Nara - Day 1
Osaka - Day 2
Nara - Day 3 - Shunie (Fire & Water Festival)
Osaka - Day 4 (Part 1) - Okonomiyaki & Osaka Castle
Osaka - Day 4 (Part 2) - sushi trains
If all had gone according to my itinerary (which I planned 5 months in advance and took me about that long to complete) we would have woken up at 7am, eaten breakfast properly and headed to Hiroshima, walked around the Peace Park and then traveled to Miyajima. I'm half glad that we didn't do what I had planned because it meant we had extra time to sleep but of course at the same time, we had to rush to make it to our destination. In fact, we ended up going to Hiroshima after Miyajima as a stopover to Kyoto.
The snacks
A strawberry yoghurt bread bought the previous evening from a convenience store had to suffice as brunch as we rushed to make our JR Shinkansen. Along with green tea flavoured mousse and sakura flavoured crackers. The strawberry bread apparently had strawberry jelly in the filling but I didn't notice anything of the sort, maybe I was in too much of a hurry.
We were only allowed on the medium to slow trains (Hikari, Kodama or Sakura were allowed, but not the Nozomi) which arrived around once an hour or so due to the JR Pass limitations. However getting seats were always a breeze because Japan is such a helpful country. All we had to do was speak to someone in the JR ticketbox usually located next to the gates where you enter and tell them our destination, they will calculate the best route and times and get us reserved seating if it's available. As getting tickets was so easy, plenty of time was left over to wander around the stores to find ourselves something nice to munch on during our 2 hour trip.
As we walked around, I heard a faint sound of what seemed like a bell chime. To my utter satisfaction, I had found myself the most wonderful Japanese cheesecake shop - Rikuro Ojisan (りくろーおじさん)! They ring a bell when freshly baked cake comes out of the oven and each cake is packed into a ready box to be taken away and enjoyed by all the eager patrons lining up outside. We were very lucky that this store was inside JR Shin-Osaka Station because the main store in Osaka's busy Namba walk had a constant line of around 20-30 people or more, every single time we walk past. When I see the line, I just snicker because we got it for under a minute with no wait! Can you believe the cake (which is fairly big) only cost 588Yen? It is unbelievable. I'm just kicking myself because Melbourne doesn't have anything as good or as cheap as this.
The cake was so light and airy that it wobbled like Flubber from the blockbuster flick (1997) as soon as the shop assistant opened the cake mold. I wish I wasn't so frozen at the amazement that maybe I could have gotten out my camera in time for a video of the action. But no. I was amazed alright, and hungry! Yuye didn't have to be told to buy it. He went straight for the counter and took a steaming hot cake away while I beamed from ear to ear.
It is best eaten freshly out of the oven while it was still hot and airy, but as we found out later on in the evening, eating it chilled with a cup of hot green tea was yet another experience to be had!
Our next stop was to get actual lunch and there was nothing better than two boxes of ekiben (train bentos), a must try if you're taking the shinkansen. This was my first experience with ekiben and my impressions of it were so hyped up that frankly I was a little disappointed. It may have looked beautiful, everything you'd expect from an authentic bento box in Japan, but eating cooked and fried things cold just wasn't our thing.
Yuye's bento was called "Mizuho to Sakura - みずほとさくら" which I think cost 1000Yen. The food I must say, looked absolutely stunning. The Japanese people are very good with their colour coordination which is clearly displayed here.
My bento cost 930Yen (I may have gotten the bento prices the other way around). It didn't look as colourful or pretty as Yuye's but I thought it tasted better. Perhaps it was the sukiyaki in the middle and the grilled salmon which gave it a richer flavour (compared to Yuye's katsu and chicken).
If you didn't manage to grab a bite before boarding, you can also purchase snacks and bentos from the trolley lady (I couldn't think of a better name I'm sorry!) who walks around every time the train reaches a large station.
The Transport
Miyajima is a small island off the coast of Hiroshima and is considered one of the top three best views in Japan. It is a very famous and popular tourist destination, especially during the autumn months due to the large amount of autumn leaves that cover most of the island. It is also famous for the floating torii gate which is the entrance to Itsukushima Shrine.
