After the shrine, we got the bus to the area near the hotel.
We had a 2 oclock reservation for afternoon tea at the Former British Consulate.
Hannah wanted to eat takoyaki, which are ball-shaped snacks made of a flour-based dough cooked in a special mould, with tako, octopus, filling. She found a store that sells them at the wharf next to the hotel.
We had a wander around the wharf, bought the takoyaki and sat facing the sea to eat them.
You can see Mojiko on the opposite side. Here you can see a lot of ships going through the Strait.
Entrance to the wharf
Takoyaki
With the mascot of the area
The view from upstairs.
After that, it was almost time for afternoon tea. The tea shop is upstairs, downstairs is a little museum.
The Former British Consulate.
The street next to the Former British Consulate
The Union Jack and Peter Rabbit.
The museum was free to enter. Rather small but interesting.
Portrait of The Queen
The consul-general's desk.
Cute teapot
Peter Rabbit's family and friends, Peter's father is a pie!
I was surprised to find a portrait of The Queen and the chair with the inscription ER on it, as the consulate closed in 1940!
We went upstairs to the tea room, very nicely laid out, lovely quiet feeling.
The little room off the main room where we had our tea.
The view.
A tea cosy over the teapot.
The cakes to go with the tea.
Of course, scones!
And other cakes.
We spent about an hour there, just eating and talking! It was really nice. Even though it didn't look like much, we were stuffed after.
On the way out, I saw this, the first time in Japan to see the toilets referred to as WC.
After we had finished, it was time to check into our hotel for the night.
Our hotel for the last night.
I didn't take any photos of the room!
We rested for a while, then went for a walk to see a London Bus that has become a popular photo place.
London Bus
We also saw some lovely manholes.
Pokemon manhole
We had an early night. We were both exhausted, just one more day left, and we wanted to make the most of it!
We had breakfast at the hotel on the last day. We ordered the Japanese Set Breakfast.
The view from the hotel restaurant
Japanese Set Breakfast.
The breakfast was very filling!
There was fish cooked in mirin, a type of sweet sake that is used in cooking, Japanese rolled omelette. On the dish with the squares were a variety of different dishes. Hokkaido potato salad with mentaiko, a type of fish roe, spinach with a sesame dressing and whale flakes, fugu, pufferfish, which is very popular in this area, deep fried tofu with mushroom sauce and a few other things that I forgot to write down. Even though it doesn't look like a lot, it was very filling!
Just as we got back to our room, our suitcase arrived. We changed and got ready for our last day!
At checkout, we asked to send our suitcase home. We paid COD for that, as I wasn't sure if we had enough money left!
Across the road from the hotel was a building that Hannah wanted to check out. The building was the Former Akita Shokai Building, which was an office and residence for Akita Shokai. The building was completed in 1915 and blends Japanese and Western architectural styles. The building features a tower rising from the roof and a traditional Japanese garden and teahouse on the roof. Unfortunately, the teahouse was closed as the heavy rains had made the roof unstable.
Former Akita Shokai building.
You can just glimpse the garden on the roof.
On the way to the building, we passed these cute post boxes.
Cute.
Inside the building was a museum of how people, especially those with money, lived.
Lunch box
The silver thing was a washing machine.
A famous Japanese poet
The camera that was used to take the photo.
Hannah said that this poet was in the school textbooks. The photo was the last one taken of her. It was taken the day before she died, at just 26 years old.
I really thought I could finish today, but there are still a few things to write about but I'm making too many mistakes now!
I didn't think it would take this many posts to write about this trip!
When we checked out of our hotel, we asked to send our suitcase to the next hotel by Takubin, a door-to-door parcel delivery service. This is so handy when travelling. Our suitcase wasn't that heavy, but we were going to use buses to get to different locations, and lifting the suitcase onto and off a bus isn't that easy. Also, the buses we used were really crowded. I was so happy that we didn't have the suitcase with us. One problem we had was that the suitcase didn't arrive until the next morning, so we didn't have a few things we needed, but not a big problem. I would highly recommend using this kind of service if you are travelling in Japan.
Our first stop was the Kanmon Pedestrian Tunnel. A walking tunnel that connects Kyushu Island to Honshu Island.
We got the bus to the entrance and found a lovely little shrine there.
Looking across the strait to Shimonoseki.
Also, we were very close to the suspension bridge that connects Kyushu and Honshu.
The engineering that went into making this bridge really amazes me!
Then it was time to walk to Honshu, under the sea, in a tunnel, in a country that has earthquakes!
The entrance to the tunnel is in this building.
Map showing the tunnel
Photo chance.
We had to get an elevator down to the tunnel entrance.
Looking down the tunnel.
Showing how far it is.
These markers were throughout the tunnel.
With every step I took, I was thinking, "What if there's an earthquake?" Christopher calling the night before, saying that there was an earthquake, really didn't help.
A couple of videos so you can get an idea of what it was like!
I was surprised to see a lot of elderly people using the tunnel as a walking course.
I was happy when we got to the halfway mark!
The kanji near to us says Fukuoka, the other says Yamaguchi.
The sign shows which side is Honshu (pink part) and Kyushu.
I was even happier to get out of the tunnel. I think it was the longest 780 meters of my life!
We came out to a beautiful view of Mojiko from the Shinomoseki side.
You can make out the observation tower.
Where the tunnel is in Shinomoseki.
This is the site of a battle in 1864. The combined forces of America, Britain, France and Holland defeated the Chosun Clan, which governed this area of Japan.
After a little rest, we got on the bus to Akama Shrine.
Where we got off the bus was a lovely seafront park.
The plaque is for the UK-Japan Green Alliance. This alliance promotes environmental cooperation and sustainability between the two nations. One thing the alliance has been involved in is tree planting initiatives. For example, 200 oak saplings were planted in Japan to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.
We crossed the road to the shrine, but we noticed a small building next door.
Shinomoseki Nisshin Peace Memorial Hall
A small museum that commemorates the peace negotiations of the First Sino-Japanese War.
Then we walked to the shrine.
I was amazed at how beautiful this shrine is. It faces the sea, but the colours are very bright and clear. I was wondering how often they had to paint it to keep it looking so fresh!
The step leading up to the shrine.
I was trying to get the ship going past. I'm not sure how good the photo is, but I like the contrast of the modern and the historic.
This is the view from the street.
I still have a lot to write, but I think that will do for today.
The weather is really nice outside, so I think I'm going to go and potter around in the garden for a bit!
