After the day in Okayama, (which, if you haven’t read already, I talked about in the previous blog post, which you can access by pressing the back arrow at the bottom of the screen,) we decided to get a late train to Hiroshima. This way, we could stay in the same Hiroshima hotel a bit longer, not having to move around too much or check out early, and considering it was the only place we had a kitchen, it was convenient for food prep reasons also. The hotel rents out nicely done-up studio apartments that have the function of hotel rooms. They have a lobby and amenities, room service came in each day to straighten up (give us fresh towels and empty our bins etc), but it also gave us the functionality of the kitchen in the middle of our trip. As me and Ellen both have allergies, (guess it’s in the genes ha,) this made me feel less stressed as the trip planner. I knew, if we had found nothing thus far on the trip to eat, our prepared food would have run out and we could restock on supplies here and prepare for the rest of the journey ahead. As it happened, we hadn’t run into any problems with food by the time we got to this part of the trip, as all my preparations had worked out, but it was a comforting thought to know the kitchen was there if we needed it. We did use it the first night we arrived in fact, as we got in late from Okayama and had brought pasta and sauces from Tokyo for this exact reason, but other than that, we could have managed with a regular hotel room. It’s good to know if Ellen ever comes back to Japan.
Anyway, we shared this apartment in Hiroshima, so to give us some time apart Ellen and Michael explored the city by themselves during the day, as did Sammy and I, before meeting at the station for around 4pm to make our evening dining reservation. Although I cannot really cover what my sister and brother-in-law saw in Hiroshima, I can say Ellen walked 40,000 steps in one day. An achievement she had yet to tick off on her watch or app or whatever records her steps, so they were very busy bees. Sammy and I woke up early, again because I wasn’t really sleeping (if you want, you can read more about that in our Ishikawa/Kanazawa blog from a few days ago), and we headed out to Peace Memorial Park first thing. We were there for 7:30am, had a nice walk around before it was busy, then went into the museum just after it opened at 8am. It was a pain to get tickets, as their ticket counter didn’t open until 9am, so we had to use the online system which is always difficult in Japan because we have foreign names which use different characters to Japanese names and often that makes the code on these sites freak out and whatnot. Anyway, after around 20 minutes of being stood outside trying to get the thing to work, we eventually got in – no worries!
We spent just over 2 hours going round the museum. It was the most heart-wrenching experience, as anyone can imagine, but it is definitely one that is not to be missed in Hiroshima. It provides context and insight that cannot be found anywhere else in the world, including belongings and testimonies from survivors and families of the victims. It feels the least we can do, to give them time in our lives to listen to their stories, mourn the loss and respect their experiences and thoughts, after the part our country and allies played in causing such destruction. I cannot quite find the right words to describe this part of experiencing the city, but I hope the message/feeling is clear.
After the museum, Sammy and I went back to the hotel for some space. In due time, we ate our brunch and packed a bag, before heading out to the castle and Shukeien gardens. We also stopped for coffee during this time and found some gluten-free cookies at the cafe for Ellen, so picked her some up to surprise her with later, for dessert after tea.
Speaking of which, the meal we had that night was the most incredible of our entire time together. We went to a restaurant called “Koguma”, where the chef Ken makes the local specialty Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki for people with allergies. I called Ken to make a reservation a few months previous, and explained how difficult our allergies were. I totally understood if he could not make food for all of us as Ellen can’t have gluten and doesn’t like meat or fish taste/texture, I can’t have milk or soy and I don’t eat meat and Sammy is vegetarian and can’t eat milk. Between us, the requirements are beyond difficult, with the exception of Michael who’s up to try pretty much anything that isn’t raw fish. However, Ken was an angel. He said there were no problems and he booked us in for 5pm.
When we arrived that day, it was very clear he had gone all-out, making a homemade okonomiyaki sauce without meat and soy for me, a special gluten-free and fish/meat free sauce for Ellen and Sammy and making these “scraps” style pieces to replace the meat for the three of us, so we weren’t missing out on taste or texture. He and his wife greeted us in the most loving and caring way, like we were friends of the family they hadn’t seen in years. They double checked all our needs and Ken told me about his personal story of finding out he cannot eat gluten. We bonded immediately, as I could tell how much he cared about people who have allergies and their experiences in Japan right now. His heart was so big and caring, it stretched beyond the limits of language and Ellen felt his tenderness even before he revealed he’d bought a translator to tell people like Ellen and Michael about the food they were eating. He told us about the history of okonomiyaki in the Hiroshima area, and how the people living in the aftermath of the bombing were not just Japanese people, but many Koreans as well. He described Korean kimchi-jeon to Ellen and Michael, by explaining that the working class people got the food that was easy to grow in the area and made into an easy to eat and delicious pancake, and it sparked memories of bubble and squeak in our families homes back in Scunthorpe. Even as I write this now, I can feel myself welling up with emotion. It was so sweet the effort he went to and how relatable these stories were to us, even though our contexts were so diverse.
Ken then went on to talk about his mother, an atomic bomb survivor who was still alive in her 90s. He showed us her art, where she had painted him in the same kitchen we now watched him cook in, using the same bowl to mix our ingredients as the ones in her pictures. Then, he revealed little postcards of some of her works and gave each of us a chance to pick and take home the design that called to us. We will treasure them forever.
Not only was Ken and his wife so kind and genuine, with the best stories and things to talk about, but the food was also to be celebrated. We were worried at first, particularly about Ellen liking the food, as many vegetables and textures make her feel ill and she’s not huge on trying new things. But somehow, miraculously, Ken’s okonomiyaki seemed to combine everything she loved. We all enjoyed the food so much we cleared every plate! It was the only compliment we could give to Ken and his wife after verbal thanks and whatnot as tips were not accepted (as is the norm in Japan). If anyone is ever in the area, especially if you have allergies, but also if you don’t, please stop by Ken’s place for some of the tastiest food and best company you’ll ever have. I’ll drop his website link below. If you have allergies though, please book in advance and note that although it says you can contact him on facebook, it seems he does not use it, so please call in advance to make a reservation. You will not regret it!
http://www.hiroshimayaki.biz/
