Week 3 - Japan

typical trains in Kyushu (the region we are now in)

Picture of Hiroshima from the top of the beer garden

Fukuoka beer garden

Ohayo gozaimas from Fukuoka Japan!

So this is our last post from Japan, we are leaving today and flying to Busan Korea the country most famous for eating man`s best friend!

The last post I mentioned something about beer gardens... Yes, we have discovered beer gardens! So here is what we have been doing the past week...

Tuesday -BEER GARDENS - Hiroshima, one of the coolest places in Japan. Being made up of islands, it has many beautiful canals and water passages. Hiroshima; a name which congeurs thoughts of its horrific past is now an incredible place to visit. Notably Miyajima an island nearby which is fantastic for hiking, we spent the day here on Tuesday hiking and taking in the scenery, like Nara it has deer which can be hand fed, along with lots of lizards, big bugs and snakes - we didn't try feeding any of the later. That night was the best part of Hiroshima, its nightlife. We were just finding out about beer gardens - having wondered why Japan does not have a very exciting bar scene - its all about the beer gardens - this is where the Japanese go after work to have fun! They are on top of shopping malls so not too easy to spot unless someone tells you. The place we chose had the following; all you can eat (with a little grill we rented for the top of our table called a Baikan) - they had loads of great cooked food and also lots of meat (beef, pork, lamb) along with prawns you can grill - on top of this was all you can drink BEER and SAKI! Marina and I made sure we drank the charge of the night in beer - then its kind of like free food. To get in is about 3000Yen each (30 bucks) - what a bargain! This was open until about 10pm so a good 3 and a half hours! We then went partying with some expat students we met.

Wednesday - Nagasaki - Starting with a hangover, we wanted to see more about the nuclear attacks in Japan so we made our way to Nagasaki. Very quickly we saw that this was different to Hiroshima in many ways. Mainly it was not as beautiful and charming. The city was well worth visiting except we were finally seeing our first rain in Japan - so with umbrellas from the hotel we ventured out for a Ramen dinner.

Thursday - Kajira - In the morning we went to the Nagasaki suburb of Urakami visiting the epicentre of the nuclear bomb and learning more about the destruction it caused. Both bombs essentially destroyed both cities, although roughly half of the people of the cities survived, however many died shortly there after from the radiation. We then made our way to the city of Kumamoto to see its beautiful castle. Compared to the European castles I have seen, the Japanese are seriously fortified. Once you see one of the major ones, you wonder how an attack could be successful. During the evening we tried Kajira! I`ll give you a hint what this is... You can only legally buy it in Norway, Iceland or Japan... Yes we ate Shamoo, but to make it worse, this was not even cooked whale, it was raw sushimi, and one appetiser was made of its tongue. I promise you this is only the beginning of the "gross" food :D

Friday - We arrived in our final Japanese location - Fukuoka. The evening was dedicated to yet another beer garden - this one wasn't nearly as good as Hiroshima and they were strict about only being there for 2 hours so we made our way off.

Saturday - BEACH PARTY- This day was dedicated to the beach and we made our way to the island of Nokonoshima which is just outside of Fukuoka. This place was a jackpot as it is where the Japanese of Fukuoka go on the weekend to enjoy the beach and party. We were only there about 15 minutes when we were invited over a group of guys who were in the Japanese Army! We spent most of the day getting pushed saki, good beer, and the food they grilled. Whilst they were partying hard they were mostly lightweights and a lot were a sleep by 2pm on the beach. The others did exactly as guys do, either bury them in the sand or make them look silly. One thing you may find interesting; they were asking me what I eat for lunch in America and being unsure what they meant by this - they started saying bread, bread, bread?? With army guys, you never know if its a joke, but this one was for real, when I said I often eat a sandwich for lunch they were so impressed, bread is not very common here as you can imagine.

And today we are leaving this fine country, having enjoyed it far more than we ever imagined. Japan is one of the safest, cleanest, friendliest, most advanced countries of the world. If only the leaders from the West can take note at Japanese transport, food, and cleanliness of the cities. I cannot believe that Japan is not a top destination on everyone`s agenda. They place is so easy to travel to without knowing Japanese and I can`t imagine how anyone would go home disappointed. Just for a quick ranking of the cities we have liked - Tokyo is the undisputed number 1; followed by Hiroshima in 2nd and Kobe in 3rd.

Siyanara and speak to you in Korea (south Korea if anyone is wondering) :D

Dan and Marina