Miyajima

On our second day in Hiroshima, we took a side trip to Miyajima, a "sacred island" not far from Hiroshima.  I used to go there sometimes on my days off from work many years ago.  It was so fun to see it again, this time with my family!  Not much has changed there in 25 years.

We took a train and then a short ferry ride to reach the island.  From the ferry we could see the giant orange Torii, which appears as if it's floating in the water during high tide. 

Tommy loved seeing the many deer, which are allowed to roam freely on the island and are quite tame.

We walked around, and toured the Shinto shrine.

 Who can resist a photo with the world's biggest rice paddle?

We ended the day with some traditional sweets called "Momijimangu" - little cakes filled with sweet bean paste, or custard.

And finally we took the ferry back to the mainland, a train to Hiroshima station, a Shinkansen back to Tokyo, and a taxi home to our apartment!

Okonomiyaki

After we visited Peace Park, which is a very serious place, we took a nice walk, did a little shopping, and then enjoyed one of Hiroshima's specialties for dinner - Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki.

Okonomiyaki is very hard to explain, and it sounds kind of, well, gross... but it is delicious!  My whole family loved it, and that doesn't happen often.  It is something I ate a LOT when I lived in Hiroshima so I was so anxious to have my family try it.

There must be a hundred Okonomiyaki places in Hiroshima.  We peaked into a place, it looked good, so we took our places at the counter, and placed our order.

At this point our kids are still quite skeptical:)

Okonomiyaki is made in stages:
1.  A thin crepe is cooked first.
2.  Shredded cabbage and bean sprouts, and perhaps some green onion and bonito flakes, are piled on top.
3.  Three thin strips pork are placed on top of this tall stack of veggies.
4.  You can add shrimp, oysters, squid, or even octopus at this point (we didn't). 
5.  The whole thing is flipped over, and it starts sizzling.  Yum!

6.  Meanwhile, the cook fries up some soba noodles with some seasonings and yummy sauce.

 7.  And last, he fries an egg, which will form the bottom of the stack. 

The Okonomiyaki is served with some yummy savory sweet sauce, and it is eaten with chopsticks.  Neatness does not count!

We liked our dinner so much that the next day right before heading back to Tokyo, we ate Okonomiyaki again for lunch at Hiroshima Station!  This time they cooked it behind a counter and then served it up to us on hot griddle at our table.

I'm so glad that my children were willing to try this Hiroshima specialty.

Here's something to think about - What dish would you recommend to a visitor to the United States?  How would you try to convince that visitor to try your favorite food?  Can you think of any foods or dishes that are a specialty of... Boston.... New England... your extended family?

Sadako

During our winter break, we also paid a brief visit to Hiroshima.

From our hotel we took a streetcar to Peace Park, which is very near where I used to live.

Peace Memorial

 

Those of you who have read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr are familiar with Sadako's story.  Here is her monument.  Those cases behind us are filled to the brim with paper cranes, just as they were when I lived here over twenty years ago.

In Peace Park, there is a museum about the bombing of Hiroshima and its effects.  We were amazed by this display of some of the actual cranes Sadako folded.  They are tiny, about the size of bumblebees.

Konnichiwa!

That means "good day" or "hello" in Japanese!  As my former fourth graders - soon to be fifth graders -  already know, I am headed to Japan soon.  Mr. Nanto and I, along with our two youngest children Kaela and Tommy, will live in Tokyo for 10 months.  I will post some of our adventures and discoveries here.

I am inspired by this image of the 1000 paper cranes my students created last year.  Aren't these cranes beautiful?