Santa Claus in the tram instead of the reindeer sleigh ??
If you are in
It is an lovely event by the tram company.
A retro tramcar made in 1928, presented from
The Christmas tram schedule:
Dec 22nd
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Dec 23rd and 24th
I am not sure the Santa Clauses pay the fare of 150 yen. Of course you can not share the car with the Santa Clauses even you pay 150 yen.
We cannot talk
Oyster is one of the most famous
Let me introduce some of good Oyster cooking.
1 Deep-fried oysters (Kaki furai)
2 Vinegared oysters (Sugaki)
3 ingredient for pot dish (Nabe-no-gu)
They are really good and you can easily have them in Izakaya restaurants.
One thing you have to be careful is, 0ysters sometimes cause food-poisoning.
Oysters have "Norovirus" It is safer for you to have cooked oysters instead of raw oysters
The virus cause terrible diarrheal, vomiting and flu-like symptoms. The incuvative period is one or two days and the symptoms would last 3-7 days.
I saw some foreign tourists who suffered from them llll
Raw oysters are very good but you had better avoid it if you don't like to change your travel plan.
So, please give up sugaki. Even you enjoy Nabe (pot dish), make sure oysters in Nabe are cooked enough (Too much boiling messes oysters taste, though ...).
My last post from J-Hoppers Hiroshima !
Yes, I'm going back home to Kyoto. Quite strange to say that for a foreigner actually but ... If you're looking for the french guy of J-Hoppers you will now have to book at J-Hoppers Osaka. I will join Yamaguchi San and Manabe San to prepare you a new wonderfull place to stay and discover the marvels of Kinki area (^_^)
What about my year in Chugoku area ? I've seen of course a lot of places and tried various foods or matsuri, among them here comes my ranking (highly subjective and controversial :-) ).
1) Miyajima Island. Number one of course ! I went there almost once per month !!! What did attract me there ? The famous Tori in the sea, one of the three most beautiful places of Japan. Don't think only about going to see it at low tide, it's also fun to reach it by foot at low tide. And do you what you'll find at its foot ? eh eh secret ... The Itsukushima shrine in front of the Tori. This one must be seen at high tide when it appears floating on the sea. Lot of matsuri here, check for that. Especially the waterscreen spectacle and the huge firework in august. Then the Daishouin, a really wonderfull temple atop the old village. Another secret ? Look for the little stairways that lead under the main hall of the temple ... and try to reach the end before being scared ! If you're a 'buddah in love' you won't have any difficulties. In the old village there is also a traditional artcraft museum which is quite interesting for such a little place. And the Miyajima aquarium has a wide range of funny fishes, and pinguin you can even play with or turtles you can feed. Except the village you can climb up the mountain either by foot, there is several course well indicated, count around 2h to get up and 1h and half to get down, either by ropeway, very impressive ! At the top you may see monkeys even if I've always missed them ... And finally on the opposite side of the island there are wonderfull beaches but you will need to rent a bike and merit them with few kilometers on a steeply road.
2 ) The Peace Museum and the Peace Park monuments. Of course too, unmissable. Emotionally very strong but you HAVE TO go there to spread the Peace culture all over the world.
3) Mitakidera temple. My favourite temple in the Hiroshima area.
4) Okonomiyaki. The delicious "japanese pizza" ! Egg, bacon, lot of vegetables, noodles (soba power ! forget udon ! :-) ), various topping, ... I will never be able to defend the Osaka okonomiyaki, the Hiroshima one is just so good !
5) Peace Festival. So sad but so important. Please go to hear the testimonies of A-Bomb survivors and transmmit what you've heard. The lanterns on the river at night, the Peace Declaration in the morning, ...
6) The Fuchu City Camping Ground in the Mikumari Gorge Forest. It's just so near from the main station, you have no reason to miss it if you're looking for some hiking in nature around Hiroshima. For example climb the Takao mountain and enjoy the wonderfull view on Hiroshima and the islands.
7) The Food Festival. So many good things to eat in this wonderfull festival in the Chuo Park. It introduces the local food and of course you can try a lot for free ! Go there with empty stomach is a better option ... ;-)
8) Shukkeien garden. The most beautifull garden of Hiroshima.Very unexpensive.
9) Hiroshima Insectarium. Quite uneasy access (look for a bus from the bus center) but the insectarium is quite wide and the butterfly room so romantic ... More over it's inside a huge park with several activities organized in summer.
10) Asa zoological park. Well organized, lots of animals and smart installation that let you get really near from almost all of the animal.
11) The chococro of St Marc Cafe. Well what ? Not Japanese culture, not specific to Hiroshima, ... ? Yes ! But anyway that's here in Hiroshima that I've discovered the top of the top of the croissant banana ! :-) I assume entirely what I'm writing :-)))
12) Sandankyo. A very entertaining hiking course in the mountain at west of Hiroshima. Not so easy to access but rewardable. The main spot of the area is said to be the three waterfalls. Personnally I had much more pleasure in walking the course than looking at these waterfalls.
13) Prefectural Art Museum. Allways a lot of interesting exhibitions...
14) Ujina Island. The easiest place to go to the beach in Hiroshima in summer. Perfect for a picnic too in case you don't feel like swimming in the Seto island sea.
15) Look at cherry blossom (Hanami) in the Peace Park at night. It's full of people eating on the ground under the pure white flowers ...
16) Garasu no Sato, the glass village. A glass factory that opens its door to everyone. You can even blow your own glass cup !!!
17) Fude no Sato, the village of the calligraphy brush. Here this is a brush that you can create yourself under the command of a real master. After you can see what you will be able to do of it ... after some years of training !
18) Gokoku shrine. The main shrine of Hiroshima, near the castle. Several matsuri here of course. I particularly enjoyed the one in January when they burn the past year omamori ...
19) Hiroshima castle. Surely not the most beautifull in Japan, but you still can enjoy viewing Hiroshima from the top of the castle, wear a real samurai armor, or learn some secrets about the construction of such a building.
20) Hondori. If you want to make some shopping you will find it here for sure.
21) Peace Museum Library. At the opposite end of the building. It's free of course and a good place to have a rest, read the english newspaper or even go on internet.
22) Veloce cafe. Chococro has a concurrent : chocoroyaru ! The cheapest coffee in Hiroshima and a wonderfull big chocolate bread full of butter !!!
23) Molly Malones irish pub. Well it's true I'm definitely not a 'party boy' but I went to this pub twice and I had good time there so ...
24) Shimanamikaidou. A road crossing the inland sea by jumping from islands to islands with 7 huge bridges. Do it by bike is a big challenge (80km) but you're so happy when you did it.
25) Hiroshima Children Science Museum. Dedicated to children of course, but you may still have some part of childhood inside you. And there is a small planetarium on the last floor.
26) Yuhua garden. Another garden in Hiroshima. A chinese style garden that suffers from poor maintenance. Go there to appreciate the differences of style.
Last Monday while coming back late at the hostel after playing igo I've seen the illuminations on the Peace Boulevard. Some of them are really impressive and they run on both sides of the boulevard from the Peace Park to the downtown.
It's light up from 17:00 to 23:00 and will illuminate the city until the 3rd of January. Of Course it's free !
So fiercily brave the cold and enjoy this faery. You will feel like it's allready Christmas !
How are you?
I went to Hiroshima's food festival last weekend with Miyoung (hiroshima staff).
There were about 350 booths with many kinds of food ,as well as agricultural and marine products of Hiroshima.
We had a fun time walking around and watching KAGURA dance there.
I used to watched KAGURA (shinto music and dance numbers) when I was a child.
But It wasn't fun ti do.I was just bored during the KAGURA so I thought this one wouldn't be any different.
but in about 30min. I started to enjoy it.The costumes were brightly colored.Both the costumes as well as dancing were very enjoyable to watch.
You can see KAGURA performance which is a local festival in Japan!
After work last midnight, I walked into the Hiroshima Peace park and took the photo. A-bomb dome is a 10 minute walk from the hostel. The dome shows us another aspect to us at night. It is modestly illuminated and blends in with the surrounding landscape. Some couples are sitting on the benches just in front of the ruin and murmuring something to each other, certainly not about abolition of nuclear weapons. In front of this quietness, it is difficult for me to imagine thousands of people jumped into the river at the end of the hellish heat and despair. The night dome was not scary, not awesome or not touristic. There was loneliness there.
This tram car came from Kyoto in 1970'sPlease see the following website:
http://www.uraken.net/rail/chiho/tetsu_hiroden.html
The site is written all in Japanese but you can at least see the photos. The tram cars are categorized with several types by the origin and the age.
Type 70 : From Dortmund, Germany
Type 200 : From Hanover, Germany
Type 570 : From Kobe
Type 600 : From : Fukuoka
Type 650 : Hibaku Densha (A-bombed tram) Blog for this
Type 750 : From OsakaType 1070 : From Takarazuka
Type 1900 : From Kyoto
It is interesting that many kind of cars from many areas and from various ages are active on the same stage of Hiroshima city. It is something like “living tram museum”. If you are a railway buff, I am sure you can enjoy this.
He is traveling the world thanks to generous 'guides of a day'. Who knows from where he comes, who knows until where he will go ... ? At least he stayed at J-Hoppers Hiroshima last week, coming from South America, heading for some random place elsewhere in Asia. If you cross his road you can become his guide for a while. Just ask to the one who's taking care of him to let it to you, and pursue the chain, from hand to hand, from backpack to backpack, from countries to countries, ...
If you want to ask where he is now, send him an email !
charles.darwin.2007@hotmail.com
You surely already know about origami, these little piece of square papers folded to obtain flowers, animals, clothes, ... I've fold origami since I'm a child and always heard that the piece of paper must be perfecly squared. But I discovered last week it was wrong ! Actually you can fold diamond shaped or even round shaped papers... And I discovered that thanks to Keiko San who came to teach us how to realize these very special origami.
I went to
By far it is the best temple I have seen in
The premises are in a mountainside and the whole area is mantled in a luxuriant green. It would be a nice hiking as well as watching a lot of small pretty Buddha statues.
There are 3 little waterfalls flowing in the precincts from the different water sources. One of the waters seems very good as drinking water. Many local people come to the temple to get the water for tea or coffee. The water is also dedicated to the A-bombed victims who died in the extremity of the desperate thirst at the peace memorial ceremony on August 6 every year.
The temples are also famous for Autumn leaves. November is one of the best times to visit there. I am, of course, going there again to see beautiful coloured momiji trees.
There are some ways to get there from the hostel:
1 Take tram No.8 and get off at Yokogawa Station (the last stop) >> Then walk about 20 min toward Northwest
2 Bus from Kamiya-cho and get off a Mitaki-kannon (the last stop)
3 JR from Hishoshima station and gett of Mitaki, then walk about 500m.
Please feel free for the access at J-Hoppers reception
For more information of the tepmle, please refer to these websites:
Mitaki area in Hiroshima Prefecture Guidebook.
Mitaki temple in GET HIROSHIMA
The boss introduced you the most famous garden of Hiroshima, the Shukkeien garden in this message. There is another supposed to be beautifull garden here : the Hanbe garden (Japanese name : 半べえ庭園). It's located near the Mazda museum (map google) and you can easily go there by bus (Hiroden-bus, line 4, from the bus center, get off at yuuenchi station, it's 2 min walk).
Have you ever heard of Momiji-manju before? Japanese people hear the word HIROSHIMA,we think about Momiji-manju. Momiji means maple leaf and manju are popular and traditional Japanese sweets foods. The basic ingredients are flour,egg, sugar,and honey. Momiji(maple) is the prefectural flower of Hiroshima and Momiji-manju is formed in the shape of maple leaf. It has a variety of flavors,including red beanm,custard,maccha,and cheese. Especially I would like to recommend ' AGE-MOMIJI'.It is fried Momiji-manju. you can enjoy Momiji-manju that is prepared manju in some different ways. You can have it just for 70-80 yen a piece.It is quite cheap isn't it? Most of them are made on the MIYAJIMA island.so you can have fresh Momiji-manju on the island. When you go to the island ,please try it:)
Today I went to Motoujina Park with my family. This is the place which one of our colleague Pascal recommended for an easy hiking. The park is right next to Hiroshima Port, which is one of the biggest ports in western Japan. You can visit there by the city tram easily for around 45 minutes.
There are beautiful beaches and an old-growth forest there. It was quite a fresh surprise to know that this kind of great nature is still preserved in such a industrial area. Actually it is designated as a part of Setouchi National Park. The park is in a small island and it is about 3 km around. It would be nice to walk with the beaches or you can go up into the well-wooded evergreen broadleaf forest as a short hiking. 
You may forget that you are in the very central part of the city...
Shukkei-en Garden is one of the most famous gardens in Japan. It is made in the early 17th century by the lord of old Hiroshima Domain. It is said the garden represents landscape of Lake Xihu (West Lake) in Hangzhou, China.
The garden had a catastrophic damage by A-bomb as well as the other buildings. A lot of victims escaped into the garden and most of them died there. Their bodies got buried under the hill in the garden.
The garden was restored in 1951.
Right after the bomb
Clip-on curtains and bed lights are installed in co-ed dorm rooms of J-Hoppers Hiroshima Guesthouse.
Now you don't have to make a frantic search for your passport in the darkness and you can write a diary after your roommates fall asleep.
Bed cartains are in the basket in each dorm. Please feel free to take it. Even though you have more confortable night, don't oversleep through the check-out time, please !
No.652 one of two A-bomb tram cars
No.651 -- 3 days after the bombed day
New type tram "Greenmover".
Stag beetle (left) and beetle (right). Both are male
2 days ago, I went to Hiroshima Baseball Park and watched CARP vs GIANTS. The park is a 15-minite walk from J-Hoppers. Our Carp beat the big Giants by 6-3. You can feel the atmosphare from the link:
If you are going to stay in one of those cities, you can watch a baseball game easily.
Sapporo -> Fighters
Sendai -> Eagles
Chiba -> Marines
Tokorozawa -> Lions
Tokyo -> Giants, Swallows
Yokohama -> Baystars
Nagoya -> Dragons
Osaka, Kobe -> Buffaloes
Nishinomiya -> Tigers
Hiroshima ->Carp
Fukuoka -> Hawks
*From Kyoto, you can go to Osakam, Nishinomiya and Kobe by local train
If you don't have any favorite team and you don't know the rules very well, it would be nice to have a seat in the outfield bleachers of the the first-base side. A private cheering group of the home team should be there and you can yell for the team with a lively atmosphare. They beat drums, sing players' theme songs and enjoy simple dancing together. You can easily join them and feel kind of togetherness. Also, an outfield ticket is cheap (around 1500 yen).
Normally a night game starts at 18:00 and it takes about 3-4 hours. As foods and drinks in the park are expensive, you would better buy some before.
Hi!!
Since early August, temperatures have been above 30 degrees in many parts of Japan.
Today, I came to J-hoppers by tram.Because it was too hot to walk.
I think ,the highest temperature today was 35℃.
The tram I took was very unusual.It was a recreation of a tram used in the Taisho Era.
The traditional trams had open windows so of course It was a little bit too hot .But It felt great to have the wind blow on my face.
Many trams run in Hiroshima.
You can go to many special place's in Hiroshima by tram.
For example Hiroshima castle ,syukkei garden,Hiroshima city, Miyajima Island and more.
If you buy a one day tram ticket(840yen).
You can use the tram all day and also take the ferry to Miyajima Island.
Shin has already spoken about it, summer in Japan is THE good place and season to see fireworks. A lot occured yet in Kyoto area and Hiroshima too, but if you've missed them don't be sad, there is still a lot to see.
One of the most important in Hiroshima area, if not the most, will be held tomorrow (Tuesday, 14th) : the Miyajima Firework. Imagine one of the three most beautifull scene of Japan illuminated by rainbows of fire !!! It will start at 19:50, and last one hour, juste behind the big tori.
Of course I advice you to go there very early, in the afternoon, and to keep in mind that boats will be overcrowded. Get prepared to wait several hours, if not all the night for the following day's first boat, in the middle of hundreds others people !! It happened to me for the water screen event ...
For more information : Miyajima Tourist Information Center 082-944-2011
