Today almost turned into one of those nothing-much-happened-I-might-as-well-skip-this-blog-entry day.

Rode the bike to the station. Waited for the 8:31am train to go before walking up onto the station.

Oh, let me explain a bit about my Japanese classes. We have different teachers on different days. Don’t know why they made it that way but it makes grammar learning a bit more difficult. One of the teacher inspires some sort of fear in me. ha ha. she’ll be teaching tomorrow.

Today’s class was all about grammar. I suspect the teacher’s watch a bit slower than others’ no wonder we always finish late.

The walk to the canteen was very very sunny. Thank goodness I have my new sunblock.

Ate with Naomi only. Wawa didn’t come to school because she wants a day of rest. Sakiko is studying for her exam.

Pop culture class today was about Japan movies. Saw versions of The Ring. The American was scary as Sadako even know ninja skills of space shifting. But the American Sadako’s face looked hilarious. Ha ha ha

After class, went to 007 with YT, C and Z. It’s a shop selling otaku stuff, like figures, DVDs, posters and comics. Saw a 10-book set of Ouran High selling at 2,300 yen. Oh! If only it were 2,000 yen for ten. If only they sold each book at 100 yen. I want to buy~~~

Went back to the library for blog updating after going to 007. Then went back at 6:00pm. The train was at 6:14pm, and reached my station at 6:40pm. Realised on the train that I had not taken a single photo this day.

I figured it was still early so I cycled a bit further from where I have been to. Passed by a pastry shop. D would go in, but I feel so paiseh to go and not buy anything.

Reached one of the drugstores that I have been wanting to go. I had nothing to buy but just wanted to go in for a look.

It was a huge shop selling everything! But their cosmetics section was really big and they had every lovely shade of colour. Good thing I’m not that good at make-uping or I would be buying lots of them.

Took some lovely brochures back.

I didn’t want to leave the shop without buying anything so in the end I got a box of bath soaking stuff. 20 for 399 yen. It has lavendar, rosemary, chamomile and orange. I tried lavendar at bath time and the water was a lovely purple.

More drugstores on the way back

Tried taking a photo of myself while cycling. Dangerous!

Got back at 7:10pm. Okaasan gave me an orange jelly which was very cool (as in temperature) Ate grilled fish, maguro sashimi and red miso soup.

The Japanese eat whole fish by eating first the upper part, then taking out the bones using chop sticks and eatingthe back part. I managed to remove the bones nicely. Yeah, one point for me.

I had sms-ed mom online when I was using the comp. She called at 9:30pm and we talked for 12 minutes. She reminded me that I only have 2 weeks in homestay. I shall miss my holidays.

Oh, today was the start of module bidding. I had absolutely no idea until YT mentioned it. Yikes! There was no module class for the level 4000 modules, but all of them sound really really boring. I’m yawning already. Is it too late for me to change major?!

Bath time was lavendar bath soaking thing. It’s a round shaped individually foiled thingy which you put into the bath water. Then it would bubble.

Having purple water is more interesting than plain water.

Mag I bought yesterday. <non-no> it’s actually quite good, and cheaper than my usual <MINA>. Large hairtying thingies are in vogue now. cool, something retro.

On the cover is Miho, who inspired me to get my bob back then.

The card represents the critical factor for the issue at hand. The Fool, when reversed: Apathy, negligence, and dangerous carelessness. Unquenchable wanderlust. Obsession with someone or something. Losing all sense of proportion. Foolhardy adventuring and lack of interest in critical matters. Immature or unrealistic ideals. Strange impulses and desires coming from unexpected sources. Vanity, delirium, folly, and oblivion.

I hate cards that make no sense at the moment you read it. Will think about it these few days

Pre: Writing in my room as usual. Room is hot because I don’t feel like switching on the air conditioner too early. So always write in a stuffy room, only today there is a light lavendar smell coming from my bunch of lavendar which I hope will turn into nice dried flowers.

Nago the king cat has taken his throne next to my pillow. shoo!

This morning, woke at 6:45am because we’re supposed to gather at the train station for the bus tour at 8:20am. Okaasan is not going so it’s just K and me. Wawa called to say she’ll meet me at Lawson, in a very serious voice. Or is it coz she just woke up?

Went to a JR station nearby. Caught the 7:21am train. First time taking a Japan Railway train. The seats are not like my usual train seats, but really comfy sofa-like seats. Probably because the train goes very far.

Arrived at Hakata station before 8am. Found Lawson convenience store where we’re supposed to meet for the tour.

Waited anxiously for wawa and I saw her tudong at 8:20am. Just in time. She had gone out from the wrong exit. She’s here anyway!

Our bus is a purple bus, matching our theme: Lavendar tour

Our tour group is full of old people. Our breakfast was a buttermilk flavoured bread and a tiny box of reconstituted orange juice. I liked the juice.

We stopped at a rest stop where four other aunties and others joined us. The three of us seem to have taken the aunties’ seats, but it’s the same anyway for them to take our row of seat.

I think the aunties are from kampungs coz they talk loud and act unlike poliute city people. One even said out loud, “Indonesian.” when she saw Wawa. Hello?! Can’t you say Muslim? ok, she probably can’t.

I corrected her, saying, “No, Malaysian.” I probably said it with one less particle, making me seem like a rude young woman looking for a fight.

Truck painted gold at rest stop

The journey was long and I fell asleep with my mouth wide open.

FIrst stop was blueberry village, where we have all-you-can-eat blueberries for 30 minutes. It’s quite fun plucking berries and eating a handful at one go. But it was so very sunny and blueberries weren’t as addictive as strawberries.

Small blueberry trees had ripe blueberries hanging. Ripe blueberries are dark purple and have a white frost like layer on the skin.

After blueberry, it was peach eating. Peach sampling was in a peach orchard in the middle of nowehere. Ripe peaches hung on the tree looking like baby cheeks.
<=[will include it once i get photos from wawa]

There were two goats in the peach garden. One a baby goat which ate peaches that were lying around. One I call Billy which has a beard
<=[will include it once i get photos from wawa]

And of course, we’ve spotted another cute guy in the peach orchard. He was showing his girlfriend a dung beetle he caught. Wawa used me as a decoy to take a photo of him.
<=[will include it once i get photos from wawa]

And of we went to the beer factory. We didn’t exactly get to see people packing beer, because it was Sunday. The employees there wore uniforms.

We were shown a film about the beer company. SAPPORO beer. And then taken on a tour on a floow above the packing area and we were behind glass. We couldn’t take photos. And our guide was standing right behind me when there was a good view of the beer packing factory.

 

After the tour, everyone had the chance to try out their beer. Those who can’t drink beer have a choice of cold tea and cold apple juice. Even the glasses are frosted. I had half a glass of beer and confirmed that I do not like the taste of beer. Give me tea anyday!

View from beer bar

Cute bus next to ours

Then it was off for lunch. We had black pork, soba and rice. Wawa gave her pork to K. I loved the hot tea that came with lunch. I love tea.

A bit of photo taking and off we went to another rest stop. Here, there was a mountain with smoke, which wawa and I mistook as Mount Aso, but is actually some random fake volcano.

Then it was the main attraction, the lavendar fields. The field of lavendar wasn’t really really big but it was enough. Most were on a small hill. The air had a faint smell, not like the fake lavendar smell that toilet detergent has.

The place had a sign saying, 50 stalks for 100 yen. So cheap!!! After photos, Wawa and I asked the tour guide about the flower thing. We paid at the counter and were given a pair of scissors. And we were shown the area where we could snip lavendar.

There were a lot of dragonflies and bees around. We weren’t stung. And had a fun ime sniping lavendar. It was hard trying to keep count how many stalks we had sniped. When it was about time, we went back to the shop where the lady wrapped our flowers in newspaper.

Fresh lavendar when crushed has a plant-like minty smell. The flowers look like a wheat plant. They aren’t as high as wheat, only about 25cm.

Our last stop was a bridge that is built over a valley. Rain were dropping in plops when we left lavendar land. The valley looked wonderful from the bus, but when we got there, it was raining really really heavily.

In the end, the majority wanted to skip the bridge and go back. K looked very disappointed about that. Next time then.

We reached Hakata station a bit after 7pm. I bought a magazine at the station <Non-no>. My first Japanese language magazine at 450 yen.

Taking the JR train back was confusing because there are so many lines and so many different trains going to different directions. We managed to catch one and were lucky to have seats too.

Cool looking train

Then okaasan went to the station to fetch us.

Oh, got a call from Jee Yen at 9pm. Was very very surprised to hear from her. Our chat aws 10 minutes because my mom said 10 minutes calling to Japan is cheap.

Very glad to hear from someone so far away. Keep safe!

10:45pm

Okaasan brought Meri to the vet again. She came home with Meri yesterday with glucose dripping thing for. Meri could stay in the hospital but okaasan said it’s too sad for the dog.

Before lunch, I went to the supermarket with okaasan. It was very very sunny and there were a lot of people at the supermarket. We bought three boxes of sushi home.

When we got home, Meri’s glucose machine was making weird sounds. Later, okaasan and otousan brought Meri to the vet again.

When they came back, okaasan confirmed that she will not be able to go to the bus tour tomorrow because of Meri. I had hinted before that Wawa will be able to go, probably, because her host mom has gone to Tokyo for the weekend.

Okaasan called up Wawa’s host dad. He wasn’t exactly the friendliest guy. I later found out that he’s really old and has hearing problems.

At 2:45pm, okaasan took me to the nearby DAISO and I got some hair accessories to go with my yukata. I caught the 3:01pm train and arrived at the destination a bit too early. But there was a free newsletterr to read so it wasn’t too bad.

Moe came and we went to her place after Wawa’s train arrived.

Moe lives in a single room apartment. Like what we see on TV and in comics. It’s nice to have something like that in Singapore, but the government are more practical by building high rise HDBs that can squeeze in a lot of people.

Toma in one of wawa’s mag. faint, so cute

 

We started dressing in yukata after Sakiko came. It was not easy. You have to hold up the yukata, tie it with two strings before you proceed to the obi.

It took us a trail before we got something suitable.

Then it was festival time. THe sun was still out when we were there. I saw miko!! Seems like they are volunteers for the event. I want to wear their outfit!!

Moe helped to ask one of them for a photo. Thanks!!

Photo of Wawa, me and Moe

There were lots of stalls at the matsuri. And lots of good looking guys around. It seems like there are more good looking guys in Japan than in anywhere else I’ve been in. Or is it because my taste has gone weird? hmm

Anyway, it was a chance for Sakiko and Moe to revise their vocabulary on describing guys. And for us to learn something too. Turns out, our version of cute/ hot can be called “soft macho” in Japanese. Hmm.. it does sound a bit 18SX, doesn’t it? Ha ha.

The only thing that I ate at the festival was a big cup of shaved ice with green tea flavoring, selling at 100 yen. Yes, I’m stingy, but the weather also made my appetite really little.

We got back to Moe’s place around 8:50pm, and it took some time for us to get the yukata off too. I found out that I had dripped my green shaved ice on some parts of my yukata. Yikes, have to get it to a laundry mart then. Later, I washed it off using hand soap, but I still need to bring it to a cleaner’s.

Sakiko received a phone call from Wawa’s host mom. Wow! It’s almost 9pm. So we went back home.

That’s about the end of the day.

 It’s Friday! The end of the week.

Read the day’s Japanese lesson and did homework on the train. Japanese lesson was only text reading, we’ll learn grammar points next week.

For lunch, I had beef udon. I like noodles! Took photos of posters. It’s good to be able to be a tourist and ignore stuff.

Poster of kat-tun

SMAP

After class, brought Wawa to the library to look at <the tale of Genji> exhibition. They have the original drawing of Hikaru Genji and they also have a part where they stuck photos of popular guys onto the face of Hikaru Genji.

M joined us to the Folks Culture Museum. So with Naomi, Wawa and I, we went to the nearest subway station. I was going to buy today’s one day subway pass, 500 yen because Friday is eco day. But the old man at the station told me they were all sold out. What the freak! Why have one day pass when they will be sold out. Don’t you want people to use the public transport?

FINE! I’ll use my regular ticket. We reached Gion quite fast. The other three girls were cycling from school to Gion to meet us. THe four of us bought ice cream because the weather was so so hot. My ice cream was melting at a speed I’ve never seen in Malaysia. Later I read that the day’s temperature reached 36.5 celcius degree.

The Hakata folk culture not-museum was small but they had fun stuff there.

Hakata is the old name for Fukuoka. The name is still used as a name of a train station and of a district.

A model of a parade for luck

Fake cardboard wig. Sakiko is a good actress.

Old telephones to learn the Hakata dialect.

Model of old granny at a shop

Toys

Old bento cases

Ice grinder, just like the ones we have

There was a large moel of a golden frog at the basement where the loo is

Chaaaaaarge

Water pump

 

Then we went seperate ways. Naomi, M and I went to Tenjin. N, coz her bus leaves from Tenjin to her home. M, who plans to buy headphones. While I have nothing to do.

We took the 100 yen (YES!) bus from Gion to Tenjin. I love cheap transportation.

N took us to Tenjin Core, a place where GALS hang out. Gals are girls who dye their hair gold, get really dark tan and have heavy eyeliner. They probrably have this everywhere in Tokyo, but it’s rare in Fukuoka. At Tenjin Core, we went to the 8th floor where they have Gothic and Lolita fashion.

These type of fashion have heavy lace and look more like clothes to drees up a doll than human. But people still wear them. There was a goth yukata, with lace and was all black. But it was a tiny size.

Then we went to a second hand clothes store with (relatively) cheap clothes. I saw this sign at the shop.

Later, M went back for dinner. And N brought me to a shop with all sorts of cute stuff. When she left for her bus. I went to UNIQLO to see what I can buy. I tried out something and was given a face cover. It looks like this when you put it on so your make up won’t be rubbed on the clothes

I ate at McDonald’s coz I told okaasan that we would be having dinner outside. It always like this for me, whenever I say I’ll be eating outside, I usually end up eating by myself. I saw that the McDonalds was selling McD card for 500yen. I bought one at the machine and used it to pay for my dinner. I thought I could keep it as a souvenir but the cashier took my card away.

The McD that I went to was a smoking area. What! They don’t smoke outdoors but turn to McD to smoke??!

Night scene at Tenjin

Yatai, specialty of Fukuoka. Stalls set up at night. Seems like girls do not go to yatai to eat alone. Hmmm

I then took the 8:57pm bus to the train station. The train back was at 9:20pm, but I reached before 10pm. THe journey’s very short when it doesn’t stop too long at other stations.

When I got back, okaasan was teary. Turns out Meri the granma dog only have 50-50 chance to survive. Hmmm

Watched <Maou>.

Another so so day. I’ll try not to think of it that way.

Woke up at a bit pass 6am, read in bed until it was time to go down. Before that, I stuffed the things I need into my bag.

Breakfast was toast, cucumber, corn soup and apples. I ate the cucumbers first because I leave things I like for the end. Cucumber made me fuller than I should be.

Off I went on the bicycle. The 8:31am train passed while I was going to park my bike. Nevermind, coz I aim for the 8:40am train which has less passengers. A whole bunch of korean youths boarded the train on one of the stops.

Today’s Japanese teacher was a new teacher. I had more confidence now so I did manage some sort of conversation with the teacher. Ha ha.

Lunch was with Naomi, Moe and Wawa. I didn’t have the set today but choose fish, eggplant and potato salad with SS-sized rice. Here, rice is divided into L, M, S and SS. Ha ha

For today’s pop culture class, the prof showed a powerpoint slide with explicit screenshots of . And he told us his unfullfilled love story. He reminds me of one of the prof I had in China, who kept telling us his life experience. Sir, sorry to say, but we’re here to learn stuff, not for stories. But please don’t fail me!

And the prof made a mistake when he said Akira Kurosawa invented the flashback in movies. (Or something like that) Rashomon was adapted from a short story, I would credit the writer instead of the director. No wonder there are scriptwriter strikes.

After class I went with HPM to the library to discuss about our after ATW travel plans. THere was a timetable in the library but there weren’t any guidebooks for Japan. Naze??

My plan is to go to Beppu on Saturday and take the cruise ship to Osaka in the evening. I’ve asked okaasan about the cruise and she said that the normal ticket where everyone share the floor (futon provided) is enough.

She said when she was working in Beppu (her hometown). She used to take the ship to Osaka in the evening, reach there in the day, sightsee and return in the evening. And she would arrive just in time for work. Cool.

Back to the journal. After discussion, I went down for internet. Naomi was there. She then told me that we could go out tomorrow. Yeah! Group outing with Moe, Sayaka, (prob) Wawa and Sakiko.

I took the 6:04pm train back and reached around 6:30pm. I cycled to the second hand bookstore to find it closed. Ah! It has moved. Wei!!! I have a coupon, where can I use it??!

After getting back, okaasan fed me iced coffee and sakura flavoured rice cakes with beanpaste filling. Then we took the dogs on a short walk. Granma Meri was left at home. She is having a bad time, she keeps vomiting. Poor thing.

Today is thursday and the day K has his tuition teacher come to the house. I usually stay downstairs to wait till he leaves. It seems more polite. But I usually wave him goodbye in the house. It didn’t seem proper for me to send him off at the door. Plus, the genkan isn’t too big.

It was a bit before 11pm when he left. Now it’s 11:32pm. Sleepy~~

No interesting photos for today.

It’s already the middle of the week. Oh my, how time flies. Soon it would be the end of the week and I would have finished my fourth week in Japan.

For breakfast, it was french toast and yogurt. For coffee, it was a different stronger bean so okaasan told me to make it into cafe au lait. It was good, not like the watery cafe au lait I made with the other coffee.

After breakfast, I finally stopped my beating around the bush thing and asked okaasan directly if mom could call the home. She said, of course and anytime’s fine. Ohhh… I should have asked about this earlier.

And again, I cycled to the station. At the station, I did some homework and some more on the train. Then it reached the school’s station.

For today’s Japanese class, we had to write an essay (very very short) about a famous person in our country’s history. Well, Malaysia’s history isn’t too long. And I don’t know much about the famous people we had. In the end I chose to write Hang Tuah. It was a very lame essay but I handed it in anyway.

For lunch, I had a small stick of cheese cake and 500ml of milk. Later, I will be going to Tenjin for sushi so I’m saving my stomach for that.

In popular culture class, we watched a short film called “Armchair Theory”. It is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in a long long time. And it’s a great short film about nine ways to get a girl in Japan. The professor wanted us to see how they use self orientalism and how Japanese humour worked.

The film first tells us how to get a girl in nine steps. There is a white anchorwoman telling us the steps and showing videos on how they should be done. First step is to follow the girl and know her daily routine. Then stage coincidences to make her believe that the both of you are fated for each other. One of the step here is to pick up her falling subway pass and return it to her with a beautiful smile. Remember to bleach your teeth before that.

I only vaguely remember the steps until here. Here’s the youtube link.

After class, I went to Tenjin with HY, PY and MC and Wawa. TOday’s HY’s bday and they’re going to a sushi shop their teacher recommended in Tenjin. Wawa and I took the subway. She was devastated to see all the ARASHI posters gone. Well, at least we’ve taken their pictures.

At the underground street, there are lots of beauty product shops. Each stacked with loads of products that I wish I can buy.

I misguided everyone to the wrong direction because I had misremembered where Solaris Plaza is. The sushi shop was hidden in the basement of Solaria Plaza. We couldn’t find it but a very nice sales person who was probably on toilet break took us all the way from her shop to the sushi shop. Thanks!!!

It wasn’t very cheap, probably coz it’s in Tenjin where rent is high. But all the food was fresh and stuff that I had was tasty.

I find raw seafood fascinating. It should be repulsing but it just tastes too good to not eat them.

Then Wawa and I went to BIC CAMERA together while the other three went their own ways. At BIC Camera, we found out that Polaroid’s digital camera was selling at 9,800 yen. Wawa took a long time inner debating whether to buy the camera or not.

The salespeople there were not very helpful. One guy with limited English did help us. I guess he’s sort of an upper employee there. But he couldn’t figure out how to change the camera’s language to English. It was Wawa who found the button to do that. And with English settings, she was more confirmed that she will get the camera.

She debated whether to get the slimer, 3,000 yen more camera or the one on offer. Then we saw that they were going to have an offer for the slimmer phone on Friday but they’re selling the horrid hot pink then. The silver was on offer on Sunday, but we think it’d be sold out by the time she went to the store. There’s only ten sets on offer.

In the end, Wawa bought the non-slim version. She bought rechargeable batts and a memory card. All that cost less than the original price we saw last week. What luck!

We were looking at the memory card and discussing quite loudly. Then suddenly, a person stood right next to us. We shifted a bit to the left but the person was still there. It was annoying. While we were choosing, the person also pointed at what we were choosing. oi! But then Wawa realised that it was C from school and we had a good laugh. Lots of others were also there. WHat coincidence.

After buying the camera,  we went to buy DVD-Rs so we can burn stuff. Wawa saw two really cheap DVD-RWs for her video cam. It was priced 150 yen. When we got to the cashier, we wanted him to add the purchase into our point card. He didn’t know much Japanese and my vocab is at a very lousy label. He told us our total was something cheaper that what it shuold be. We thought he had deducted the price with points and were frustrated. It took us about 5 minutes to finalize our purchase. Then we realised that it wasn’t his fault but it was the price of the DVD-RWs. It was 70 yen on the receipt. Ha ha ha

Wawa and I went back before the others so we can get home before it gets dark. The ride back home feels a lot quicker than going to school.

When I reached my station, it was not yet 7pm. So I rode off to a supermarket to see what I could buy. I was going to buy the same sunblock but I found Johnson’s sunblock lotion, something I had in mind but thought was too expensive. I’ve convinced myself that 599 yen is not exp for it.

Reasons
1. It’s 100ml, twice the amount of the 50ml Sunbear.
2. It’s texture is smooth and one drop can spread far.
3. Even though the SPF is low (SPF15), PA is high at PA+++. Plus I reapply in class so it’s ok.

So I’ve convinced myself to buy Johnson’s Baby Lotion UV care.

And also DHC’s olive virgin oil. It was selling at 1,008 yen and I convinced myself that DHC for RM30 is not expensive. How I love Japan!!!

I got home at 7:10pm. I met okaasan who was walking the dogs when I was on my way back. For dinner, we had stew made from instant roux. It was creamy and yummy. Will probably buy the instant roux. :D

Then mom called at 10pm. It was funny that we didn’t have much to say when we did vave the chance to talk. Ha ha. But it was great hearing the other aunties’ voices and their concern whether I’ve hooked myself a boyfriend or not. No aunties, I still have not. ha ha ha.

Well, I’ll get going and write the entry on Hiroshima.

Ciao

Was very sleepy this morning, woke up at 6:30am, dropped back to sleep and was lucky to wake up at exactly 7:30am.

This morning, had toast with blueberry jam and donut with peach filling. Had coffee too. Rode the bike to the station.

The way to the station is downhill so I can leave the pedal alone and say, “Weeeeeee” while the bike rolls down the slope. But coming back up is difficult and I usually give up and walk back up.

The train stopped slightly longer at one of the stops. Makes you wonder if someone has committed suicide on the rails. Hmm… I’d never know.

Morning class was not sleepy but I don’t seem to have much energy. I’ll blame it on the hot hot hot weather.

Lovely flowers in front of the classroom.

Even at lunch, I had no appetite. I bought milk and a rice ball, which I would regret later.

We’ve finished our history class and starting today, we have “Japanese Popular Culture in the Age of Globalisation.” Just the title itself sounds very cool, doesn’t it?

Well, it is quite cool, but we have a report to write and a final at the end. :(

After class, I went with PY, HY and MC to a Japanese teacher’s office to ask about travelling in Japan.

The teacher was very very nice. He cleaned up his table, showed us how to use the train timetable. The timetable is a thick book, I would never learn how to use it without the teacher’s help.

Oh, PY, HY and MC are going to travel after ATW finishes. And our final destination is Tokyo. Such wonderful coincidence. They planned to go to Okinawa but now I believe they’re skipping it in the end. We’ll be travelling together in Kansai and Tokyo then. :D

Then it was blog updating. At 6pm, it was BBQ in front of the International Student Centre.

Meat

BBQ was ok ok. Coz I don’t know how to socialize. sigh. Nevermind, I had some meat.

Then I came back home and am here now.

Conclu: another so-so day. Received mom’s letter and my postcards from Miyajima and Hiroshima. So fast.

 

 

Monday July 21, 2008. Hiroshima Day

Breakfast was a huge meal with fish, pickles, veggie, tofu, omelette etc. I exchanged my veggies with SH who gave me her meat dishes. I was very full afterwards.

Then we went down to the streets to buy gifts to bring back. I bought a box of maple leaf shaped pastry for my host family. We couldn’t buy any of it back because the expiry date was sooner than our stay here.

The tide was back in the morning and the torii looked better with water at its feet.

We took the bus and then the ferry back to the main island. Then it was a 50 minute bus ride to Hiroshima. We stopped at Hiroshima for lunch.

For lunch, we went to Okonomiya Village.

Okonomiyaki is a Japanese pancake thing with loads of veggie filling. Okonomiyaki Village is a building with three stories of stalls all selling okonomiya. We just sat at a random stall and ordered our okonomiya. The shop owner must really like a certain singer a lot becasue he has his posters everywhere and his concert was played in a loop on the TV in the shop.

The apprentice-like peson took our order and made our okonomiya. I thought we would have the chance to make one ourselves but, oh well.

My serving was tall. Hiroshima’s okonomiyaki has soba noodles which I don’t find tasty. I’ll say okonomiyaki is not on my list of nice Japanese food.

My lack of appetite was also probably because of my period. I felt bloated and my stomach was acting funny. In the end, I had about a quarter left and HY helped me clear some to not offend the boss.

I posted a postcard to myself before we got back on the bus to the Peace Memorial museum. It’s a must go for visitors to Hiroshima. There were loads of tourists while we were there. Rich folks who talked loudly. Hmph.

In museums, I like walking around alone because you don’t know how fast your company read and things like that. So I wandeed around by myself, looking very anti-social in the process.

In the past, I’ve always thought that victims of the atomic bomb just died. I thought that the bomb ended in a neat ring and life around the place was normal. I never thought that others were burned by the heat waves and others affected by radiation. The museum showed three wax figures of people with melted fingers and those whose internal organs and blood was affected by radiation. It was very sad.

Model of before and after

After the museum, I walked under the hot sun to the Dome, It was leftover from the atomic blast. It survived because the bomb exploded on top of it and the walls on the side were not affected.

 

Flowers

There was a cute little girl with her family.

After that, I met SH who was there alone too. We went to the rest house nearby and I bought milk in a glass bottle at 100 yen. It was delicious, drinking cold milk on a hot day.

Our trip ended here and we rode on the four hour bus back.

I bought an ice cream cone too.

WHen we got back, I went to MOS Burger coz I thought the family might have had dinner. Expensive set meal at 500++ yen. The coke was in a glass because in Japan, it’s not polite to eat and drink while walking. Cultural differences that is cute.

I called the host family when I was at the school’s station. Okaasan and K were there to pick me up when I reached the station. I felt very embarassed coz they had waited for me to have dinner.

I still stuffed myself with rice and had some cherries.

I dropped back to sleep but was still sleepy when I woke up the next day.

The official name of the trip is Hiroshima Trip. But actually, we spend most of our time on Miyajima Island (aka Istukushima), so they should be calling it Miyajima and Hiroshima trip to make it sound fantastic.

Our trip is from Sunday to Monday. Monday was a public holiday called Umi-no-hi, meaning Sea Day. And the only reason it’s a public holiday is because there are no public holiday during June and July so they made up a public holiday on Monday so people can have a long weekend. That’s nice

We gathered at school at around 8:20am. So I had to be awake before 6:30am for preparation. I took two bags for the trip, one for clothes and the other for misc stuff.

Our bus left at 8:45am and we got to the tip of Kyushu. A rest stop and some photo taking. The bridge connects Kyushu (island) to Honshu (main island)

Then off we went again. The only things to do on the bus is chat, day dream and take pictures of other people sleeping.

After all that bus riding, we arrived at lunch stop. Our lunch was oshizushi. It’s not the ordinary rolled up in seaweed type that you think of when someone says SUSHI. It’s different layered sushi that is pressed.

I also liked the ika somen– raw squid that is cut to look like noodles. yummy

 

Fish bee hoon

I was sitting at an all girls’ table. All sorts of weird conversations happened. Interesting stuff that can only be discussed in all girls place.

After lunch, we went to a bridge. Not a normal bridge but a bridge made from wood and was made some long long years before.

What I liked wasn’t the bridge itself, but the scenery around it.

And the river under the bridge was very very cooling.

The weather was very very hot so I had my hat and cardigan on.

I tried crossing the river but it had slippery rocks and the current was strong, despite the water being only slightly above the ankles.

Then it was bus riding again. We reached the ferry terminal to Miyajima around 3pm. The ferry wasn’t too big and only had two stories. The ride was less than 15 minutes.

At the island, there were deers. The first that we saw was stinky. Eeee.

The hotel had buses to fetch us to the hotel. It was on a hill. At the hotel, we were welcomed by women dressed in kimono. Wow! First time seeing real ryokan (Japanese inn) with kimono-wearing employee. I’ve only read it in comics. >w< happy!

Oh, Miyajima is actually Istukushima. It has a HUGE torii (red gates leading to shrine) that is built in the sea. Miya means shrine in Japanese, so they call the place “Shrine Island”.

We put our stuff in the lobby and off we went sightseeing. There were deers all over the place and they were very tame.

At the shrine, I was very anxious to see the miko. Miko are female employees of the shrine. They wear a long red skirt and long sleeved white traditional upper wear (what do you call upperwear anyway?) The most famous miko I know is Kikyo from Inuyasha.

I didn’t see a miko up close but saw plenty of male employees wearing light green trousers. Where have all the miok gone? Turns out they were hiding behind counters selling souvenirs. I don’t know if it’s because they’re attractions themselves and would attract people to buy stuff home. Or because everyone wants a photo of them and it causes a hassle for them to be outside.

Photos of the shrine

When we were there, the tide was low and we could walk to the torii. The beach was covered with green cabbage like plants. It’s light green seaweed and I find it very weird.

History was touched by me

Miyajima

I went with HY to visit the Thousand Tatami place. It was closed when we were there so we took some photos of the exterior and of the Five Storey Pagoda.

Then we went back to the hotel. We got the keys to our rooms. There’s six to seven people in one room. The room has two bed and a huge tatami room that can fit lots of futon. Cool.

As it’s a hot spring ryokan (onsen ryokan). They provide yukatas for their guests.

Onsen bathing is a shy affair for us non-onsen frequetners. The hotel provided everything we needed in the onsen place. There was a huge counter with facial soap, toner, lotion, disposable combs (?!), shower caps, towels, lockers, and water.

The school gave us a list of how to bath in onsen steps. (If I remember correctly) First get naked. Ha ha, it’s the hardest part of all. But once you’ve passed it, there’s no turning back.

In the onsen room, there are stools and shower heads. THen shampoo, conditioner, facial wash. You clean yourself before going in the onsen.

I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. I was waiting for the two aunties who were cleaning before I came in to finish. I didn’t want to seem like a dirty foreigner who cannot appreciate onsen. But in the end, I had to go before them coz I really don’t know what was taking them so long to get clean.

The onsen water was very very warm. I had to shout about, “Hot Hot hot.” before I finally could sit inside the water till only my head’s out.

We weren’t in the onsen for long coz we were having dinner at 7pm. With our skin smooth and red, we went to dinner. I in yukata! weee

It was in a tatami hall and each had a set in front. It looked like a tiny portion but the food kept coming in and in until you feel like you can’t take it.

first tray

Sashimi

Oyster in cheese

Udon claypot

chawan mushi – steamed egg

Veggie

Rice cake

Desserts

Oneesan who served us. In kimono!

When dinner finished, I wanted to go to the onsen again. But horrors! I realised in the loo that my peiod was back! What! It came during the first week and it’s back again???!!! Oh noooooo! I had to give up onsen. *SOB*

But at least there was one activity at night that didn’t involve getting wet. The torii was lighted while we were there. I suspect it’s a daily (maybe except winter) event.

Everyone wore their yukata for a stroll to see the lighted torii. Afterwards was a stroll, during which we discovered the deers would eat everything– even towels and yukata sleeves.

After the stroll, others went to the onsen while I went back to the room and try to sleep in the futon in my yukata.

I don’t think yukata is meant to be slept in. The knot of the belt is too hard to sleep on. The clothes tickle. And in the end I changed into my t-shirt and shorts.

Goodnight~!