Day 19- Kokura castle, memorial museum & Japanese gardens

Easy start this morning, left the hostel at around 10 to go to Kokura castle. The castle was beautiful.

Inside they had a full model of the city, it was amazing.

They also had a little show in silhouettes, it was so cool, would have been better if I could understand what they were saying. I got the gist, it was a replication of the kind of meetings that would go on in the castle.

They also had a little carriage that would move, it was pretty cool. It was like I was being carried around the city.

There was also a running game which would measure your speed. It would then tell you how long it would take to run that distance

There was board game, I didn't understand it because it was in Japanese.

I know it sounds silly, but it was so nice to be somewhere with so few tourists. That was until I got to the top of the castle and a scout group came traipsing through. Seriously, everywhere I've been, there has been a scout group. I can't escape them. I waited at the top of the castle for them to leave before continuing.

I wondered around the castle for a little longer before heading for the museum, the scout group was just leaving when I got to the museum. The tour guide stopped to talk to me, he was really nice. Then the Scouts came and he told them that I was from England, that really excited them for some reason.

They just sort of stared at me for a while which was weird enough, then they got their cameras and started taking photos which I found really odd. I think the american tour guide realised I was uncomfortable so he told them to stop.

After that uncomfortable encounter, I went into the museum. There wasn't anything in English so I walked through pretty quickly.

I then went to the Japanese gardens, they were beautiful. I sat on a bridge in the shade for a while. It was really lovely.

I then went to tea ceremony, first I was given red bean jelly.

Then I was given the tea. It was so nice. Frothy which I didn't expect.

Around 3, I left the gardens. There was a shopping centre nearby so I wondered around there for a while. There was a mini pool with a bubble machine and a slide for kids in the middle of the centre which was very odd.

Around 4 I realised I should probably eat something, I wondered around and somehow ended up in the market I was in yesterday.

I had some kind of chicken and some seaweed with some other vegetables. It was really nice. I just bought it from some stall in the market.

I spent a while in the market looking around before heading back to my hostel. I wasn't hungry around dinner time so I just grabbed something from 7/11

I planned my day in Osaka tomorrow and talked to my sister. I'm going to have an early night tonight, early start tomorrow.

Day 18- Off to Kitakyushu

Easy start today, direct train to Kokura in Kitakyushu. I arrived around 12 but it took me so long to find the hostel. It was so hidden, I must have walked past the hostel 3 or 4 times. In the end I asked someone and they very kindly walked me there.

I hung out in the hostel and planned what I'm going to do tomorrow. I then went to a nearby market just explore. The architecture here is really beautiful, it sort of reminds me of London.

In the market there was a Christmas tree, it was ridiculous.

Around dinner time I went to a Yaki Tori restaurant recommended by a guy who works in the hostel, no one spoke English and the menu also wasn't in English, but a lovely waitress just said she'd bring me stuff. That sounded great to me.

First I had asparagus and mushrooms in some kind of sauce, it was really good.

She then brought me some Yaki Tori which was delicious.

She also bought me a salad which wasn't what I expected. As soon as I took a bite, I realised how much I missed fresh veggies. They have cabbage and a lot of pickled vegetables but that's about it.

On my way back, I got some tea with tapioca balls in in. In the hostel I met some Japanese girls, they didn't speak much English but they were really friendly. There reaction when I told them I was 17 was hilarious, they had a whole conversation about it in Japanese. They kept saying Sugoi (which means wow).

I then talked to my Sister for a while and now I'm going to bed.

Day 17- Miyajima & Fireworks

Easy start this morning, left the hostel just before 10 to go to Miyajima.

The train and ferry it took to get there were both covered by my JR pass which was great. When I got to Miyajima, what struck me was just how many Deer there were. They were everywhere, trying to eat everything. I had to wrestle my map away from one of them. The number of times I turned round to find a deer nibbling on my rucksack was ridiculous.

They were so cute, however unwilling to take a photo with me.

I walked straight to the beach so that I could walk up to the arch before the water got too deep. It was really beautiful.

I then wondered around the temples for a while, it was so hot so I found a lovely place to sit.

It was only 100yen to get in and so worth it. I stayed there for a couple of hours and had a nap.

Not a bad place to sleep.

Around 3 I figured I should probably eat something, so I wondered down the main high street.

I had a beef filled bun which was delicious, I've tried making that bread at home before but it's never quite the same.

I also had an oyster with octopus on it. It was so tasty, really spicy.

I then saw a rose and green tea flavoured ice cream, naturally I had to try it. It was so good, definitely going to be trying that flavour combo when I get home.

After, I walked back to the beach and watched the tide come in, it got to high tide around half 4.

I then hopped on the ferry and then a train and got back to my hostel around quarter to 6.

I met a British girl at the hostel, first British person I've met. She was really nice but was unfortunately just leaving.

I had heard about a fireworks festival that was going on and it turned out that it was tonight. The guy told me not to go on my own because it's really busy but there are only really Scout groups in my hostel so I went anyway.

The fireworks were amazing. Some of them were in shapes like a squid or a cat and other displays were just spectacular. Apparently 10,000 fireworks were set of tonight. At the festival I met 2 American ladies, they were really chatty and nice.

After the fireworks there was a mad rush to get on the trams. I somehow managed to push my way on but it was so packed, I couldn't move. I met 2 British guys on the tram and we had laugh about how ridiculous this all was. It took an hour to get back on the tram, it wad going really slowly, probably because of the weight.

When I got back to the hostel, I met a woman from Austria. We talked till about half 11 when I decided to finally go upstairs get ready for bed.

Off to Kitakyushu tomorrow.

Day 16- Off to Hiroshima

Early start today, 6:30. I literally had to drag myself out of bed because I went to bed at half 12.

My train was at 8, direct to Hiroshima, YAY! First direct train, so far I've had to change at least twice.

I got to Hiroshima around 10 and dropped my luggage at the hostel. I then headed straight for the memorial peace museum. The monuments were beautiful but it was really sad reading about the history.

In the actual museum they had remains of clothing from school children who had died during the bombing of Hiroshima. It was quite upsetting but I think it's really important thing for people to be aware of.

After the museum I walked to Hiroshima castle. It was really hot by this time so I looked around quite quickly.

It was really beautiful but I was quite tired from the walking I've done over the past couple days so I headed back to the hostel quite soon. On my way I stopped for a rather late lunch. I found this tiny little restaurant where no one spoke English. It made ordering quite interesting. I heard pork and ginger which sounded good enough for me so I went with that. It was so tasty, quite different to everything else I've eaten here. It reminded me more of the kind of food I ate in China. It also came with cold tofu which I discovered is a lot nicer than hot tofu, especially when drenched in soy sauce.

I got back to the hostel just around 4 and just relaxed for a while. It's been a busy past few days with some very late nights so I'm happy to have a quiet night in tonight.


Around half 8 I went to get something light to eat, I found another quiet little restaurant where no one spoke English. The only thing I could understand was Okonomiyaki so I went for that again, so it ended up not being quite so light. Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki is different to the one I had yesterday. This was like a pancake with cabbage, noodles, bacon, fish and other stuff inside. It was so good, but the portion was huge. I powered through 2 thirds before giving up.

It was so delicious though, I prefer Hiroshima style Okonimiyaki, there were more veggies in it.

Now I'm just relaxing in the hostel, I think I'll have an early night tonight and catch up on some sleep.  So bye for now.

Day 15- Fushimi Inari Taisha, Gion (sort of) & back to Nishiki

An easy start this morning, Anna and I got to Inari at around 11am. It was forecast to rain all day today but it actually wasn't that bad so we decided to do the full route.

The temple was beautiful, quite different to the other ones I've seen.

We started the "trek" at about half 11, initially we took quite a few detours because it was just so amazing.

We got back on route around 12, there were quite a lot of steps and it was a little slippery but so worth it.

We finished the trek around half 1 and headed back to Nishiki market, we walked past Gion but decided to go straight to the market to get something eat.

I had to get another octopus, it was just so delicious.

We also had Takoyaki.

It wasn't very traditional though, there was cheese on it. Still good.

I also had a drink made out of a citrus fruit called Yuzu, it was so nice. It turns out that is the flavour of Fanta I've been drinking. It's so good.

After eating, we went to buy a Kimono. It was really cheap, only £20.

I then considered going back to Gion to have a look around. I had seen pictures and it was pretty similar to a lot of the things I've seen already, and quite frankly, I was pretty tired because of the morning, so we decided to go back to the hostel.

It turned out we were only a 10 minute walk from the hostel, we had managed to loop round from the hostel.

I hung out for a while in the common room and talked to a Japanese girl who grew up in New Zealand (Holly). She was really lovely and recommended an Okonomiyaki place nearby. She went to teach English at a school shortly after.

Around half 7, Anna and I headed to the Okonomiyaki place and another Spanish girl joined us. On our way, we ran into Holly so she joined us as well.

We had Okonomiyaki (obviously) and Yaki Soba. It was all delicious. They cooked everything at the table which was very cool.

On our way back, we stopped of at a 7/11 to get some drinks. We also bought some ice lollies. I had a watermelon one, it was in the shape of a watermelon slice and even had pieces of chocolate in it as the seeds. I was very excited.

We stayed in the common room for a while before saying our goodbyes. I've met a great bunch of people at this hostel and am quite sad to say bye.

I'm just over the halfway mark now which sucks because I'm not going to want to leave in 2 weeks :(

But Hiroshima tomorrow which I'm really excited for. For now, I'm off to bed.