I got up fairly early this morning and got a big laugh when I saw that every one of the hotel room doors had a newspaper tucked underneath – every one but mine. I guess they figured (correctly) that I wouldn’t be able to read it. If I was fluent I would go and complain, but it was just a funny example of being different in Japan.
I picked up breakfast from a convenience store across the street. They had a new flavor of Calpis, one of my old favorites. This one is called “Gun, Gun, Gun!”. What a cool name. It is like regular Calpis, only with more vitamins and sugar – kind of cancelling each other out.
Today I was planning on heading to Miyajima island, home of some big hikes, beautiful shrines, tame deer and who knows what else. All of my teachers had said that it was a must, so I figured, what the heck. To get there you need to take the train about 30 minutes southwest of Hiroshima.
At the train station you catch a ferry to the island. The weather was cloudy and cool – it was looking like bad news for photography, but good news for hiking. The ferry took a large group of us across the bay, passing row upon row of platforms for oysters, another thing that Hiroshima is famous for.
As we pulled up the island, everyone got off the ferry and almost ran to the right, towards the main shrine and food stalls. I took the hint and went the other way. According to my map, I could walk almost a quarter of the way around the island and then take a hiking path to the 1200 foot peak of Mt. Misen. From there, I would be able to go wherever I liked.
That turned out to be the best decision I made. I walked through tiny towns on the coast of the island, by a high school with kids playing baseball, buildings filled with women shucking oysters, and lots of deer looking for handouts.
I guess the island is famous for the tame deer. They sell food on the island that you can give to the deer. The deer come right up to you, and you can pet them, talk to them, ask them out for dinner, whatever you like. The first time I saw one come right up, it really threw me for a loop.
As I walked along the western shore of the island, these deer couldn’t believe their luck. They must have been wondering where the heck to find the ferry terminal and all those tourists, and then here comes one walking along without a care in the world. After spending my life watching deer run like hell when they see you, it sure was weird to see them run like hell towards you.
Their initial excitement turned to depression when they found out I wasn’t willing to share my lunch with them. The sulked around nibbling at leaves forlornly, while a few optimists followed me for almost a quarter mile. I didn’t give in, though. I was made of stone.
After almost an hour of hiking along the beach, I was ready to give up and admit defeat, when a sign appeared pointing up the mountain. For the next hour and a half I climbed up the mountain through jungle-like terrain, along a well maintained path. I could tell it wasn’t popular, I met no one along the way, and kept catching spider webs across the face. Finally I reached the top, completely socked in a fog bank. I’m sure the view was beautiful normally, but I just collapsed on a rock and rested for a while. My entire body was steaming, something that I had never seen happen before. Is that supposed to happen? Did I push it too hard?
I picked a trail down, and after a few minutes started to smell something like an electrical fire – that kind of strange burned smell that usually means it’s time to change a fuse. Then some loud metallic noises, and I walked right into the tram station. There was a line of people that looked alarmed at my appearance, and I guess I would be alarmed to see a large steaming foreigner walk out of the bushes disturbing the tranquility of the clanking tram station.
I realized quickly that I must have made a wrong turn somewhere, and walked around the tram station to the other side, and then jumped in line with another bunch of alarmed tourists. I was definitely the only one breathing hard and dripping with sweat. The tram operators did not seem to mind, and packed me into a tram with a group of four concerned people, sending me down the hill the easy way.
The tourists were quiet at first, probably not reassured by my smiles and nods. I quickly fogged up the tram, thus depriving everyone of the view going down. Talk about embarrassing. I’m sure each tram going up on the other side was wondering what was happening on our tram.
At the bottom I stumbled out, almost clocking myself on the roof as I stood up, and finally made it to the bottom of the steps. I took a quick few minutes to clean myself up a little, and then noticed on the sign that they wanted 1700 yen for a round trip on the tram. I had saved a bunch of money by hiking up – nice!
Directly below the tram station was a park filled with trees that were just starting to change color. The deer were here in force, looking for scraps from all the tourists. I took lots of pictures – the colors seemed so dramatic, and I’m half colorblind. Farther down the hill I stopped to pick up some omiyage for my coworkers. I splurged on some maple leaf flavored cakes, filled with some kind of sweet bean curd. Apparently, this is the omiyage to buy in Hiroshima, so I did. I should be a big hit at work on Tuesday.
I spent some time walking around hitting the touristy stuff that I had avoided initially. I took pictures of the five story pagoda. I also walked through the Itsukushima-jinja shrine, a shrine that stands on a bay that fills up when the tide comes in. At the time, the tide was only just coming in, so it was a shrine on a muddy bay when I went through. At the mouth of the bay was a giant gate to the shrine, and that got the most photographic attention.
After so many pictures, I felt like a nature walk and explored the eastern side of the island. I ran into a bunch of Japanese youngsters wearing uniforms that said “COSMO” on the front. They were probably first graders, and they were very friendly – we greated each other in each other’s language, and spent a lot of time giggling. The COSMOnaughts went off to chase some deer around, and I went past the depressing aquarium to buy beer and oysters at a shop on my way back.
The trip back was pretty easy, although you did have to walk by countless shops selling omiyage. I think I got the best deal up on the mountain, but I didn’t really pay that much attention. I hopped the ferry back and was back in Hiroshima that evening. I tried Chinese food at a small restaurant in one of the large shopping centers, and it tasted very similar to Japanese food.
I looked around at the imported goods section of Sogo, a big department store. I found Swiss Miss Cocoa, French’s Yellow Mustard, some hot sauce, Pepperidge Farms Milano cookies, some sloppy joe mix. There was a wine shop there, but I they didn’t carry any vintage Port. I’ve been craving it big time. They had a tawny port, but I’m not a big fan of tawny ports. They had a pretty good selection of California wines, but only expensive ones. Lots of French wines (only expensive ones) and a few Italian ones that looked good.
I spent the evening walking around the shopping district, trying to resist the urge to have a second dinner back at the okonomiyaki stands. At a big “lifestyle” store I found something amazing – they were selling Christmas lights. The big surprise – they wanted almost $60 for a strand of 100 lights. Sixty bucks???!?? Don’t those cost around $5 a strand in the States? I need to start a black market xmas light trade here. Come on, sixty bucks?
Back in my hotel room, I packed up for my trip back tomorrow, and then took a long soak in the deep tub. What a great way to relax.
