The day we did not go to Yanai

On our way back from Nara, we saw posters of what seemed to be a very very impressive festival! The Gold Fish festival of Yanai! So the next day, we decided to head out that way. It was far about 3-4 hours from Osaka, but it really looked like it would be worth the trek. So we took a very early over packed Shinkansen... We had no seats, so we had to stand for close to 2 hours, with a baby in my boba.... Not fun.... but hey! We really wanted to go! 

We passed Hiroshima and kept on going towards Yamaguchi... and then... the rain... Not just a little bit of rain.... torrential down pour. So much rain that our connecting train stopped running because of severe track flooding. So we waited for close to 2 hours... just in hope they would reopen the seaside track. No luck... So we headed back towards Hiroshima unsure of what we would do next. Talk about a long trip for nothing.

 

In Hiroshima the weather was nicer, but by fear of getting stuck in an over crowded train in the evening, we kept on going toward Osaka... But once we got to Mihara station, a lot of people got out. We were curious... why would so many people, all stop in such a small place... so we got out as well. Turns out there was a Octopus festival on that day! So we joined in the fun and ate grill octopus arms for lunch...

Then we went back on the train and stopped in Fukuyama to take some pictures with the very nice castle...

And later that night we finally made it back to Osaka...


Not the day we had planned, but we had lots of fun still!

Senbazuru for Hudson : Part III

Going to Hiroshima was a very important part of the trip. If you have been fallowing this blog for a while, you will without any doubts be familiar with the senbazuru  and Sadako’s story. Well, it was finally time for us to put a happy ending to our story. On the afternoon of August 10, we made our way to Hiroshima memorial park with not 1000 paper cranes but a suitcase full with 2500 paper cranes! With us, we had the paper crane for the baby I miscarried, but we also had 500 papercranes from the Tsunami relief fund’s fundraiser my sister organise, and another 1000 papercranes made by Ayumi’s kouhei for a Kyudou tournament. 

As it was time to say goodbye to our birds, I found myself overwhelmed by the whole situation. In a way, I was overcome with happiness, as I watched Hudson ring the bell of the monuments. But part of me was also devastated by what we had been through. We took many, many pictures. As it was finally time to hang the birds, I was having a hard time not crying. Leaving the birds behind was like saying goodbye. It was the end of a nightmare.  It was the last step I needed to come to term with the loss. 

 




There are still 2000 papercranes remaining in Hudson’s room. They are HER cranes. I hope one day, when she is older, she will make that same trip and go hang her birds. Until then, we do intend on making 1000 more for each of our kids.

I also hope, that in the future, we can, as a family, make a 1000 birds a year for the monuments, starting on October 24^th of each year. 

 

Afterall, Hudson was born at 12:53pm on October 24^th or 12:53 am on October 25^th Japanese time. October 25^th… the same day Sadako died in a Hiroshima hospital.

Please take a minute and watch this video.

Senbazuru for Hudson Part II

Hudson with Ayumi's bird.

I announced a few weeks back that we were going to Asia! And indeed we are! This will be extremely exciting for all of us. Hudson will get to meet her great-grandmother and many of her great-aunts, great-uncles and cousins. She will also get to spend some times with her grand-parents and aunt. The second part of the trip will be very different. My husband, my daughter and I will be flying over to Japan for a two weeks holiday (finally our honey moon) .

It will be my fourth time in Japan and the second time for my husband. I am so excited to be able to bring him to all the cool places (mostly restaurants) I have discovered through all my travel there. We will be staying with Ayumi for a week and then we are of to FTO (Osaka) for a week!

I am so thrilled to be bringing my daughter there! Through out the pregnancy, I use to bribe her in staying put with the likes of "I can't wait for you to come out so I can show you Osaka"

But more importantly, during this trip, we will be making our way to Hiroshima to deposit the 1000 paper cranes folded following my MC at the Children Peace Memorial. (We are keeping Ayumi's bird and the 1000 birds I folded during the pregnancy wishing for a healthy Hudson. When she is older, she can decide if she wants to bring them there).

Hudson with the birds that will be going to Hiroshima

Now who's up for a little anecdote? As some of you might be aware, the monument in Hiroshima was built in memory of Sadako (you can click on the link for the full story). Well I just recently found out that Sadako died on October 25th (yes! that was Hudson's due date) after spending 8 months fighting leukemia. It is during that time she folded her paper cranes. It hits close to home, as I remember spending my whole pregnancy (roughly 7-8 months) folding my paper cranes hoping with all my heart that Hudson would make it to term and be healthy. Sadako's prayer were not answered, but mine were. And it is with a very heavy heart that I will be going to her monument, to surrender the birds.

Off course, you will be able to follow all of our On the road adventure as I will up date through this blog. Also, don't forget to "like" my facebook page, to make sure you don't miss a beat.

Children Peace Memorial in Hiroshima

Akemashite Omedetou (Happy New year)

Oyster Okonomiyaki in Miyajima

Happy New Year everyone! What better way to start a new year than to have Okonomiyaki! One of my favorite food when traveling in Japan. Unfortunately, I find it really hard to duplicate when in Canada. No matter how much a try it just never taste as good as when in Osaka (or even Hiroshima). I just found a very well explained recipe on a fellow blog's. I will give it a try today! Here is the link.

But first I should give a little intro about Okonomiyaki. Here a lot of westerners call it Japanese Pizza! I have to say, personally I find it resemble more a stuff crêpe or a cabbage omelet. Here is what Wikipedia has to say : Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き^?) is a Japanese savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients. The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki meaning "grilled" or "cooked" (cf. yakitori and yakisoba). Okonomiyaki is mainly associated with Kansai or Hiroshima areas of Japan, but is widely available throughout the country. Toppings and batters tend to vary according to region. 

What make this dish interesting is the distinction one has to make between Osaka-fu (Osaka-style) or Hiroshima-fu (Hiroshima style) okonomiyaki for they are quite different! In the Osaka-fu okonomiyaki, all the layers are mix together. In the Hiroshima-fu, the ingredient remain layered (like a Shepperd pie) and include noodles. Personally I much prefer the Osaka-fu but if you are traveling through Japan make sure you try both version.

I will also mention a close cousin to the Okonomiyaki from the Kanto region (Tokyo). Monjayaki, closely ressemble okonomiyaki. The main difference is the fact that it is a lot more watery. I only eat monja when I meet up with my Japanese friends since I find it a bit challenging to cook myself. 

The Okonomiyaki I will be making today will be Osaka-fu. I will modify the recipe a little since I do not have access to taro roots at this time. I will use:

• 1/2 cup  flour
• 2 cups cabbage
• 3 tbsp tenkasu (tempura bits) Don't worry if you don't have any
• 1 tbsp dashi stock in 4 tbsp of water Don't worry if you don't have any
• 1tbsp of corn starch
• 3 eggs
• shrimps or Canadian bacon
• 2 green onions chopped
• 2 tsp. chopped red marinated ginger 
• oil

Chop cabbage, ginger and green onion. Mix together. In a separate bowl, mix dashi, water, corn starch and eggs. Add to the flour. Mix until smooth. Mix the batter with the cabbage. Add the tenkasu.

In a greased pan, cook bacon or shrimp. When golden, pour the batter on top of it. Press it down into a nice round shape. Cover and cook at low heat. Flip over once. It should cook about 10 minutes, or until both side are golden. (You can make 2 small okonomiyaki or 1 large okonomiyaki.)

For the topping, I use tonkatsu sauce, shredded nori, bonito flakes and japanese mayo.

Miyajima and Hiroshima

I am very unsure what to write here. Overall our day in Hiroshima and Miyajima ended up exactly like my trip there last year!! Stuck under the pouring rain.

We left Osaka early in the morning. Jumped on the Shinkansen and headed for Hiroshima. From there we transferred to Miyajima and arrived around 10 am under a heavy rain. I am sure Miyajima is a beautiful and magical place but somehow I am starting to have a very bitter feeling about that place. Whenever I think of Miyajima, I think of cold freezing rain, wet feet, wet pants, wet everything.

Even thought it was raining, the place was crowded with tour group. We walked around a bit, saw the majors site, took the money shots and went in a little restaurant for the famous Oyster Okonomiyaki, Hiroshima style.

By then, the island was almost covered by a thick fog. We took the ferry boat and went back to Hiroshima. There, still under the rain, we made our way tot the Castle, played around with the costumes, walked to the Peace Garden, took a few pictures.

Since we were tired of walking under the rain, we spent the rest of the day under the covered shopping street, did some Purikura, bought Flip Flop, and ate an Okonomiyaki in the special Okonomiyaki building.

Overall, Hiroshima does not score really high with me. The city itself is ok, it is worth visiting the Peace Park but that is about it. The Okonomiyaki are not anywhere near as good as the ones in Osaka.

But since Hiroshima is on the way to Kyushu, and since Marie had never been here, I thought it was important to stop by.

After our day soaking in the rain, we jumped back on the Shinkansen and continued our trip towards our main goal: Kumamoto!

We reached Hakata (Fukuoka), found our staying place Khaosan Hakata (a great hostel that I would recommend to anyone visiting the area).

Miyajima rainy blues

Rainy blues would have been not so bad but instead I had to battle vs Arashi. (ok I am laughing at my own joke here) Ok in plain english… 70mm of rain in less than an hour. I got stuck inside a temple where a nice lady was offering towel and hot tea to everyone. It was scary at time. It didn’t look like rain anymore, it looked like a waterfall from the sky. When it finally calmed down to pouring rain, we were told we should hurry back to the boat and get back to the train station as soon as possible and leave the area. Which I did…

But let’s go back in time. I got to Miyajima early in the morning and was amazed at how beautiful the island was. I walked to the main temple and took may picture of the Tori (one of Japan’s 3 sight). Last year I saw Fuji so now I only have 1 sight left to see. The tide was high so we could not walk all the way to the Tori (same principle as Le Rocher Percé à Québec). So I decided to visit other sights while the tide would go down… that’s when the sky opened up and fell on our head!

I still had time to eat one Hiroshima-fu Okonomiyaki with Kaki!!! (Hiroshima style cabbage and soba pancake with oysters) It was delicious!!! The Oyster were huge!!!

Hiroshima-fu Okonomiyaki with Kaki

This is a place I really want to go back too… I want to eat more oyster and I would like a sunny day so I could take pictures of the beautiful scenery.

So I got back to Hiroshima and played text message tag with Ayumi (who is in Canada).We spent the whole afternoon texting each other back and forth. I was bored and the rain showed no intention to stop. I decided to check out a few famous Okonomiyaki restaurant. First I went to Mitsu (okonomiyaki restaurant from 47 live) but it was closed for mid-afternoon break. So then I made my way to the okonomiyaki street and found Hachimasa (okonomiyaki restaurant feature on Arashi’s TV show) but it was not opening till 5 pm. Out of luck I decided it was time for me to leave Hiroshima and to finally hit Osaka!!

I got to the train station only to find it under a state of pure chaos!!! Turned out all that rain had flooded a city further south and had damaged the shinkansen line. Thousand of people were laying on the floor of the station, waiting for the next available train. Luckily the only track still in function was the one for Shin-Osaka. But what a nightmare… everyone trying to get out of Hiroshima with no where to go… Even the Osaka bound trains were delayed for hours. I jumped in the next departing train (even thought my ticket was for another one) and played the foreigner card!! I had no intention of being stuck one more day in Hiroshima.

Hiroshima mon amour: NOT!

I guess Hiroshima is a nice city. Maybe there’s lots to do there. Let’s just say I was not really impress. I started my visit with the Atomic Bomb memorial. It was nice but so Disneyland like. I thought it missed a big of humility. But that’s just my opinion. 

Then I headed towards the castle (which had to be rebuilt after the atomic bomb). For once I have to say I enjoyed a Japanese Castle. The inside of it was a museum with very interesting exhibit. Then it was time to go find my hostel for the night. Well it turned out to be on the outskirt of the city after a 15 minutes walk in the wood. Not fun!! When I finally got there, my legs and arms were devastated with bug bits. At least the actual hostel was nice and clean… but the cafeteria was serving some awful meal (some sort of beef patty) so I walked all the way back to go get some onigiri at the combini. Oh and I should add… off course it was raining the whole time. Just my luck!

Kyoto ---- Hiroshima

As some of you might know, Kyoto is not my favorite place in Japan. I find that city highly overrated. Like a big Disneyland of history. This year, I decided to do a brief stop in the city to go back to Fushimi Inari. I had some business to attend at that temple. Last year, that temple had been recommended to me. As a matter of fact, I witness first hand how lucky that temple was. So this year I decided to go say thank you for the favors I obtain and to also ask for a new favor. (Which really was the exact same thing again this year).

After my brief stop, I took the Shinkansen to Hiroshima. I LOVE the shinkansen. Oh I love train too. But the Shinkansen is amazing. So fast, roomy, quiet, comfortable. So much better than a car, a bus or a plane. You have room to stretch your legs. On my way, an old man was sitting next to me and happy to practice his English he gave me an history lesson of every city on the way (including Himeji, where he was from) Since he seemed to know so much, I also asked him about the Kumamoto Family. I really wanted to go all the way to Kumamoto this year but in order to do that, it would take me another whole day of travel time.

When I got to Hiroshima, it was pouring rain. Like torrential rain. My umbrella was useless. Nonetheless, I headed straight for the Children Peace Memorial so I could hang the origami paper crane the students did at school. I got there easily and found the place. By the time I was done hanging the birds, I was soaked. At that moment I knew Hiroshima was not going to be my best friend!