CODY SHIMIZU

A look into my life, a journal to look back on, a blog for others to see.

Miyajima is a small island just outside of Hiroshima and thats where Id be visiting today I left the hostel to try and avoid the crowds at Miyajima. Since I planned to spend the whole day there I decided to climb Mount Misen, although there was a ropeway I decided to save myself the 20 bucks and do the hike instead. My oh my was there a lot of stairs! It was absolutely incredible, the whole entire 2km trek was covered with just regular rocks and stones cobbled together. Just the man hours, the incredible amount of work and the details that was put into them was incredible. The nature was nothing like what it was in Canada. It was much more humid, wayyy more green foliage surrounding me as I made the hike up. At the top there was a small shrine, and a little further up was an observatory. It gave me a 360 degree view all around the island, and even overlooking most of Hiroshima.

After a long hike back I went to check out the Itsukushima Shrine, where they have a HUGE torii gate out in the middle of the sea. At low tide you can actually go up to the torii gate, and at high tide it looks like its floating in the middle of the ocean. As well as the part of the shrine is all built within a bay where at high tide it is filled with water and it looks like the shrine is floating on water as well.

The torii gate was absolutely amazing! The sheer size, the scale of the gate was incredible. You really had to be able to go up close to the torii gate to really appreciate the size of the gate. At this point I was quite tired although I had planned to try and stay until sunset I decided to head home early to try and get to bed early. I decided to go for some Okonomiyaki again since it was sooo good last night. It was absolutely amazing, like nothing Ive ever had! The authentic way of eating it straight off of the hot plate using the flat spatula like thing, trying to fit in like a local LOL ( I may or may not have burnt my tongue).

Today was another big travel day where I would be going from Hiroshima, towards Shikoku and into Matsuyama where they have one of the oldest public bath houses in Japan called Dogo Onsen. The train ride from Hiroshima to Onomichi was simple but it was a bit more complicated when I had to find a bus that went across the Shimanami Kaido crossing a bunch of bridges and islands towards Imabari. Only problem was that since Onomichi Station was a pretty old and a very small station I couldnt read any of the signs for the buses and unlike a train station there wasnt any employees that I could ask directions for (I can only speak Japanese, I can barely read, yes I know its a disgrace but whatevs). Thankfully when I was questioning all of the bus drivers that came by there was a nice old couple that pointed me in the right direction. After waiting around for a little while I got on the right bus and I was on my way!

The Shimanami Kaido was really impressive it was essentially a bunch of islands connected by really long bridges to connect the mainland Honshu and Shikoku unfortunately the weather wasnt the greatest but the views were still amazing. After I got to Imabari it was smooth sailing to get to Matsuyama… that is until I got to the hostel, where I was hoping to drop off my heavy ass bags, but, of course, it was locked and I couldnt. I know, my luck. So I ended up lugging around my heavy backpack and the messenger bag with my camera gear to visit Matsuyama castle.

Matsuyama castle was daym impressive! Like seriously! Waaaaayyyyyy better than Hiroshima castle, their grounds were literally right on top of this man made island. Where the walls were build with these huge boulders that were cut to fit almost perfectly so people (ninjas) couldnt climb up easily. Just thinking about how they made the whole entire structure before any machines and precise tools was incredible. Then there was the actual castle itself, the entire building was either kept in original condition or rebuilt to be very accurate to the original castle. The whole entire building and the details within the castle was stunning. With the layout of all of the artifacts and nitbits of information what really nice, no concrete walls no concrete steps, infact the wooden steps leading to the next level was incredibly steep, they were pretty much ladders. Every single aspect of the building was made for protection. With little trap doors to drop stones on enemys climbing the side of the building to the steep hills leading up to the castle to tire out the enemy.

After exploring every square cm of the castle and its grounds I made my way back to the hostel to finally drop off my bags. It was soo nice to not have to lug them around! After having some Udon for dinner I went to check out the Dogo Onsen finally! The outside of the building was amazing! All of the detail in the structure, you could definitely tell that it was built quite a while back! So some of you may not know but the public bath houses are separate between the two genders, and you go into the bath completely naked, in fact its very disrespectful to enter the bath with any clothes on. And growing up with western culture, it was VERY awkward for me, like REALLY. At least it was the “normal” in Japan, I guess just sit down relax and just dont look anywhere LOL. Anyhow the inside of the Onsen was surprisingly mundane, I really dont know what I was expecting myself but, there wasnt really anything exceptionally amazing inside; although it was nice to relax after a long day of walking around and lugging my stuff around.

Right in front of the Dogo Onsen is a small shopping arcade filled with mostly gift shops, for tourists. Apparently in Ehime prefecture where Matsuyama is situated, they are famous for their oranges, and they had many shops selling fresh squeezed orange juice, absolutely perfect after a dip in a hot tub! It was nice taking in the vibe of a small town life in Japan!

What!? Orange JELLO??