Taking a Night Bus

In the category of National Holidays-Japan does very well.  Japan has 15.  It's awesome.

Interestingly, Saturday is consider by and large to be a work day.  If a holiday falls on a Saturday it is not made up for the previous Friday.  If a holiday falls on Sunday, it is made up for on the following Monday. 

This year is a leap year.  Unfortunately for us, this means that three or four holidays that would have been on Friday, now fall on Saturday.  No extra three day weekend for us!  Bummer. 

This years Golden Week had one such Holiday.  Because of this, I had to work two days during that week. 

Despite this, we still had a four day weekend.  So we decided it was time we explored Hiroshima. 

To make the best use of time, I booked an over night sleep bus from Tokyo to Hiroshima.  It’s far cheaper than taking the Shinkansen (bullet train).  The trip lasted about thirteen hours, with many stops at rest areas.  But the seats were comfortable (they recline almost all the way and come with pillows, blankets, and a canopy to pull over your face to block light) and I was able to get a full eight hours of sleep. 

We had booked our accommodations at the K’s House branch in Hiroshima.  This was our third time staying at a K’s House, and it was just as nice as the others in Kyoto and Mt. Fuji.  We showed up, and they graciously allowed us to store our luggage until check-in time that afternoon and also allowed us to take showers.  (Nobody smells good after spending 13 hours on a bus.)

(An extra note: I highly recommend the K's House Backpackers Hostel.  The staff speak fluent English and the accommodations are clean and secure.  The kitchen and lounge areas are also extremely nice.  Computers are also available to use for a small fee.  K's House rocks!)

Showered and refreshed, we were ready for our first day in Hiroshima. 

First stop, Hiroshima Castle…