Tramping: Japan part 4

After leaving the island of Shikoku I headed for Hiroshima, crossing onto the main island of Honshu:

Enko River in Hiroshima

School pupils waiting for the lights to change. They all wear school uniforms, even t he youngest who look very cute with matching colourful umbrellas and wellies on wet days.

Japan in general is very clean. In the station a member of staff was busy spot cleaning any little marks.

I was in Hiroshima station at morning rush hour for my day trip down the coast. So good at queuing, letting people off busy trains etc.

Approaching Mejima Island on the ferry, south of Hiroshima. The red torii or temple gate in the water. Pilgrims previously sailed to the temple through the gate.

The gate close up. At low tide you can walk up to it. And many people did - it was very busy. I took the cable car up Mt Misen to enjoy the views before walking down via the various temples and shrines.

View of the Inland Sea and islands

Shrine near top

Daishoin temple

For those of you who have been missing the ice creams! A coffee and vanilla mix.

After taking the ferry back across I took a train further south to Iwakuni and see the amazing Kintaikyo bridge. The original dated from the seventeenth century but was swept away in the 1950s then rebuilt. Still beautiful. Some lovely gardens nearby where I spotted some caged cormorants which are used in traditional fishing called ukai (look it up).

Photo in the park display

The next day was pretty much rain, rain, rain. I had some time set aside so took the bus to the Hiroshima Peace Museum for a very sobering lesson on the effects of an atomic bomb.

The Genbaku Dome was the only building to survive in the city centre and is now the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. Then back on the train and further south west crossing by tunnel onto the island of Kyushu and on to Nagasaki. Another city that suffered and atomic bomb attack.

The next morning was bright and sunny as I walked down to the harbour and the area known as Dejima. This was once an island set aside for the European traders to live and work in. It is in the process of a full restoration:

Weigh beam used in the trade of goods. Europeans wanted silver and later copper in exchange for a variety of merchandise.

And we think the global economy is a new thing! Mejima is where the 21 year old Scot Thomas Blake Glover arrived in 1859 to take up a post with a British firm. Glover Gardens is where you will find his home, the oldest Western wooden building in Japan. Several other buildings have been relocated there.

View from the moving walkway

Young Glover

Glover then dealt for himself in tea, ships and weapons and was instrumental in the modernisation of Japan and played a role in supporting the clans who overthrew the shogunate and opened Japan up to the world.