Day 23 11/10/2014

Despite the young English guests chatting into the early hours we both had a good nights sleep and headed off in the morning to visit Hemiji-jo.  The castle is one of only a handful of original castles in Japan and although it's currently undergoing extensive renovations and you're not able to enter the main keep it's great to see and learn about it's history.  Hemiji itself is a small city and it is not a particularly attractive place.  The castle looks very out of place against the backdrop of high rise buildings and shopping arcades.  The lady who ran the hostel suggested we headed to Sho-sha-zan Engyo-ji temple which is a short bus ride from the city.  It's then a quick ride in a cable car and a walk up through a wonderful tranquil forest to get to the main temples which are occupied by practising monks.  It was used as a location for some of the filming of Last of the Samurai which seemed at odds with the peace and serenity of the place and preserving everything that it stands for.  No doubt the reality was that the American dollars very much helped to achieve this!  Then it was back to the station and a short trip on the Shinkansen to Hiroshima.  We were back in a western style hotel overlooking the river Kyobashi.  We headed off to find a restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet guide and failed miserably!  Instead we ended up in a bustling building which has 25 food stalls spread over 3 floors.  No doubt reassured by the number of westerners present we sat ourselves down at one of the stalls and were treated to a fantastic experience watching three ladies cook our meal in front of us on a big hot plate.  We both had okonomiyaki, described as savoury pancakes, washed down with local beer (Japanese beer is very nice!).  It went something like this - pancake base cooked and then topped with roughly half a shredded cabbage (good intake of roughage!), nuts (?), lemon juice, soya sauce and some other indecipherable ingredient, bacon, fried egg spread thinly over the hot plate and then added to the  pile, noodles cooked separately and then added to the pile and the whole pile turned over, topped with a fried egg for Diane or prawns and scallops added for Simon, a huge pile of green onions added and slid over to your seat around the table.  It may not sound the most appetising of foods but it tasted amazing and was extremely filling (and good for the digestive system the following day!).