Thanksgiving 2022 Vacation Trip

 Western Honshu

November 19-27, 2022

We decided to stay in Japan for the Thanksgiving break and travel westward towards Hiroshima. On the way we spent a few hours at the beautiful Himeji Castle known as the "white heron". To even it out we planned on visiting the Okayama Castle which is black and known as the "crow castle" on the way back to Osaka. 

Our hotel in Hiroshima was very conveniently located on a busy street with many restaurants and shops. It also happened to be the last two days of a festival so we were able to watch our first taiko performance since moving here! There were several different groups that performed right on the street that was closed off to traffic, and directly below our window.

The first day we spent a lot of time walking around the Peace Park visiting the museums and displays. It was Sunday and several large groups of school children were offering paper cranes to hang at the Children's Peace Monument.

It also happened to be the last day of a special exhibition at the Art Museum of a famous Japanese children's author, Shinsuke Yoshitake. He has written and illustrated many popular books including "It Might be an Apple" and "Still Stuck". I love the tiny tiny drawings!

Hiroshima style okonomiyaki is different from the Osaka one in that it has eggs and noodles in it and no bonito flakes. We ate it twice during our stay and it was delicious! I also found a vegan restaurant with a tasty breaded fake pork cutlet.

One day we traveled to Miyajima to see the floating torii and take the “ropeway” (gondola) up Mt Misen. The gate is normally not accessible except during low tide but it just reopened after three years of renovation and we were able to walk on the scaffolding to get a closer look.

There were a lot of wild deer hanging around and even though nobody was allowed to feed or pet them they seemed unafraid of the crowds. We were surprised there was still quite a hike up to the summit but the momiji and view of the surrounding islands were worth the effort.

On Okunoshima Island, also known as "Rabbit Island", we enjoyed feeding the "wild/tame enough to run to you to get food" rabbits. They were so adorable! The island is small enough to circumnavigate in less than an hour but we took our time so that we could distribute our rabbit food one pellet at a time to the residents. and sometimes even sat on the ground to tempt the hesitant baby bunnies. I also loved the plentiful choices at the hotel buffet for dinner and breakfast.

Next, we stayed on Naoshima Island and visited some interesting modern art museums. The Chichu Museum was fascinating as it is mostly underground and uses natural lighting provided by large openings to the sky.

It is perhaps most known for the two brightly colored pumpkin sculptures by Yayoi Kusama. We lucked out and had fantastic weather for our whole trip!