To the Motherland, Part 1

Friday, July 18
We left home and stayed at yet another expressway stop. Not recommended for the summertime.

Saturday, July 19
We woke and headed to Yamaguchi Prefecture! I had promised my grandparents that I would visit our ancestral homeland while I was in Japan: it took me two years to get there, but I made it!

Our first stop was Iwakuni, which is famous for this beautiful bridge. Can you spot the castle on the mountain in the distance?

The weather was sticky, so before we trekked to the distant castle, we stopped for cones of soft cream at a shop boasting one hundred different flavors of the sweet stuff.

These boards list favorite flavors among men, women, and children.

I chose watermelon soft cream.

Chris had grape.

We rode a ropeway up to the castle. Lucky thing, too. I would've refused to hike up in the heat.

Iwakuni Castle. It was hot.

Woodland creatures protect our forests.

A white snake.

I saved this little guy from a swift death by Chris's foot.

The scene from the window, driving through Yanai, my great-grandmother's hometown.

Our other stop in Yamaguchi was the Museum of Japanese Emigration to Hawaii, a small place in an old house formerly owned by an immigrant to Hawaii who returned to Japan. The two men working there helped us to locate our great-grandparents' names, occupations, and addresses in battered tomes of Honolulu immigrant registries. We watched a diorama performance (of why there are no foxes in the area), two videos, and received two sticks of chilled mizuame.

We only arrived in Hiroshima in the early evening, and we caught a ferry to Miyajima.

Since there is no shika senbei (deer treats) for sale here, the deer are far less vicious/greedy/pushy than their relatives in Nara.

Without the senbei that their Nara counterparts enjoy, the favorite snack of the Miyajima deer appeared to be paper. The group here indulges in a tourist brochure. Yum.

Baby! He lost his mom. More on him later.

This shrine is usually surrounded by water, but we arrived at low tide.

A photographer followed every step of this stag, who patiently ate all the paper blessings off a long shrine rope.

It was wet and hot. No Hawaii girl could not resist a dip. So I took off my shoes and waded around in the seaweed.

The photographer was still devoted to finding a good shot of the stag.

Lazy deer.

This time, the paper treat is ice cream wrappers.

Danger!

Riding the ferry back to the mainland.

After a hot and sticky day, we were ready for baths, and we visited a swank onsen in Hiroshima City. I sampled a number of baths with the other naked women (mostly old). In one, I lay in the shallow water with a hot rock under my head as a pillow. Another bath was filled with bright yellow lemons. The smell was amazing!

For dinner, we ate at the onsen restaurant. I ordered the "bakudan" (bomb--a little sad considering Hiroshima's history) musubi set. It came with three sticks of yakitori, a mini udon, and of course a giant musubi filled with three different things.

Munch munch munch.
As a typical geek couple, Chris and I played Mario Party on our DSs throughout our meal.

We finished with lemon kakigoori (shave ice), topped with sweetened condensed milk. I think I'm going to be eating a lot more shave ice when I get home.

In the evening, we went to an Internet cafe. I had requested that we spend the night somewhere air-conditioned. If you can sleep sitting upright, Internet cafes are the way to go. Customers pay a set fee for ten hours (at night), which allows you unlimited Internet access, soft drinks, and access to a large library of magazines and manga, all to enjoy in a private little booth. I watched several old episodes of CSI: Miami, which was unfortunately dubbed in Japanese, before attempting to fall asleep on 1/3 of the "pair seat" couch.




Enjoy more Cute Animal Video. Though most of the deer here respond to human contact with indifference, this baby cried and ran away when a woman ran her hand across his back. He then attempted to eat, gnawing at leaves on a branch, though he wasn't adept enough to pluck off the greens with his teeth. He gave up and lay in the dirt looking pouty and crying a little more. I pulled a few leaves off and lay them in front of him. Surprisingly, he ate the small offering. I continued to feed him until all the leaves were gone from the branch. What a spoiled boy. He'll need to toughen up. I wish I could've taken him home and become his new mom, but deer aren't allowed on the ferry.