A leisurely walk down to our local café for my last honey latte in Osaka.
Packed up, checked out, and walked down to one of the 4 Noda stations to catch a local train back to Osaka Station, then transferred to Shin-Osaka station where all the Shinkansens and other fast trains depart from.
The train system is incredibly impressive. There are so many train lines running in every direction coping with huge number of passengers every day. However, there are a number of different train operators which all have their own networks, and not all of them are interconnected. Of course, if you were a local, that’s no big problem. But if you’re a tourist, it’s very confusing. They are all named very similarly, and in many cases the same, but they aren’t physically the same station. So, for example, Noda station, which is the closest to where we were staying is actually serviced by four different train companies having four different stations complete with several entrances each. In some cases, the stations weren’t even close to each other, so until we worked it out, it was all a bit of a lottery. Some lines you can use your JR pass with, but others you can’t. However, we managed to survive.
Arrived early at Shin-Osaka station with one objective in mind – buy a cheesecake. Not any old cheesecake you understand, but an Osaka institution called Rikuro’s Cheesecake. There are a few stores dotted around the city, and there was a convenient one at the train station. There was a long queue, and it wasn’t moving, but I soon worked out why. The cheesecakes were being made, cooked, boxed and sold in front of you – 12 at a time. So you waited patiently for the next batch to emerge from the oven, complete with the staff announcing it by ringing bells, then chanting something together as they boxed them all up. Another dozen happy customers departed and we all shuffled forward. Was a bit of a pain when the girl a few in front of me wanted 4 of the dozen, but it’s impolite for Japanese to roll their eyes. From a later sampling I can tell you it’s a full size round cake that has the texture like a sponge but with a lemon flavour, and is delicious. Just whether I really need 8 pieces of cheesecake in my luggage is a different question.
I was most disappointed that we couldn’t identify the music for Shin-Osaka station played to warn you of an approaching train. It’s become a bit of a game.
Our Shinkansen departed right on time, of course, and we speed across the country side towards Hiroshima. We have learned that, in Japan, train timetables may be expressed in minutes for the passengers, but for the drivers, they are expressed in seconds. So, a train will depart to the correct second within the minute to make sure that the tracks are clear. In fact, so the story goes, one of the JR rail companies issued a public apology when their train departed 20 seconds earlier than scheduled.
Arrived in Hiroshima, and dragged our bags to the hotel in the lovely sunshine. Even from our short walk, it was obvious that there were some differences to the bigger cities in the north. The roads are wider, the cars are bigger, even some sports cars were seen. In fact, most bikes were riding on the road. The city also has a tram (streetcar) network.
Dropped our bags in the pile at the hotel all waiting for check in to commence, and headed off to the local shopping area to find some lunch. Found a little nook on the second floor of a traditional restaurant, bought two lunch sets and settled in for the duration.
Each major city in Japan seems to decorate their sewer covers in the road with pictures of their baseball team’s mascot. Here it’s the Hiroshima Carp, and you’ll be pleased to know that you can also buy a souvenir replica to take home from our hotel’s reception.
Dinner of mixed berry crepes. See – not every meal is rice and more rice.
Shinkansen to Hiroshima
Waiting for my cheesecake to be baked
Hiroshima Sewer Covers
Smile Hotel