Visiting Nijo Castle

Today we arrived in Kyoto.  The first thing we did was go to Nijo castle.  Nijo castle is a place that the Shogun stayed in.  Shogun are like guards,  the literal translation being military commander.  The castle had a hand built stone stone wall all around it.  The wall was built using no cement or mortar but using rocks shaped so that they were snug together.
The entrance gate to Ninomaru palace (the main part of the castle)  was decorated with gigantic birds and patterns made out of REAL GOLD.  Inside Ninomaru palace there were floors lined with tatami that squeaked when someone stepped on it so the shogun could easily detect intruders.   I thought that the Nijo castle was really cool, and someone must have really thought out the structure to make it beautiful and  functional and it so amazing that everything was made by HAND!  It was so amazing to explore the castle and if you ever get the chance to visit it it would be something that I would really recommend.

Hiroshima Peace Park

Today We visited Hiroshima peace park.  When we got there we visited the Sadako statue.  Sadako is a true story about a girl that got sick from radiation from the atomic bomb that the Americans dropped on Hiroshima when she was a baby.  Sadako had an illness called leukemia, which is a form of cancer.  Sadako's good friend told Sadako a story about someone  that got there wish after they folded one thousand cranes.  So sadako folded crane after crane bestowing her wish to get better on each and every crane  until she had folded ONE THOUSAND cranes!  But Sadako did not overcome her battle against leukima and soon died.  

Her classmates decided to honor Sadako by building  statue of her holding a giant crane.  People still make cranes to hang at Sadako's statue.  And I decided to make cranes to hang too!

making cranes to take to Sadako

  

After hanging our cranes, we headed to Hiroshima peace memorial museum.  Inside were displays of clothing, toys and buildings that were destroyed by the bomb.  The museum was really interesting but also very sad.  Today we had a great outing I really learned a lot and it was an amazing experience but I would not recommend the museum for very young children.

Settling in at Hiroshima

Today was our first day in Hiroshima.  After taking the ferry to Miyajima Island, which is where we are going to stay, we stopped at a Okonomiyaki restaurant.  They made the Okonomiyaki right in front of us on a griddle.  At this restaurant they made the Okonomiyaki Hiroshima style which is pancakes with vegetables and other things inside.  It was delicious!
After the yummy snack we walked in the sun looking for our ryokan.  A ryokan is a traditional hotel where you sleep on the ground and the floor is covered with grass mats called tatami mats.
The island is a little town.  There is a large torii in the water near the temple, there is a large pagoda, a long shopping street full of stores and restaurants.  The most surprising thing about the island are the deer.  They roam around the island freely, everywhere.
Finally, we found the ryokan and settled in. We tried on our yukata, which are summer kimonos, before going on a hike. The scenery on the hike was  beautiful.  There were big rocks, green moss and trees all around. It was very peaceful.
It was a very busy day today.  The hike was a really nice refresher.

On my way to the ryokan where I will be staying  I found some friends!

View on the hike.

Torii

The deer likes me!

Okonomiyaki Yumm!

Hisako in Asakusa

Front Gate at Senso-ji

Kappa

In the middle of my favorite foods at the plastic food shop.

Chanko nabe cooking

Ready to eat

It's ready

In front of the Kabuki Theatre

Old Edo

Today we visited Ryogoku and Asakusa.  First we went to Asakusa.  When we got there we went to temple shopping street.  We tried lots of things like mochi on a stick and fried manjiu.  The temple was very beautiful.  There were two gods as guards at the entrance gate.  The doors where painted with shiny black lacquer with golden knockers.  And in the garden were pretty maple trees and koi.
After visiting the temple we headed to Kappabashi-dori. A kappa is a Japanese legend.  One of the characters that live under water and pulls swimmers legs; Aaah!  People say that the kappa has a plate on top of his head that he has to keep wet because if it gets wet it will die.  Kappabashi-dori Is known as kitchen street where people sell dishes knives and realistic plastic food for restaurants to use in their front window so people can see what they serve.
When we finished browsing Kappabashi-dori we rode a train to Ryogoku, a sumo area.  When we got off the train the first thing we saw was sumo wrestler.  Paintings of sumo stars and their hand prints and height.  Once we got out of the station we went to a sumo shop where they had T-shirts, postcards, wash cloths, giant Geta a woven sandals and even sumo wrestler shaped tops!  After we left the shop we headed to a chanko nabe restaurant.  Chanko nabe is a soup with meat often chicken and vegetables that sumo wrestlers eat.  The sumo wrestlers eat twice a day. Chanko nabe is the only food the wrestlers eat other than rice and sometimes fish.
When the waitress brought the chankonabe she put it on top of of a flame  to boil.  When it was cooked through, we dug in.  It was delicious!  It was sort of rich and different than other things I had eaten so far in Japan.
After we finished looking at sumo things we went to the Edo museum.  It was amazing!   There  were life sized models of old Edo. Edo is what Tokyo used to be called.  There were even models small enough for me to live in!  They also had things to do like you could use a thing that fire men used to use to put out fires, two heavy barrels on a yoke that you could try to lift. I really like the Edo museum because it was sort of like you were a part of the story instead of just reading a lot and looking at pictures.   I never knew history could be so fun!
Today we had a lot of fun.  Here are some things that I would suggest doing if you are in the area.
1.  Edo museum
2.  Kappabashi-dori  and
3. Sensoji the temple because it is beautiful.

Cup Noodle Museum

Mr. Donut

Today we visited the cup noodle museum.  On the way to the museum we stopped at Mister Donut. Take a look at the picture up top, the pink one is sort of like butter mochi which is a chewy cake with strawberry frosting and the other one is a fluffy one with cream inside and chocolate on the outside. It was DELICIOUS!!!  If you ever pass one of these you should totally go.  It is really an experience because the doughnuts are so different than the ones in America!

Cup vending machine

Choosing our toppings 

Special oven to shrink wrap our noodles

Momofuko Ando

When we got to the cup noodle museum we went to the activity which was designing your own cup noodle.  First you put three hundred yen into a vending machine.  Then you pick a cup and get the cup out of the vending machine.  Next you color and decorate your cup.  Finally you pick the soup flavor and toppings that you want and seal the cup and your finished!  After we made our cup noodles we went to a cup noodle history movie.  It talked about how cup noodle was invented and how Momofuku Ando, now known as "mister noodle" made it.  After the movie we got to go into a model of the place where mister noodle made his noodles and take a picture with a statue of him.  I really liked this museum and I would recommend the design your own cup noodle thing because it was really fun.

Hisako visits Hachiko

Waiting with Hachiko

Today we walked around Shibuya, which is the area in Tokyo, we are staying in. And we found a famous statue.  The statue is a monument of a dog named Hachiko.  Hachiko is known as the faithful dog who waited patiently for his owner to come back from work each day, and continued to return each day for NINE YEARS after his owner's death.  After waiting for his owner for so long he died March 8th, 1935.  Many people were inspired by his story and a monument was built in his honor.   During World War II that statue was melted down so that the military could use the metal, but fortunately another one was built after the war.
This statue is located right outside of Shibuya Station, where Hachiko would wait each day.  It is next to the famous Shibuya Crossing, where thousands of people cross a major intersection every day.

In Japan, Hachiko is a very popular meeting place.  I am glad that I had a chance to go there.  I would recommend visiting Hachiko if you are in Shibuya.  Also, read this book: Hachiko: A True Story of a Loyal Dog by Pamela S. Turner.

 

Hisako visits Tsukiji

Today we headed for Tsukiji Fish Market.  We saw lots of different things, like: octopus, crab, sea snails and many different kinds of fish.  After walking around the market for a while we were hungry so we set out in search of lunch.  On the way, we found a place that sold Wagashi; sweets made out of beans into different shapes.  I chose an iris.  Finally we found a sushi place. When we got to the restaurant we waited for seats.  Then we were seated.  We ordered our food. When it came I tried some.  It was the best fish I had ever tasted.  It even melted in my mouth!

Tsukiji Market is  a very famous fish market.  The largest fish and seafood market in the world!  It is located in Chuo, Tokyo, but will soon be relocated to Toyoso in 2016.  Tsukiji has been located in Chuo for the past 8 decades.  On a normal day about  20 million dollars  of fish is traded at Tsukiji.  I am glad that I got to come here to see how my favorite food is traded on the market floor.

Hisako visits Harajuku

At the main gate

sake barrels

Today we started off by going to Meiji shrine.  Meiji shrine is a shinto shrine.  Shinto is known as Japan's original religion.  Enshrined here at Meiji shrine are Emperor Meiji  who lived from 1852-1912, and Empress Shoken who was born 1850 and died two years after her spouse in 1914.  On the way to the main shrine there were lots of barrels of sake with bright pictures on them which were presented to Emperor Meiji every year as gifts.  I thought that the pictures on the barrels were very pretty.

Takeshita Dori

strawberries & cream

After visiting the pretty Meiji shrine we headed to Harajuku.  I have been waiting to go here for two days!  Once we got there, we went to Takeshita St.  This is a famous shopping street in Harajuku.  First we went to a Daiso.  This is a￥100 store equivalent to a dollar store.  We stocked up on gifts and things that we wanted. On our way down the street we picked up a Harajuku famous snack: crepes!  After the delicious snack we headed for a toy store.  I had heard about, in my intense research of Japan, a store called KiddyLand filled from top to bottom with hobbies and toys for kids and adults. I even found a kit to build a tako yaki shop just my size.  Harajuku really lived up to my expectations and I had lots of fun.  It is my favorite so far and I hope to come back.

Ueno Park

Today I visited Ueno.  When we got to Ueno we decided to go to lunch at a ramen shop called Ichiran.  I got ramen with a boiled egg and pork.  It was DELICIOUS!
Ichiran is hakata style ramen.  Hakata style originally comes from Kyushu.  It is known for it's firm noodles, and it's light colored pork-bone broth.  Inside the restaurant all the tables are are separated into individual booths with bamboo curtains that cover the workers in the kitchen.  The reason why they are so separated is so you can concentrate on your food.  You order first at a vending machine, and are given a ticket that you take to your seat.  Then you can fill out a sheet to tell how rich you would like the broth, and how spicy.  I thought the service was excellent.  I enjoyed the whole experience.

After lunch we headed to Ueno Zoo.  There were lots of cute animals including pandas.  On our way out of the zoo we picked up a snack.  It was a small panda shaped cake with red bean filling also known as azuki bean. I'd call this "pandalicious."