Made it to Fukayama today around noon. It's nice how much distance you can travel on the Shinkansen conveniently and quickly. Though a good portion was coming back on a slower local line from Nagasaki that follows the coast south. You're forced to due to the local geography. Not that I'm complaining. It's an absolutely beautiful ride. I think this might have been one of the rides I read about that suggest specifically to take a route like this. Lucky for me I ended up on it without having to know!
First stop was to drop off my bag and while I was waiting for my phone to load the map a lovely young lady, named Yoko, came up and asked me where I was going. After telling her, she gave me a route and walked with me for part of it as it was on her way. Was a nice surprise to have some company while lugging my stuff around!
One thing I look for after getting off the train I usually go the local information counter. There's one at all the larger stations and it's a good spot to ask questions. Most will be able to speak English as well. Since I know I want to go to Onomichi tomorrow I thought it prudent to ask. At the counter I ran into a very kindly and uhm.. interesting Japanese man who took interest in me. After some miming and a good amount of trying to figure out what he was saying I figured out he was asking me if I was looking for local information. After I told him I understood and yes, he pointed me to the place I was standing right in front of. And so began 2-3 hours of walking around/being followed by my new friend.
The Fukayama station is right next to the Fukayama castle. So of course I went here first with my friend. He showed me around, sent me up certain spots to take a picture, and introduced me to a looooot of people. Well, sort of introduced. I have a feeling he was trying to get me a date a couple of times. Still not entirely sure but I at least knew how to excuse myself and keep him moving on. Silly fellow.
Here's my guide and I. A local band that had been performing was our photographer!
It wasn't the most sunny of days but the cherry blossoms are always fun to look at. There was another tree with blossoms that I'll have to take a picture of tomorrow so I can try and figure out what it was. I'll never get tired of looking at these (though you may if you haven't already!).
He was literally a guide. Using hand motions for follow, stop, go left go right etc etc. He took me to two shrines after I showed him one of the things I'm doing in Japan. He was a really nice fellow and I enjoyed walking around with him. Even if he was a little persistant. We were able to communicate to an ok degree. If I remember right he was from one of the islands not too far away. Manabe Island? Something like that. We had a little misunderstanding and he thought I was going to Onomichi today (I'll go tomorrow) and we parted ways as I went to my "train" to go there. Thank You rail pass.
Since I felt like I should wait a little bit before going back out the gate. Since I didn't really want to be embarrassed and run into the man again. I sat down on the bench after taking these pictures.
Perhaps by sheer fate the lovely young lady whom I had run into when just arriving was on her way home and we picked up talking again where we'd left off. And in that saving me from having to risk leaving the station too soon. Yoko is super sweet, sugoi kawaii, and we ended up spending a good amount of time together in her home town (about 8 min train ride away). She'd been in Australia on exchange till January and has excellent English skills.
She showed me to a local shine and I got my first fortune ever. They're written on little slips of paper that you then tie around a post to help your fortune come true. A fun little experience that I'd not had yet. After that we stopped and got some okonomiyaki for dinner. Hiroshima style. First time I'd actually got to watch it be made. It's somewhat like an omelet with cabbage and noodles layered underneath. Not too far off and I'll be able to try Osaka style too! It's quite delicious.
On our walk around we passed the Chou-chou Pain Factory. I'm honestly curious what went into the translation. It looked like a good bakery though. We parted ways after dinner and I'm genuinely happy I ran into her after that first introduction. She's a very sweet and lovely person and was by far the highlight of the day. I like meeting people!