Miyajima to Tokyo

Frozen Okonomiyaki at the Hiroshima Train Station

Salmon Rice Bowl for the train

Shangri-La Bell Person taking our luggage from the train

Tokyo at Night

Cocktails

We are talking Steak

Menu

White Asparagus

Crab

Steak

We left our Ryokan in Miyajima and took a taxi to the ferry terminal. We then took a ferry across the bay to Miyajimaguchi from Miyajimaguchi we walked to the train station where we boarded a local train heading to Hiroshima Station. At Hiroshima Station we transferred to the Shinkansen to Tokyo. We purchased lunch at the Hiroshima Train Station to eat during the 4 hour train ride to Tokyo. It is totally appropriate to eat on the train in Japan. It broke my heart that they were selling frozen Okonomiyaki at the station I couldn't bring it home. I will look for it in LA in the frozen section of a Japanese foodstore.We sped through the countryside, it was a combination of industrial, residential and rice paddies. It was very foggy. Japan is very mountainous and it reminded us of the paintings that you see on scrolls. Much of the train ride is through the mountains in long tunnels.

When we arrived at Tokyo Station, the main train terminus in Tokyo, we were met by a perky young women from the Shangi-La Hotel. She took our luggage and escorted us to the hotel. Outside the hotel we were met by a women who took us directly to our room. All of our check-in was done in the room. The luggage we had shipped from Miyajima was waiting for us. It was all very efficient.

It was about 4pm and we decided to go shopping. A quick cab ride to The Ginza and we were at Matsuya Department Store. This is a fabulous store. As I have said before department stores in Japan are NOT like department stores in the US. They are jammed full of customers, high-end merchandise and food. We did our part to help Japan’s economy then returned to the Shangri-La. We really like this hotel. They are efficient and elegant. We cleaned up for dinner and went down to the bar for cocktails.

We then went out to dinner at Shima. We had decided we wanted steak as our last dinner in Japan (especially having eaten 4 Kaiseki dinners in a row). We did a lot of Googling and Shima stood out. It looks like a Sushi Bar, with a counter and chairs. There are a few other tables in back. The counter is the best, because you can interact with the chefs. The dinners on either side of us had suggestions, but we started with Crab and White Asparagus. We both ordered steak, but for some reason only one arrived. That worked out well, because it was big enough for two. The wine list is expensive and good. We had a Chablis and a Cabernet. Surprisingly they served great rolls.

The meat was served with soy sauce, wasabi and vegetables. We enjoyed the dinner. I was expecting a bill of about $ 1000 dollars but happily it was nowhere near that. When we left they sent us home with a whole cheese cake probably to atone for screwing up our order and giving us only one steak (which was all we needed.) All in all it was a great night.

Tomorrow is our last day in Japan and then we fly back to the States where we begin the whole jetlag thing again. If you haven’t been to Japan you should go.