Nara and Hiroshima Trip 2015

One must never miss these two important spots in Japan- Nara and Hiroshima. Once you are in Osaka, these two places are never too far away. With the JR Pass, you can utilize the bullet trains as much as you can. We reserved the seats for our shinkansen train. As for Nara, we boarded the Shinkansen and reached at JR Nara station. From there, you can board the bus straight to Todaiji Temple where its listed as UNESCO heritage featuring the huge bronze Buddha. There were many tourists and local students visiting the place. 

From there you will see tons of deers roaming around the area asking for food. There are various street vendors selling the

senbei (deer crackers) to feed them. A pack costs JPY150. The deers will come swarming towards you, head butting you for more food. It was quite an experience and you will see some of their horns were saw off to prevent injury towards visitors. The Kasuga Shrine is not too far from Todaiji and you can easily walk there to visit the many Japanese stone lanterns lining up the area.

      

Hiroshima is one city that suffered the massive blew up from the nuclear bomb dropped by the US soldiers as a revenge for bombing their Pearl Harbour. The only building that survived in the WW2 was the A-Bomb Dome. It was designed by a foreign architect but now its old dusty looking Genbaku Dome is one that survived where the rest of the city has been flattened out and generations suffered from the radiation. Local school students were brought to visit the place to remember those who have died and the Cenopath was build with a flame to seek for all nuclear weapons to be destroyed. 

We were on a super amazing race from Osaka to Hiroshima as the most important tourist spot was the floating torii gate at Miyajima Island. The big floating torii gate is the iconic spot at the island where one needs to board the subway to Miyajima and then ferry to the island. The island is also famous for its oysters. 2 big oysters grilled costs JPY450. We even ate the seafood okonomiyaki topped with oysters. Hiroshima has its iconic cookies and biscuits filled with custard or  cream in a shape of maple leaf.