Trip to Japan - Hiroshima

Hiroshima was the furthest place we travelled by Shinkansen (bullet train). It took us almost the whole morning just to get there. But it turned out to be one of the most memorable trip and a great history lesson at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.



This monument commerates the many children who died when the atomic bomb was dropped at Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.




The t-bridge near the site where the bomb hit.

The dome-shaped building that still stands from the devastation caused by the A-bombing.

The exhibits were fantastic. We left with a great sense of poignancy for those who died and those who suffered losses. War just didn't make sense after all, both for the aggressor and the victims.

Trip to Japan - Himijei-jo

Himeiji-jo is indeed one of the most, if not, the most magnificiant castle in Japan. From afar, the castle was a beautiful sight. We couldn't resist walking around and posing at different angles

Exploring the castle itself was an adventure. The castle was strongly fortified and royalty and warlords who resided left a legacy behind.

On route back to Kyoto, which has been our base apart from Tokyo, we stopped at Kobe and took a cable car ride up to a hill. We saw a herbs' garden, a greenhouse and Tudor style houses.

Trip to Japan - Osaka food street at Minami Area

The whole stretch of restaurants at Osaka's famous food street had huge attractive neon-flashing signboards. No wonder Fred looked slightly dazzled and disoriented.

We noticed the older and younger guys on the billboard behind Fred... local actors. Didn't snap a picture of the more familiar Ken Watanabe - his face was plastered on camera and some other advertisements.

We found the puffer fish restaurant! There were two along the stretch. Fred was greatly interested, particularly from what we read that chefs preparing fresh puffer fish (blowfish) had to be certified skilful. The wrong procedures will lead to not removing the poison and poisoning patrons...

We loitered outside a while, deciding if we should try just a simple dish. But we decided the best way to appreciate was just to look, be amazed and take these pictures of 'plastic' models. We really didn't feel like rich tourists - not when in Japan at least. Maybe next time....

Trip to Japan - Osaka Aquarium

We also enjoyed admiring sea creatures alive... we never seem to get bored with them on every trip. This acquarium at Osaka was highly recommended and turned out quite good, comparable to the Montery Acquarium at the States we visited in 2005.

Trip to Japan - Fresh seafood at supermart

We were so amazed by the sheer size of this fish... we wondered how many sushi and sashimi this huge animal alone can make??

Hairy crab from Hoikkado

A supermart worker preparing fresh sushi... yummy!

Fred was interested in the largest shell animal... I checked out the beef on display. Everything looked so unbelivably fresh with the most vibrant of colours. I felt like I could just spend the whole day browsing at the fresh food level of the supermarket. In fact, I told Fred I wouldn't be bored if I were a housewife in Japan ;)