Himeji

In Himeji, we enjoyed a couple of hours in the town, exploring the area around the castle, and the main shopping street - Otemae Dori.

Himeji Castle:








Views from around Himeji::

Hiroshima

In Hiroshima, we toured the beautiful Peace Memorial Park and adjoining Peace Memorial Museum. The park itself contains many smaller memorials and monuments with the actual museum building on one far end of the park, and the A-Bomb Dome located on just the opposite end. The whole park area is wonderfully maintained, and is tastefully designed to be a very pleasant park despite the inherently heavy setting. Although touring the inside of the memorial museum was a very sobering process, it was a completely worthwhile experience and we were glad to have done it. The outside of the park was the perfect setting to decompress and just enjoy the our time there and reflect on the history of this remarkable location.

Peace Memorial Park & Museum:

Kobe

Kobe is a great little city filled with historical sights such as the Kitano district, but the highlight of our stop there was the Wagyu beef we had for one meal. World renowned for its flavor and tenderness, the steak lived up to all of our expectations!

Ikuta Shrine:




Street Scenes:




Kitano Ijinkan Foreign Residence District:






Yummy Kobe Steak:

Osaka

In Osaka, we had time for one touristy event and a quick meal before heading on to our next destination in Japan.

Umeda Sky Building:




Front garden area:


Escalator to the upper floors:


Views:






"O" is for Osaka:


Foods:

Nara

Next, we took a quick train ride over to the small town of Nara. It is only about an hour ride away from Kyoto by way of bullet train, and the main draw of the town is a large park with great walking paths, and of course, temples and shrines. Plus, there are tame deer all over the place that you can feed and pet. The town itself is also very walkable, and the hostel we stayed at was convienently located just 5 minutes from the park as well as the fun downtown area.

Sarusawa-ike pond:


A Pagoda:


In Nara Park:


Kofukuji Temple:




The Pink Hats:


The Green Hats:


Todaiji Temple:




At a lake in Nara Park:


Nigatsu-do Hall:


View from Nigatsu-do Hall:


A rare find in a vintage clothing store. Interestingly, the store was also a fruit & vegetable stand!


Pachinko!


Super clean trains: