Discovering Japan

Kia Ora all... well its that time again for a blog update.... well good because we got a bit to talk about. Well spring is slowly starting here and school is wrapping up for the year which means two things time to chill and time to get out and about and see more of japan. Yes thats exactly what we been up to. We headed down the island of honshu to check out Hiroshima and then down on to the lower island of Kyushu to beppu to get some r & r and chill in some onsen or hotsprings....

Day one we left home and headed down to Hiroshima on the local trains and did our best to scam the trains ... after about 5 hours we arrived in hiroshima where we intended to visit the Atomic Bomb museum and dome and also check out miyajima island which is famous for its shrine and huge tori or gate. On day two we woke feeling a bit jaded from the journey but nevertheless headed out to discover hiroshima first we checked out the Museum really amazing... in a sad way to learn about the affects of the atomic bomb dropped by the americans on August 6 1945 at 815. It is definitely a site that i would recommend anybody visiting japan to check out just the affects of atomic bombs on people is trully shocking... nevertheless having two bombs dropped. Was also really awesome to see the dome which was one of the remaining buildings today that survived the huge impact....

In order to get over the sad buzz which left us well me having a bit of a tangi we headed out to a island to check out a amazing shirne that is a popluar destination for both japanese and foreigners. Although it rained and we missed high tide we got the opportunity to touch it and get up close. We also ate some awesome curry rice which was probably the best we have eaten in japan.

After leaving hiroshima we headed down to beppu which is a popular place for onsen in japan.... arrived quite late but got settled in and because our hotel had an onsen went for a late night relax. The tikanga around using onsen in japan is pretty tuturu so we was a bit nervous not about being the only naked foreigners but just not really knowing what to do because it was a first time in an onsen. So we headed in acting like we knew what we were doing... paora into the mens and me into the womens. First you strip down to your birth suit and head into the washing room where you wash your self from head to toe... while sitting on these little stools before entering into the hot spring... indoors or outdoors.... while in beppu we tried our best to visit as many different kind of onsen as we could and got to experience the old... new... beach side and up in the mountains.... overall we can say that we pretty clued up about onsen tikanga now.

Overall an awesome trip and we really enjoyed it.... looking forward to the next one where ever it may be... maibara?