Even more species hunting adventures in Japan: Hiroshima & Miyajima.

The following day, we were up early again to head to Shin Osaka station to catch the shinkansen to Hiroshima. It was Ryan’s first time riding the bullet train, so he was very excited.

The Shinkansen is brilliant! Fast, efficient and safe, you might be surprised to know that it has been operating in Japan since 1964!

In only an hour and twenty minutes, we had travelled 327km and had arrived in Hiroshima. Ryan was suitably impressed! Heading west from Hiroshima station on foot, We stopped briefly by the Kyobashi River when we spotted some black seabream hanging around, but they were incredibly skittish and all swam off when a rig landed in the water anywhere near them. Even casting away from them, any that then came over to investigate our chunk of raw prawn quickly rejected it and swam off with purpose. Giving up, we continued west until we reached the A-Bomb Dome.

Eighty years ago, an atomic weapon was detonated almost directly above this building, destroying most of city.

The Cenotaph for the A-Bomb Victims. This arched tomb holds the register of victims. It's a focal point for annual peace ceremonies.

For me personally, visiting the Peace Park in Hiroshima is a deeply moving experience and also an opportunity for reflection. The horror of what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki is beyond comprehension. There are no winners in war. I took a moment to gently ring the park's peace bell before we left the park. 

Crossing the river from the Peace Memorial Park, we caught the fast ferry to Miyajima. We spent a couple of hours exploring the island, visiting Itsukushima Shrine and as the tide was out we walked down to see the huge Torii gate that marks its entrance out in the bay.

Lilian loves a silly selfie!

The massive Torii gate was very impressive, and it was nice to actually see it.

When we visited six years ago, it was covered in scaffolding whilst it was being refurbished!

After passing through Itsukushima Shrine, we walked for a while along the coast and then doubling back we visited a pagodo up on a hill and then wandered back through the town's busy streets. There, we enjoyed sharing some tasty snacks for lunch in the shape of curry pan, deep fried oysters and beef and potato korokke. We wanted to go up to the top of Mount Misen using the island's ropeway, but the queues were ridiculously long, so we decided to go do some fishing instead! Heading around to the large concrete steps at the back of Hiroshima University of Economics' Seminar House, we scratched around with small hooks initially. Things were slow to begin with, but eventually we caught a few fish and remarkably every species we caught were additions to our tally.

First to bite a little piece of prawn was this tiny oblong rockfish. 

After having our bait stolen a few times, and then our hooks bitten clean off, we caught a few of these grass puffer.

I then moved around the corner to fish over a sandy area. This produced a small red bream, the same species Ryan and I had caught in the fishing restaurant back in Osaka!

This was followed shortly afterwards by a small black seabream. Not as cautious as the bigger ones in the rivers of Hiroshima!

After a while, we realised that we were running out of time before we had to pack up and walk back to the ferry terminal to catch our ferry back to Hiroshima. For the last fifteen minutes of the session or so, we switched to fishing small paddletail lures on jigheads over some rougher ground at the bottom of the concrete steps. This proved to be a great choice. As the sun began to set, this approach tempted a few marbled rockfish out of their hiding places, and we both caught them.

As the sun went down, we tried something different.

Our first marbled rockfish of the trip aggressively hit our lures.

Quickly packing up, we briskly walked back to the ferry terminal and caught our ferry back to Hiroshima. Walking back towards the station, we headed to an okonomiyaki restaurant for another large savoury pancake washed down with a few beers.

Hiroshima style okonomiyaki is my favourite. It's all about layers!

With full stomachs, we headed back towards the station, but before we caught the shinkansen back to Osaka we headed to the Kyobashi River for a quick session targeting yellowfin goby. I caught some there when Lillian and I last visited Hiroshima, but sadly Ryan and I drew a blank on this occasion. Back on the shinkansen, we were back in Osaka in no time. It had been another enjoyable day trip, and Ryan and I only needed another two species to hit our target. Maybe we could get them the following day somewhere in Himeji after visiting the city's famous white castle?

Tight lines, Scott.

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Even more species hunting adventures in Japan: Osaka.

On our third morning in Osaka, we got up quite early and caught a train to Nara. Once we arrived, we headed east from the station to the park where we spent the first part of the morning feeding the deer that freely roam the city. Bundles of deer friendly crackers are purchased from local vendors, and the deer have learned that an exchange of bows usually results in a snack being given to them!

The deer don't hang about when they know you have crackers. Here, mine are about to be quickly depleted after a round of respectful bowing!

Out of crackers in no time at all, and having to show open, empty hands to the deer that were following and harassing us, we headed off out of the park where there were fewer deer. Next, we visited the beautiful Yoshikien Garden on our way to the impressively enormous Tōdai-ji Temple.

Japanese gardens are things of incredible beauty.

Tōdai-ji Temple was absolutely massive!

Inside, the statue of Buddha was pretty big too!

Before heading back to Osaka, we enjoyed some lunch in the shape of some tasty savoury pastries in a Japanese bakery shop, followed by some very yummy mochi on our way back to the train station from the aptly named Very yummy mochi shop.

The pastries in this bakery were so cheap and they tasted amazing!

The most common filling in mochi is probably red bean paste, but these large mochi had large chunks of fresh fruit inside instead. Lillian and I shared one pineapple, one mandarin and one persimmon between the two of us, and they were so good with some green tea!

Arriving back in Osaka early in the afternoon, we took the subway to Cosmosquare and from there headed along the seaside promenade. A strong wind was blowing directly onto the promenade, so we continued walking until we reached the western end of the Sakishima Canal. This man-made water feature is connected to the sea and offered us a sheltered fishing opportunity for an hour or so before we headed to ride the Tempozan Ferris Wheel and visit Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan. The fishing wasn't great, with finepatterned puffer being the predominant species present. I managed to catch two other species before we left, and one was an addition to our trip's tally, edging us closer to our target of one hundred species, so it was worth the brief visit.

As well as lots of these little pests,..

...I caught a nice multicolorfin rainbowfish,..

...and a solitary Japanese Whiting.

The Tempozan Ferris Wheel stands at 112m tall and lights up after dark.

Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan, the world's largest aquarium, from the top of the Tempozan Ferris Wheel.

The aquarium was amazing, but the only photo I took that was any good was this one of a massive ocean sunfish.

Leaving the aquarium, Ryan and I got permission to have a quick fishing session in the dark nearby, to see if we could catch some Japanese horse mackerel. Fishing small straight soft plastics on ultralight jigheads, I caught one pretty quickly and then we both struggled to catch any more after that. It was pretty cold, so we didn't stay that long. Both of us caught a juvenile Japanese seabass before we packed up, and the four of us headed off to visit an oden restaurant for yet another delicious traditional Japanese meal.

Target species acquired!

Bonus species most welcome too!

Another three species added to our tally, we were slowly creeping towards our target of one hundred. With a trip to Hiroshima and Miyajima the following day, I was confident that with a bit of luck, we could reach our goal. Ryan was really looking forward to travelling on a bullet rain for the first time, and I was looking forward to eating some more okonomiyaki. Sorry Osaka, but I prefer the savoury pancake Hiroshima style!

Tight lines, Scott.

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Even more species hunting adventures in Japan: Kyoto.

Arriving at Osaka's Itami airport in the afternoon, Ryan's girlfriend Xin Yun's flight arrived at about the same time, so we met up with her at baggage reclaim and headed into the city. After checking into our accommodation, the four of us headed out to spend the evening wandering around Dotonbori, soaking up the atmosphere, snacking throughout the night on Kobe beef skewers, molten hot takoyaki, tasty gyoza, incredibly crispy, yet tender chicken karaage and some super sweet strawberry mochi and ice cream.

You can't visit Osaka and not spend an evening strolling around Dotonbori.

Ryan and Xin Yun splash some cash on some premium Kobe beef skewers.

The restaurants all try to outdo each other with huge 3D signage.

Before calling it a night, the four of us rode the unusually shaped Don Quijote Ferris "Wheel".

The next day, we headed south to explore the vibrant area of Shinsekai. After walking through Tennoji Park, we had some tasty yakisoba for lunch and then went up Tsutenkaku Tower, also known as Hitachi Tower.

Tsutenkaku Tower from the pond in Tennoji Park.

Tennoji Park from the top of Tsutenkaku Tower.

Don’t look down! Ryan and Xin Yun stand out on a glass floored platform at the end of a walkway that juts out near the top of the tower. 

Exiting Tsutenkaku Tower, we wandered south down Shinsekai's main shopping street, where we passed some dog owners who had dressed up their pets for some reason and were pushing them around in prams. One was wearing a clown costume that I’d later discover was that of Kuidaore Tarō, an iconic clown and the unofficial mascot of Osaka's vibrant Dotonbori district.

You see some strange things in Japan! The dog didn't seem to mind.

Next, we visited the Shinsekai Magic Café & Bar, where we enjoyed a few drinks and an hour of close up magic performed by three different magicians. Tricks involving playing cards, coins, rope and Rubik's Cubes had us all scratching our heads and if you're ever in Osaka I'd highly recommend the experience. By this point, we were quite hungry, and a restaurant where you can fish for your dinner was too good an opportunity to miss!

In this restaurant you can try to catch various different types of fish and then have them prepared in several different ways. 

There were plenty of fish swimming around in the water surrounding the boat shaped dining areas.

Most of the other diners seemed to be struggling to catch their dinner. Being experienced anglers, Ryan and I both caught a red bream almost straight away! Good bait presentation gave us an edge I think! We decided we wouldn't add the species to our trip's tally! 

Handing our catch to the restaurant staff, we were soon enjoying the two fish we caught four different ways. My favourite was the sashimi. 

After our delicious meal, we spent the remainder of the evening wandering around, admiring all the colourful signs around Shinsekai before heading back to the apartment via Nipponbashi Denden Town, where we checked out some of its interesting shops, including one that sold Pokémon cards.

This illuminated lantern style display above a kushikatsu restaurant in Shinsekai was very impressive.

The next day, we caught a train north to spend the day in Kyoto. Ryan and I took minimal fishing tackle with us, just in case an opportunity to do some fishing could be slotted into our busy schedule. With way more places to see than we could possibly have done in one day, we had to choose which places we visited and which we did not. The first place on our itinerary was Kiyomizu-dera, a Buddhist temple located up in the hills to the east of the city. From Kyoto Station we decided to walk there as taking public transport wasn't going to save us that much time, and it was a lovely day.

With the leaves turning red, the views of the temple and Kyoto beyond were stunning

Heading back down the hill, we walked down the picturesque narrow streets of Sannenzaka, passing the Hōkan-ji Temple and its impressive Yasaka Pagoda, before wandering through the grounds of the much quieter Kenninji Temple.

The imposing Yasaka Pagoda of Hōkan-ji Temple.

In stark contrast to the rest of our morning walk, Kenninji Temple had hardly any tourists visiting it, which was nice.

We did intend to visit Nishiki Market to get some street food style snacks for lunch, but when we reached the eastern bank of the Kamo River, we stopped underneath a bridge crossing it to get out of the sun and a plan was formulated for how we would spend the afternoon. We'd already eaten some onigiri in the morning, so in order to fit what we wanted to do in, we opted to skip lunch in favour of a short fishing session instead. In no time at all, Ryan and I were freelining bread flake to see if we could tempt the resident fish.

What a beautiful place to fish!

The Kamo River contains a good head of common carp, but I was hoping to locate and catch my first ever Japanese barbel if I'm being honest. All we saw as we moved up and down the concrete blocks at the water's edge were groups of common carp moving around the pool. With no sign of any Japanese barbel, when a large common carp slowly swam up and took my bait from just below the surface, I was glad it did. The battle that ensued on my Nebula Rock Rover was something else! Being patient, and letting the fish take line when it made surging runs, it was at least ten minutes before I had the fish's head on the surface and beaten. Lillian was by my side, ready with my net, and a cracking fish was carefully drawn into it.

What a beauty! Easily the biggest fish I've caught on such light tackle.

Ryan hooked a couple of fish too, but sadly both threw the hook. Before we left, I tied on a tanago hook and caught a tiny dark chub from the small pools of water in amongst the concrete blocks we had been fishing from.

Every species counts, and this tiny fish had added another species to our tally!

Packing up, we caught a train and then a bus to visit the Golden Pavilion in northern Kyoto. For some reason, Lillian and I failed to visit it the last time we were in Kyoto, and we were there for several days back in 2018! Lillian really wanted to make sure we got there this time, and when we walked through the grounds and the Golden Pavilion came into view, it didn't disappoint.

Set in beautiful gardens, next to a pond, the top two levels of the Golden Pavilion are covered in actual gold leaf!

The next stop on our mini tour of Kyoto was the Monkey Park in Arashiyama. Due to the time and the relative locations, we decided to get a taxi to make sure we had ample time to arrive, climb the hill to the park and spend a reasonable amount of time at the top. The hike up into the hills is a bit of a slog, but when you get up there and see all the Japanese macaque there, it's well worth it.

This was about as close as I got to one out in the open. You're not supposed to get within two metres of them or look directly in their eyes.

In the centre of the open area at the top of the hill, you can enter a small building where you can buy some fruit and nuts. These can be fed to the monkeys through a caged opening.

Making our way back down the hill, we headed over the wooden bridge that crosses over the Katsura River and headed through the town of Arashiyama to visit the famous bamboo grove there. By this point the light was beginning to fade, and just as we reached the middle of the incredibly popular attraction, it started raining, so we hastily turned around, headed to the station and caught a train to Gion, Kyoto's geisha district. There we strolled south, enjoying the beautiful traditional architecture, and then headed for something to eat before returning to the station to take a train back to Osaka.

Having skipped lunch, we settled for some filling, and very tasty, Osaka style okonomiyaki.

We'd made quite a hectic start to our stay in Osaka, and our day trip to Kyoto had been pretty full on too. A generous portion of house special okonomiyaki washed down with a few beers was what we all needed I think! The next day, we had a bit more of a relaxing itinerary planned, including a little spot of fishing.

Tight lines, Scott.

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