oh well we’ll just have to go back, now!

Kurashiki, the Venice of Japan

After a short train from Hiroshima, we arrived too early to check in but we could store our bags and get our afternoon tea we purchased with the room. It was lovely, 3 levels of tasty treats from savory soup to tiramisu jelly parfait and however much tea or coffee you wanted.

It was extremely reasonable, I think we paid about $4 per person to add it to our room. Fueled up, we walked to the Busan historical district. First we found this nice little garden that was free to explore and even had a few water features and bridges. 

We found this one part called Denim Alley, as most of the denim or jeans made in Japan come from this area. I had to try some “denim ice cream”, aka blueberry, just for fun. I wasn’t quite hungry enough for the denim pork bun, however. It was fun to see all the different ways denim was used while walking through the stores, even some benches had denim either printed or upholstered over them.

We went towards the Kurashiki Ivy Sqare hotel that was recommended from the online itinerary we had been loosely following and found a nice square with some turtles in a pond, a small stage, and a restaurant that was unfortunately closed.

We wandered up a hill towards the Kanryuji Temple to look around. In our wanderings we found some fun things along the way including several dogs in baby carriers, the gondolas floating through the canal, and several fun manhole covers. Most cities in Japan have interesting designs but these were someone of the most colorful.

Heading back through the older streets we decided to find a few snacks along the way and tried this award winning croquette and cheese dog. The croquette did have a nice flavor, probably the most interesting spices we’ve had in a croquette thus far, but the cheese dog was confusing. Mr. Wander was about halfway through before he even found the hot dog part, most of it was just cheese! There were a few options for toppings we got the plain powdered sugar which reminded me a bit of a honey corn dog, so pretty tasty.

We finally were able to get into our hotel room and I promptly took a much-needed nap until dinner. On a mission to find okonomiyaki, we were met with most restaurants that were closed, maybe for off season. I happened to see this one online with good reviews but we didn’t even realize it was mainly an okonomiyaki until we went inside!

It was empty but it would have only held about 12 people, 6 of them at the grill top which is where we got to sit, front row seats like a teppanyaki. This is traditional for okonomiyaki because you actually eat it from the cooktop edge, using a spatula they give you to cut it, scoop and eat it. 

What it is: Layers of cabbage, bean sprouts, green onions & seaweed, soba noodles (or udon, your choice), meat (we did pork but seafood is very common), egg, a pastry layer that reminded me of a crepe, and the signature sauce. You could put more sauce, hot sauce or mayo on top as you eat it, my favorite was mayo but Mr. Wander alternated between the other two.

There are two main styles of this dish, the Hiroshima style, which is what we ate this time with distinct layers, and Osaka, which is more mixed together like a stir fry. We didn’t manage to find this in Osaka to compare but I really enjoyed the Hiroshima version!

Onomichi

The next day we headed for Onomichi, meant to be an easy day as we rest up for a bike adventure we had planned. We had took it easy in the morning since we knew we couldn’t check in until 2pm so we had a slow easy breakfast at family mart on the way to the station. Once in Onomichi we walked to a local chain called Curry Coco. You could choose your type of curry, spice level, sweetness, amount of rice by 50g increments (the standard 300g was a little too much) and your toppings. There were plenty of fried options like shrimp, cheesy crab croquette, pork cutlet, chicken cutlet, and a variety of seafood. I had the crab and pork and Mr. Wander had chicken and pork.

We still had nearly an hour so we walked to the seaside and sat on a bench in this little park with a view of an active shipyard. We were able to watch this large ship make a 180 off their anchor and dock right by where we were sitting. It was unexpected entertainment.

It was finally time to check into our room which was absolutely tiny. Most of our hotels were business style where you could only access the double sized bed from the the foot and one side. The best was Kurashiki where we randomly had a corner room and could access 3 sides of the bed with plenty of space around. This time there was a desk at the end where you could sit on foot of the bed and work at the desk if you wanted, but you could only get off the bed from the left side, and even then it had maybe a foot of space. It was pretty tight to have both bags available yet being able to walk to the bathroom.

We did some work on reserving and searching for flights and hotels for future segments of our adventure until it was time for dinner. Mr. Wander had found a ramen place an easy walk away. The style was a bit different with floating pieces of still solid fat that were just on the edge of melting, they added most of the flavor to the broth though.

The seaweed was a different type too, instead of a dry sheet it was a mass of skinny strings. The sea flavor was almost non-existent so for me that was better, but the texture got to me a bit after awhile. We may have been spoiled with excellent ramen but this was probably in our bottom few ramens we have had.

The Rains of Imabari

We started with a lateish breakfast about 10am at Mister Donut at the station and Mr. Wander had the special cherry blossom (sakura) season donut along with a custard filled, while I opted for a mochi ring and chocolate old fashioned.

Then we boarded a local train for a transfer at Fukuyama. We had ridden through here on a train the day before and saw a castle right next to the station, so of course we had to take a walk up there. We got last minute reserved seats on a Shinkasen about 40 minutes after we arrived at the station so we had more than enough time to explore the castle grounds and hang out on the platform awhile.

At the platform, there are 4 tracks between the platforms and the 2 in the middle are for express Shinkasen trains that don’t stop at this station. I was looking at my phone and Mr. Wander said something so I turned to look and there was a train barreling through the platform! I jumped more than a little bit. Another came through right after and I managed to get this video, make sure you turn on your sound.

We had one more transfer at Okayama where we picked up some 7/11 lunch in the station, and got on an express train that took us to the Shikoku island where Imabari is located. It crossed the sea at a different spot but it was no less beautiful to see out of the train. You were very far in the air and it was basically a bridge over all the islands with a few layers of train and even cars above from what we could tell. Our neighbors in the seat across from us randomly asked us to share some of their snacks, some salty rice crackers that were quite good, we might have to find them again. When they got off they both said goodbye and waved from the platform to us.

We finally got to Imabari and after a 10 minute walk made it to our hotel just after the start of check-in. The room was much bigger this time and had a nice view of a little harbor. We relaxed a bit then ventured out in search of udon noodles, a popular food item this time of year. The town seemed a bit like a ghost town, but we were figuring that maybe more shops are open in the summer. We did see a few that said they were closed on Tuesdays and unfortunately the first restaurant we sought was closed temporarily as well. The others I found didn’t open for another 45 minutes so we decided to walk to the castle and look around, finding a few other treasures in the streets as we went.

Finally when 5pm rolled around we made it to the udon restaurant. They didn’t have an English menu but we managed to figure out what we wanted, Mr. Wander got udon with shrimp tempura and I got one with 3 proteins because I was curious to try them, shrimp tempura, sliced beef, and a sheet of fried tofu, with some seaweed. One thing we missed on the menu is at the bottom it asked for how many balls of udon you wanted, and my translator app told me it said “firmness”. We went for somewhere in the middle at 1.5 (they had 1, 1.5, 2, and 3). When I had more time to search later I learned that was the amount of noodles you got, the balls of dough they use to make the noodles for your dish, they make them fresh right before boiling and serving. I’m certainly glad we didn’t choose 2 or 3!

The broth and all the proteins were really delicious. The tempura went soggy pretty fast, mine was a bit better because it could sit on the “raft” of tofu. The tempura was lovely but the tofu was probably my favorite, it was slightly sweet. The udon noodles were very big, and too heavy for me to really “slurp” properly, and when I did get the slurp towards the end it shed a ton of broth all over my arms, face, and shirt. Ramen (and now Udon) are always laundry nights it seems. The slurp is a cultural practice, you hear it a ton at Ramen restaurants but I was impressed how the other patrons were able to get a good slurp with udon. It was really difficult with such long and heavy noodles! It does help you eat really hot noodles though, as it kinda skips your lips and maybe cools it slightly.

Osaka

Last train journey to KOBE BEEF

It was our last day on the JR pass, and which is good as mine was disintegrating and had gotten stuck in a few of the machines already. Thinking we would want to refuel after the biking, we reserved a fancy teppanyaki lunch in Kobe, for our 3rd and final Waygu beef experience of the trip. Kobe is the most well known outside Japan, sometimes used synonymously with Wagyu, but in Japan is considered in the top 3 with Matsusaka and Omi.

We chose a set meal each with a different cut and level of beef, even within A5 Grade Kobe, there are regular and premium options. Right away the chef started cooking the vegetables and they served a course of raw beef and a creamy salad. Then there was a pumpkin soup and lettuce salad, and of course we had to order Sake! The beef was amazing, and he even split it up for us to get half of each type, which was really nice. It was fun watching him as we ate the various courses. We also ordered the dessert which they served at a separate table with tea and coffee.

We got ourselves to Osaka and rested a bit before venturing out to the touristy walking street, Dotonburi. They have so many fun 3D signs, some of them moving like this giant crab.

The streets were pretty busy with tourists so we decided to do a simple ramen dinner at Ichiran again (the chain from Tokyo) and call it a night.

Discovering the Secrets of Ramen

Our last full day in Japan and we FINALLY get to learn to cook ramen and gyoza! We booked a private cooking class at someone’s home through a site called Air Kitchen. We took the subway to the suburbs and our chef, Keiko, met us and drove us to her home. After washing hands and donning aprons she Took a train out and she met us at the station, drove us to her house

Started with roasted green tea and she introduced the ingredients and overview of what we were going to do that day. The menu included gyoza, 2 kinds of ramen: miso and soy, a strawberry daifuku for dessert, and a casual tea ceremony. I’m not going to go into too much detail on how to make it all but perhaps we’d be able to make it for you someday when we’re back home.

Halfway through eating we decided to swap ramens so we could each try one. To drink she served us roasted green tea, which was delicious, and a homemade lemon soda made from soaked lemon peels and some club soda.

For the tea ceremony, we each made it for one another, starting with Keiko making it for me and teaching us the process. Then I made one for Mr. Wander, and finally he made one for Keiko. I really enjoyed the flavor of the matcha, most of the time I find it too bitter without added sweetener but this was really nice.

On our way back to the hotel we found students from a culinary school creating this display using macarons! Walking through Dotonburi we found a few more fancy signs as well.

For dinner we decided on a simple convenience store meal hoping to use up as much cash as we could, and packed to be ready for the next adventure.

Off to Korea

We headed to Korea the following day via an overnight ferry. Japan was a highlight for us, especially all the delicious foods. It is so easy to get around and not nearly as expensive as I had expected, given how fast we explored. Admittedly, it might have been too fast for our plan of travelling for several more months but we’re still learning on the travel speed and style that suits us best. Until next time, Sayonara!

Learning Japanese

• Hello: Kon’nichiwa
• Goodbye: Sayōnara
• Thank you: Arigato Gozaimasu
• Train Etiquette: No eating on subway trains; no calls, loud voices, or playing sound on phone speakers on any train; put your backpack on your front when the subway is crowded, join the end of the queue and don’t cut in front of others