Pacific Odyssey - Leg 5

We´ve decided as a group to spend another day in Hiroshima; we have a good spot close to the city and there are still many things to enjoy and take in.  Sarah B. and Karen, who watched the boat yesterday, just returned from a day visiting the Hiroshima Memorial Park, the Hiroshima Castle, and the Shukkeien Gardens.  A group of trainees remained on the ship tonight, enjoying each other´s company and eating popcorn.  Skipper, Jordan and some of our kids, went out for supper to try hiroshima-yaki, a local version of okonomiyaki (egg-based savory pancakes) made with soba (thin buckwheat noodles) and fried egg. With this they add any mixture of oysters, squid, fish, intestines, and vegetables.  We read that this dish started when the bomb was dropped; people cooked a mixture of whatever they had on hand, using manhole covers as griddles.  It is now know nationwide and is very popular.   Many trainees and crew are visiting the bathhouse today; it´s a blissful way to spend a few hours.  We will go again with the kids tomorrow; one last clean before our passage to Osaka.  Today we visited the Electronics Store.  We had heard that the toilets were heated and doubled as a ´bidet.´ We checked it out and sure enough, we were welcomed by a heated seat and options of warm water rinses at different angles and strengths and a warm fan to dry everything off when one was finished; it was quite the experience.  We had also heard that there was an area in the store where one could try out massage chairs and electric saddles.  We spent an hour trying everything out and laughing hard.  Partway through Joel joined us as he was searching the store for headphones.  There were several Japanese also enjoying the chairs and saddles.  2 young, smart-looking male students in their school uniform tried out the “Slimshaper,” a vibrating slimming belt. The first fellow didn´t know what to expect and once it started vibrating, started exclaiming and laughing loudly to his friend to turn it off; it was hilarious. When we left, they had both fallen asleep in the massage chairs. The chairs were fantastic; I stayed 20 minutes in one having hard rollers massage my back while the boys and Arwen swiveled on electric saddles which tilted and swerved the hip portion of one´s body.  We tried out feet massagers, feet warmers, and standing body vibrators, all of it intensely fun and funny; it was better than playing in a play park.  On our walk today we passed a school where a group of small girls, about 8 years, and their coach were practicing baseball.  We stopped to watch and they all started jumping up and down waving and calling to us.  The coach waved too, we waved back.  We passed a woman and four small children who were very excited to call out ´bye, bye, bye´ after we had passed them and had said ´ka-nie-chi-wa.´ I find that even a simple walk provides many opportunities to learn about Japan and meet the people. It has been a good day. Until tomorrow, good-night, Bonice.