Long first day

Arrived in Hiroshima at about noon after a four hour train ride from Tokyo. We got picked up by our local connection in two Mercedese Benz, a Gelende and a nice new B series. Got straight into the sightseeing and photo shooting. First stop was lunch at a small noodle shop. Rei-men or cold chinese style noodle soup. Very good, lots of vinegar and wontons. Then we drove to the Japanese Naval Base and got a special private tour of the war ships and submarines that are stationed there.

Great experience. I am from San Diego which means I have seen Naval ships up close and been on aircraft carriers etc., but this was a great firsthand look at the Japanese Navy. Three submarines were docked, very bad ass looking black one we got to see up close. Battle ship we got to board and walk around the deck. I learned how a ship needs to have a set of missiles pointing straight up. If an enemy submarine approaches from behind they use those missiles to fire behind the ship.

We also got to see a high tech ship that is used when a submarine has a problem and can’t resurface. They send down a special unit that docks with the submarine and off loads the sailors and brings them back to the surface. There are only five of these ships in the world, it has some kind of special decompression unit built in.

After the Navy base we did a quick tour of a bunch of cool old shops and stores in the area. Local snake food, Melon bread, a 70 year old bar that serves only beer, a really old billards club and more.

Great photo of the Japanese Emperor playing a game found in the billiards club.

Great culture and food in Hiroshima. Then we headed to dinner about 8pm and did a marathon tour of the famous local food Okonomiyaki. Get this, we went to and ate at 3 different Okonomiyaki places and one Udon shop. The food was good, but it all started to taste the same at the third shop.