Ian Rambles
I strolled to the end of the platform as we waitied for our train to Hiroshima. A couple of Japanese ladies in distinctive pink uniforms appeared ahead of me. As I wondered what they were I turned - and along the whole length of the platform stood a row of evenly spaced pairs of pink uniforms waiting for the train - the cleaning staff.

They took a carriage each and removed the trivial rubbish collection left by the tidy northbound Japanese who had just arrived, Everything that needed a wipe got a wipe. The antimacassars all replaced with fresh. They then worked the length of the carriage and turned all the seats to face the other way ready for the train to head back south.

The line to Hiroshima runs along the coastal plains which lives up to Japan's crowded reputation. Noticable were large numbers of ferris wheels and golf driving ranges. The bullet trains are not a good way to see japan however. They are far too fast. By the time you spot anything interesting it has disappeared astern before you can point it out of take a photo!

You get a good inside view of Japan as there are lots of long tunnels - but the inside of the mountains is not particularly memorable!

Our Japan Rail passes were valid on the local train and on the ferry across to the island of Myajima where we were booked into a rather more upmarket hotel than our usual acommodation.

Fiona's Journal
Wednesday July 30th
Before leaving the ryokan in Tokyo I had yet another go at lightening our load. I evicted several items of clothing, of the warmer variety, from the boys bags and regretfully discarded the $7 fleece that I got at Value Village in Canada (it had paid for itself just in those few chilly evenings high up in the Rockies) and left a couple more books and a DVD in the quiet room library. Then we loaded up and headed back into the sultry railway system, heading for the Island of Miyajima.

A fascinating thing on this journey was watching the high speed train get cleaned at the terminal before we boarded it. It was a miracle of “many hands make light work”. The train pulled in to our station and the incoming passengers all got off. Immediately a flock of women, in flamingo pink overalls, whisked in through every open door and along the length of the carriage at high speed performing their alloted tasks. Some were deftly gathering rubbish into sacs, others whisked the antimacassars of the back of seats while simultaneously turning the seat to allow another woman to sweep dirt from under it. Others brushed the upholstery with one hand while wiping the arm rest with a damp cloth in the other hand. And the whole thing was clean and ready for us to board in 5 minutes flat!

Three trains and one short ferry ride later we arrived and were immediately greeted by several representatives of the island's very tame, wild deer population. They inspected us minutely and nibbled tentatively at our bags and our clothing while we wait for our turn in the queue for the one taxi. In many ways they behave more like goats than deer but they are very charming.

Our hotel is rather grand and there are many smiling staff to greet us and take our shoes (which go into lockers in the entrance hall) and show us to our suite. Unfortunately none of the slippers on offer are anywhere near big enough for Arthur or Ian so they must shuffle round the hotel rather absurdly with 6” of foot hanging over the heel! The suite is lovely, in that very unfussy Japanese way, with sliding screens of wooden-framed paper to divide up the space as needed. There is a narrow balcony looking out over the sea.

A magnificent meal was laid out in our room for us this evening which we ate around a low table sitting on legless chairs on the floor. Each of us had a large tray filled with a dozen or so small bowls and dishes of different things, some we could recognise and some not, and there was also a dish of soup each bubbling away over its own ceramic burner heated by a candle. Without any English at all the lady who served us ( and of course, at this level, she had to stoop and kneel all the time to do so) managed to explain to us that you are meant to cook morsels of other foods in the soup as it simmers including the raw egg that we had been wondering what to do with!. Then she left us to it and we ate like kings and I have to say that the boys were admirably adventurous. Many different species of fish featured and several brightly coloured pickled things with really interesting tastes and, of course, sticky rice and seaweed and many things we could not identify at all and I have to say that eating has become a major entertainment in its own right in Japan.

Thursday July 31st
We caught the free hotel bus into town this morning and wandered through narrow streets crowded with visitors and lined by wall to wall open fronted shops displaying their wares. The majority were obviously tourist shops selling a massive array of trinkets and souvenirs. This Island has a thing about rice paddles and proudly displays, in the town square, what is allegedly the largest rice spoon in the world. There are wooden rice paddles of every conceivable size and design for sale in every one of these shops but we feel quite able to resist their alure. George bought himself a rather nice, dark blue, Japanese fan of the classic “concertina” type – he has been fascinated by these since we arrived and, in particular, by the deft flick of the wrist with which the Japanese open and close them. He is practicing even as I write.

We climbed a short hill to look at Senjokaku (the name means hall of a thousand tatami mats) which is a large open-sided timber hall, built by order of Emperor Toyotomi Hidyoshi in 1587 but never completed after the emperor's death in 1598. It is cool and quiet and beautiful and walking barefoot on the wide, timber floorboards, worn smooth by thousands of feet before me, is a sensuous experience. There is a five storey pagoda next to the hall that is even older (built in 1407) and is very striking, in its orange and white lacquered paintwork but we are not allowed inside this.

Two Japanese women approached us, as we were walking up to these monuments, and asked if they could talk with us for a while as they are learning English and have been instructed to talk to as many native speakers as they can. Conversation did not extend beyond the usual pleasantries and simple enquiries and replies but I thought they were doing very well. The Japanese find our pronunciation of words as difficult as we do their's.

We couldn't get into the aquarium because they did not take credit cards, as most places don't outside of Tokyo it seems, so we go in search of an ATM. The first one we try which is in a bank, rejects our cards ( I should add that we have 6 different cards between us but we still are not finding it easy to get hold of cash). A kind citizen, seeing our difficulty, directs us to the post office and their ATM shells out 10,000 yen (£50) with no difficulty though that is the maximum allowed in one transaction and won't last long, I fear. However, we have learnt something very useful. Apparently all post offices in Japan have ATMs which are accessible from 9.00am to 11.00pm and accept foreign bank cards. We shall be frequent visitors, I fear as accommodation is not cheap here and must be paid for in cash.

Back at the hotel George, Arthur and I went for a wander along the beach and bumped into an Aussie called Peter who had been staying with an old friend in Singapore for a week and was now travelling on the explore more of the far East. Like us he was full of praise for the kindness and charm of the Japanese people. He is including Thailand in his itinerary so we may even bump into each other again there!

Arthur's Log:
30th
We left the hostel very early and got to our hotel by train, ferry, taxi. Awesome hotel, the staff were so helpful it was approaching annoying. They even tried to carry all 8 of our bags between the 2 of then and, even after we got them down to four, they left us the lift and sprinted up four flights of stairs to meet us at the top.

Lots of space and a balcony, beer in the fridge. We were served dinner in our room. It took use about two hours to get through it all. Each of us got a tray with around a dozen dishes on containing stuff that I have no clue what is. Fish heads, octopuses tentacles and it went on and on and on.

31st
For breakfast we ended up with their idea of a western breakfast, I don't know why.

I haven't mentioned yet that Japan has the highest population density in the world, which means on average people are very friendly and will happily walk up to you in the street and launch into conversation. They also are so nice too you its almost like you're in a different world.

We took the bus into town and there are deer walking around everywhere there not shy - in fact they're as forward as the Japanese, one even tried to eat my map out of my pocket.

Thinking back to yesterday now, we didn't see one area of land that wasn't growing rice or built on. I even saw one apartment block which was a 13 story tower that was only about 6 by 8 meters, The stairs took up more room than the flats.

Back to town we found the worlds biggest rice scoop, it was nine point something meters long, they seem to have a obsession with scoops, and fans, and chop stick stands, (yes I know that rhymed). They are sold from every shop as souvenirs and I really can't see the point.

We went to see a 600 years old wooden Japanese temple, and I have learned why their classic building have that multi layer curving roof. They build it like that cause it is much much easier to find lots and lots of small pieces of wood than just a few bits of long wood. The result is first that they are made out of a huge complex network of short 1-2 meter pieces of wood and second that makes it all very heavy and thats why they have that wonderful curve.