April 6 Bus trip from Osaka to Hiroshima

April 6 Osaka, Kurasiki, Hiroshima

Summary- Long day of travel, cold rain and high winds.  Two hours to Himji Castle, More bussing to Kurashiki Canal Area, more driving to get to Hiroshima Grand Prince Hotel.  Too tired for dinner, go directly to bed.

The famous Japanese Cherry trees are in full bloom in the Osaka area as we bus south to Hiroshima.  We get up close at a rest stop, but they are splendid everywhere. High winds and cold weather will strip them here but we'll surely see more as we go south.

careful recycling.  We saw NO trash

Golf range.  No courses but they know theory and
practice often in these ranges

"Conservation of everything" is the theme developing in our minds….conservation of space as well as other resources. When you crowd 127 million people on small islands, I guess you find ways to make everything fit.  Japan's four big islands and thousands of small islands are roughly the size of two Californias. When you subtract the 68% of the area that is mountains, 30% that is cultivated (some mountain areas), you end up with about 30% of the land area to share with your fellow island residents.

Coming fresh from India makes us ponder the reasons for the extreme differences in the those two cultures.  Nowhere is the chasm greater than what we saw in train stations, beginning with the toilet debris flushed from the trains while in the Indian station, the flies, the dogs, kids running, bags of smelly food stuffs and noise. In Japan these bullet trains sparkle.  Our guide also leads tours for Japanese in Bombay.  She remarked that Japan experiences extreme calamities from earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoon and two devastating atomic bombs. With each disaster, 'Japanese take the opportunity to find technology to make things safer and better.' The mountains, the separation of the thousands of islands, the mostly homogeneous population?  Who knows?  The one constant so far?  Generous, helpful, amiable, gracious people in both places who are happy to welcome western tourists.

Himeji Castle wall

Himeji Castle walk

Himeji main building renovations going on under this elaborate cover

Spectacular gardens

Imagine what the top would look
like when the cover is removed

Steve stayed in the bus 'cuz the weather was horrible

Our long distance bus ride is broken up by a visit in the cold rain to Himeji Castle, the central part of which is under repair.  Begun in 1333, expanded to 30x bigger beginning 1601, and used as an administrative center for one of those Kings who wanted to look tough. It was selected as a UNESCO site in 1993.  Despite in the fowl weather, Leslie and I went to the top and enjoyed seeing the tile roofs up close, and the cherry trees, sculptures and garden.  We didn't go under the construction cover and were impressed that they would go to so much trouble to paint the outline profile on the cover so we could imagine what the real thing would look like.  Steve stayed in the bus and Dick went back early.

After a couple more hours of bus, we stopped for lunch and a visit to a canal town, Kurashiki (Stall House).  Our lunch site, "Amusement Viking Family Restaurant," seemed like a Japanese version of fast food except for the selection and it had a hot flame grill in the center of the booth tables.  You picked from a vast selection of sushi, meat and veggies from the 'buffet' and cooked your own food at your table.  Soft serve, ice cream, fruit, too.  Lots of young kids were cooking fine, but the 10 year-olds we talked to were pouring ice into their fire as we left.

The canal city of Kurashiki served as a port to the river and sea many years ago.  Rice from this fertile island shipped from here "to the world." Lovely shops, picturesque canal with swans and flowering trees, art museum and sculptures, and a marvelous small botanical garden. Leslie bought some souvenirs and we got our freezing little bodies back on the bus.

With the weather, the long bus stretches, fatigue, and moving around with 34 to 75 people, we decided we hated this trip and we skipped dinner to crash at a reasonable hour at the Hotel in Hiroshima.  Tomorrow's wake up call is 6 am.  Are we having fun yet?

Lunch buffet

Build to stand up to earthquakes (maybe)

Cars ready to ship

Rodin sculpture in canal city