Osaka

Lots of people seem unimpressed with Osaka, and some even recommended skipping it. But we had a grreat time, our hotel was perfectly situated on Dotombori which is like the Times Square of Osaka. Lights and billboards as far as the eye can see, and lots of crazy stuff. Our hotel had gian heads out the front and the local dish is Octopus Balls which are literally served everywhere.

We finally achieved the challenge of ordering some noodles from a vending machine (which are then delivered out of a kitchen, not the machine), it was possibly the best $6 lunch I`ve ever had, which we followed up with some deep fried things on sticks for dinner for only $12. Which led me to believe that Osaka was cheap, until I discovered $7 coffee the next day....

The acquarium in Osaka is excellent and has a small whale shark which was pretty exciting to see. There were also apparently sun fish, but they weren`t to be seen by us- which Adam was pretty upset about.

We also stumbled upon a new rockclimbing wall up the side of a high rise building - it seemed to be quite the attraction with the whole street beingblocked off and quite the party going on. No idea if they always climb the building or if it was a special event.

Hiroshima

Hiroshima usually brings up thoughts of one thing, and there is a lot of that thing around hiroshima. Scores of school groups surrounded the peace park and Dome it seemed like it was their version of a year 6 trip to Canberra. Many of them also had a workbook requiring speaking some English to foreigners, needless to say we had a lot of superficial conversations with 8 year olds.

The childrens area of the park was quite moving. People make scores of paper cranes to remember a girl who died of leukaemia who thought that if she could make 1000 cranes then she wouldn`t die - unfotunately she passed away before finishing them. But now school classes make a 1000 cranes and bring them to the memorial and sing a little song to remember all the kids who died in the bomb and the after effects.

But the town is pretty great, very easy to navigate, pretty good food, vibant nightlife. We even tracked down some fantastic Japanese\Spanish tapas which were pretty excting.

Kuashiki

I chose Kurashiki over Okayama as our next stop as there was an enticing article on it in the web somewhere which made it sound like a quiet quaint stop over after Kyoto. So off to another Ryokan experience we went. A Ryokan is a traditional inn with shared baths, full meals included and usually futons on the floor. They often also have pillows made of buckwheat which is like little plastic macaroni shapes - occasionally comfortable, but definitely something to get used to.

The old town was incedibly cute and had some eager tourism operators who seemed excited to have non-domestic travellers around. There was a canal and lots of cute shops and an art gallery with Monet`s and Cezanne`s. But overall a very quiet, but atmospheric place to spend a night.

Relaxing in Kyoto

Next we took the 'Thunderbird' train to Kyoto. We had organised 5 nights here in an apartment on a hill in Gion. And we planned on taking a very leisurely pace around the town, which was as well as half of Japan seemed to be in Kyoto for the weekend and streets and temples and transport was all ridiculously packed, even the simplest noodle places had lines to get in for lunch.

We saw a few temples, cycled the Philosophers path

and maybe even a few Geisha (or just women dressed up as them). We also stumbled upon a wedding at a shrine with a fairly frightened looking bride.

We also had a few culinary adventures in our neighbourhood, including an excellent all you can eat shabu shabu and a cute Okonomiaki (pancake noodle thing) bar with 3 tables. We've also been eating a lot of convenience store ice cream as it's the first time the temperature has been over 20 degrees. Hope it stays that way.

Takayama -home of hida beef

Takayama got a big wrap in the guidebook and I'm not surprised. It was a little touristy, but the streets and canals were gorgeous and traditional shops and artisans were a great way to spend a rainy couple of days. There were Japanese tourists everywhere for golden week and even our little Ryokan (guesthouse) seemed filled with tour groups.

Our days spent wandering morning markets and attempting to find a good coffee ( nil for three) were punctuated by evening meals of beef that won the meat Olympics ( so said the sign). It was pretty fantastic. We ventured to a French place that did a great deal to avoid any Japanese weirdness which is just what I needed in my food at that point. The second night we found a rockabilly American Hamburger place which also didn't have a hint of umami or unidentifiable pickles or rice anywhere.

Surprising Nagoya

We flew from freezing Sapporo to the southern and presumably warmer Nagoya. I didn't have any expectations for Nagoya, its meant to be an industrial town and the home of Toyota. But it was surprisingly interesting. We stumbled upon (read= saw in a calendar and then spent 45 minutes looking for ) a Belgian Beer festival and I was curious to see the Japanese interpretation. Pricey with a hint of weird entertainment was the result.