Wrapping Up Hiroshima

For those paying attention and playing along at home, yes, we are actually back in Australia, but I'm still wrapping up Japan posts! Bear with me, there aren't too many to go (I think).

After the week of touring around Hiroshima with my parents (I really do feel like we saved up most of the Hiroshima highlights to do with them and then smashed them out quick smart), we had about five days left in Hiroshima, and just over a week left in Japan. Most of our Hiroshima list was done, and we weren't feeling particularly energetic about trying to find new things. Even though it was our "last few days", we were also just doing life. 

Pretty much the only thing the girls really wanted to make sure they got one last go at was karaoke. I love how confident they are and how much they enjoying singing along now. I think we will miss our karaoke sessions in Australia. 

The other thing they did was a live call in to their school in Australia to compete in the Talent Show Finals with their Soran Bushi Dance. They had recorded their entry when we were in Shodoshima, and were so proud to have made it through to the finals. 

It was pretty high energy, getting the house ready and sorting out how to do the video call and sync up the music etc. They were so excited by it all, and getting to see the whole school on the other side of the video. They didn't place and were bummed to not be able to see their friend's performances, but still had a great time. You can watch their audition video from the beach of Shodoshima here. 

Steve worked late for most of the week and took Friday afternoon off early so we could go to a brewery that was just a couple of train stations down from us. The Sakurao actually do whiskey and gin. We were hoping for a sake brewery, but just had to take what we could get at this point in our trip. Steve did do a sake tasting earlier in Hiroshima, so we didn't completely miss out. The brewery tour was pretty interesting, and I did taste the gin and whisky the offered us at the end, but I'm still not much of a fan. 

We went to the local onsen (again, sans kids) for an evening which was so fantastic. I love onsen, but have never been to an onsen that was so busy! There were so many families, but also (in the girls side at least) loads of pairs or groups of friends just sitting around the baths chatting away. It was so busy and social. It was also probably the biggest that I've been to, with several indoor baths as well as a number of outdoor ones. We walked home very relaxed that night. 

All the packing that we did was less relaxing. I kept oscillating between sad to leave and (catching the girls excitement) happy to go home. Watching our bags stack up with all the stuff was so daunting too, and it made everything seem that much harder. There was lots of "Why did we book extra time in Osaka?" kind of thoughts, since the girls were so ready to just go home. Also: "Is it even going to be worth it anyway?" thinking about what we had planned and if we could find the energy to put other things in. Steve was so stoic through my emotional ups and downs, and even the girls just kept being positive about it all. 

The last night we were in Hiroshima, there was a local Autumn Yukata Festival on at the main shopping street (Coin Street). It was fun to wander up and down the busy street seeing lots of people in traditional clothes and hearing performances from a number of different groups, some on traditional instruments others not. 

I was going to include our 3ish days in Osaka in this post too, but what we ended up doing was way bigger and more action packed than we anticipated, so I'll pop it in a seperate post. Stay tuned; the end is near!