A quick transfer today, just half an hour on the local train from Kyoto to Osaka and we were in our next new home. Another Mimara apart hotel which are just super – well thought out studio apartments with plenty of room for all including a kitchenette, I don’t think I’ve seen anything of similar quality anywhere else. After dropping off our luggage our first stop was the Nintendo shop, more merch than any of us had ever seen, and I was impressed/worried as to just how many of the characters the girls knew! They got the chance to play one of the favourite games in the store, Mario Kart, a little connection with normal home life. After much searching we located the nearby station’s food court – the train stations here are enormous housing several train lines, department stores and places to eat, each is a small shopping centre in itself. The food court was great, tempura and noodles filling us up. A bit more shopping at Uniqlo after lunch – to be honest wasn’t really that different to the stores in the UK, and home for quick pit stop. We’ve done really well eating just Japanese food so far, but today we broke our western food fast with burgers at Shake Shack, was nice change to have no surprises and to recognise (most of!) the menu. We were once again amazed at how trusting the Japanese are – on tables either side of us people left mobiles and wallets whilst they went up to order – I can’t imagine seeing this anywhere else, especially not in London.

With our fill of burgers, we walked to Dotonbori, a busy area along the river with lots of neon lights and so many people. We took a short river cruise down the river admiring the lights (including the Glico running man sign) and the strings of lanterns. Definitely one of the most random water trips we’ve taken – Japanese commentary including a song to Old McDonald and counting down to the Glico sign…

It was an early start the next day for a day trip to Hiroshima, catching the 7am bullet train. One train and a tram later we arrived at the Peace Museum. We had explained to the girls beforehand what had happened at Hiroshima but I don’t think any of us had fully understand the impact until we’d passed through the museum. So many personal stories, photos, and belongings, talking about the immediate and longer term impact. It left us all feeling rather emotional, and triggered some challenging moral conversations with the girls. After a coffee and cake to restore energy, we caught the Heritage ferry to Miyajimar Island, meant to be a scenic ride, however rain and cloud meant very little visibility and the raincoats were out. On arrival at the island we walked along the seafront to its main attraction, Itsukushima Shrine, which is built over the sea, and its huge gate which is out at sea. With the mist and rain this was an amazing thing to see. There were a few deer roaming the streets quite happily walking amongst the crowds, which Hatty enjoyed petting. Escaping from the rain we stopped in a little restaurant to have okonomiyaki for lunch – a dish made on a hot plate comprising a pancake, noodles, cabbage and an omelette – very tasty! It was then time to return our steps, hopping on a shorter ferry crossing to catch the bullet train home.

Our final day in Japan started in a more relaxed fashion after yesterday’s epic trip out, catching the train to nearby Nara mid-morning. The day started wet again so we were pleased to have borrowed see-through umbrellas from the hotel – there appears to be just one umbrella producer in Japan, everyone has the same cool looking brollies! The key reason for our visit was to walk around Nara Park to see the deer. There are over 1,200 deer in the park, and they are very docile and love being fed deer crackers. Their extra trick is that they can bow – when you bow, they return this in expectation of a cracker.  This was one of those experiences, which you know isn’t morally brilliant (using animals for our entertainment) but on the other hand was really cute and lovely to do….there were deer everywhere! Our last visit of the day was also our final shrine in Japan (much to the kids’ relief), to see the world’s biggest wooden structure – Todai-ji Temple which also houses Japan’s biggest Buddha statue – both were massive! A fitting end to our two weeks in Japan.