We had a very serendipitous moment: just after we had paid our 300Y to tour the shrine, a Japanese man dressed in white pants, shirt, and holding a straw hat approached us. He asked if we spoke English and we responded yes. He asked us if we knew about the shrine and, if not, could he practice his English on us as he explained the shrine? We said yes immediately, but a red flag went up in my mind (what is his angle? I'm sure he will ask us for when he is through). I then thought that the Japanese would never do anything to shame us or themselves as to ask for , so we went with it. We got so much more out of our trip to the shrine with him as our guide. There are no signs in English explaining what things are. Some of the highlights of his tour: 8 and 108 are "lucky" numbers in Japanese culture. The shrine has eight floorboards between each support, and it also has eight turns in it. The distance from the large lantern by the "altar" area to the floating torii is 108 canes (an old Japanese length of measurement, approximately 1.6 meters), and from the end of the shrine to the torii it is 88 canes. He taught us how to pray at the shrine (a ritual we then used at other shrines). First, look for a small fountain with water pouring into a trough. There will be ladles there. Pour water on each hand to cleanse. Approach the shrine; there is usually a slotted wooden trough in front of the shrine. Clap twice to get your deity's attention, bow twice, and throw some into the wooden trough. State your prayer/wish (either privately or aloud) and then bow once and leave. At some other shrines, we noticed that some people, after pouring the water over their hands, lifted the ladle up so that water would run down the handle to cleanse the handle of the ladle itself. The man mentioned he is the only doctor on Miyajima. He had a patient he had to see and bid us farewell.

One of the most beautiful views on the island is from Mount Misen. One can walk (1.75 hours up) or take the cable car. You'll have BEAUTIFUL sights of the Inland Sea and the oyster rafts floating in the bays. We then saw our friend/guide walking on the same street we were on. He waved to us and asked if we wanted to see the world's largest ooden: spoon. Of course we said yes, and we were off. He was racing ahead saying he had an appointment in 30 minutes. The largest wooden spoon is large! He also guided us to a beautiful creek where he sometimes meditates, as well as the serpent tree (a 40-foot-long, 10-foot-tall pine tree that has been shaped into a serpent). We took the ferry and then the train back to Hiroshima.

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We then toured Peace Memorial Park. In the park is the A-Bomb Memorial Mound, where the ashes of 70,000 unidentified people are buried. There is also the statue of the A-Bomb Children. This statue is based on a true story of a young girl who believed that if she could fold 1,000 paper cranes that she would become well again and not suffer the effects of radiation. She folded over 1,300 cranes and still died. Today, there are tens of thousands of paper cranes around this memorial and others in the park.

There is also the Centograph for Korean Victims of the blast. Approximately 20,000 Koreans were killed in the blast. They were brought to Japan as forced laborers.

For 29 years, the monument was outside the park, until finally in 1999 when it was moved to Peace Memorial Park. For those not aware, unlike Germany, Japan has not apologized or taken responsibility for its actions/atrocities in WWII. Every day while we were in Japan, we read stories in the papers on how countries who suffered at the hands of the Japanese (Korea, China, Singapore, Malaysia, and others) are upset the very whitewashed version of WWII that is portrayed in Japanese school textbooks. Also, the prime minister of Japan was thinking of visiting a shrine where known war criminals are buried on the anniversary of Japan's surrender in WWII. To most of the Asian countries, this is perceived as Japan pouring salt in their wounds.

The museums at Peace Memorial Park should not be missed. One portrays why Hiroshima was targeted and has the actual footage of the bomb blast.

Great, I thought, now what? This is the great thing about Japan--if you stand around looking lost/stupid, someone will stop to help you. Sure enough, another attendant waved towards the back of the parlor. There were all kinds of prizes, everything from stereos to chips/drinks. I gave my card to the person behind the counter and she gave me nine large metal bars and one small one, which were in clear, hard plastic cases and in turn shrink-wrapped. So again, I thought, Great--now what? As I was looking at these bars, I was about to open one, when the doorman whistled to me and waved me over. He then took me outside and around the side of the parlor to an alley. I was not worried, as by this time I had come to experience and believe the Japanese to be an honest people (maybe foolish?). We walked halfway down the alley and he motioned to me to put my bars on a ledge of a 12-inch-by-12-inch waist-high window that was in the side of the building. There were no signs or lights, just this window. So I did. A female Japanese voice came from the window, she took the bars, and there was a pause, and then 95,000 yen in cash was put on the window ledge. The doorman smiled and motioned for me to take it. I did and returned to the hotel with a huge smile on my face!

When darkness falls, a fire is lit in an iron basket, which is hung at the front of the boat over the water. The light attracts the fish. The cormorants are on lines which are reeled in when the birds come up with a fish. Two other men paddle the boat. It wouldn't be Japan if they did not try to sell you something, so after the show, a boat comes by selling everything from trinkets and fireworks to noodles and soup. After the sales ship leaves, the boats are left to drift into a log wall at the top of a 5-foot waterfall, and by the moonlight, you can watch the black water flow under your boat and over the waterfall. VERY COOL.

Finally, it was time to get back to shore, and our boatman poled the boat back. We proceeded to take the train back to Kyoto station. Kyoto station at night is a beautiful sight. The ceiling is 50 feet above you and its little lights twinkle, making it look like stars. We then caught the Shinkansen back to Osaka and our hotel for the night.

Kiyomizu Temple sits on the side of Mount Otowa and has beautiful views. The walk up to this temple is quite a hike. Because it was so hot, we caught a cab as far as we could up the mountain. At the Jishu shrine on the Kiyomizu grounds are two "love" stones that are about 25 feet apart from each other. The story goes, if you can walk from one stone to the other with your eyes closed, your true love desires will be granted.

Sanjusangendo Hall contains 1,000 life-size (for Japan, at least) statues of the thousand-handed Kanon, which are displayed in a 400-foot-long wooden hall. Five hundred are on each side of a 19-foot large Kanon. While we were there, some Buddhist monks were chanting and incense filled the air. Wow! Was it cool!! By the way, each statue does not actually have 1,000 hands--they only have 40, but each hand can save 25 worlds!

If you keep walking into the back, you will see endless stalls with endless varieties of live seafood: eels, scallops, shrimp, and many I could not even identify.

There are also food stalls in various locations for some of the freshest sushi you will ever eat.

We started one day at the Hama Rikyu Garden (opens at 9am). From there, we caught a ferry on the Sumida river to Asakusa and the Sensoji Temple.

We started another day at the Meijei Jingu Shrine, which was opened in Yoyogi Park in 1920 in honor of Emperor and Empress Meiji, who helped open up Japan to the world. While we were there, a Shinto wedding was going on. The whole wedding party was dressed in traditional Shinto garb. VERY NEAT.

Then we walked through the areas of Harajuku (the young and hip) and Aoyama (where the young and hip go after they make some $$). We also walked through Ueno Park and the Yanaka area, which had some very neat cemeteries and craft shops.

From Shinjuku station, we took the Odakyu local train to Odawara station. Then it was on to the Hokone Tozan Railway, which is an electric two-car train that takes a series of switchbacks on its way towards the Hakone/Mount Fuji area. At the end of the line, you catch a cable car that goes up the steep incline. At the end of this line, you take a gondola to Lake Ashinoko; while on the gondola, you pass over a section of the mountain that has large fissures with sulfurous steam escaping from the volcanic activity below (sorry, no lava, just steam). At the end of the gondola, you catch the boat that takes you down the length of Lake Ashi. The ships are replicas of man-of-war ships--cheesy, I thought, to be here--but being on the water was very refreshing. Then one takes the bus back to Odawara. We took the Shinkansen back, since the Odakyu express takes a long time, in our opinion. By the way, due to it being late summer, the clouds shrouded Mount Fuji completely and we did not see it. Nice trip, but we were disappointed that we did not see it.