Today started with a grand hotel buffet! It seemed only polite to try lots of the options, some familiar, some not! The verdict- excellent!
Before heading off on our rabbit visiting excursion, we decided to have a look around Okayama. It has a castle and gardens, which are its most noted tourist attractions. On the way to the gardens however, we got a little waylaid- there were rowing boats, swan boats, and peach boats! Yes, peaches! Or momo boats! Here we are inside our peach.
There were special slippers to wear in the boat house and on board. There weren't any to fit Tom!
And here is the fleet! Our peach was the middle of the three (fascinating detail there for you!). Who could resist a peddle in a peach.
Back on land, some lovely dainty daffodils.
And some fine blossom in the gardens. These are plum trees, which are the earliest to bloom. The cherry trees and then maple trees come next, but we won't get to see those in all their splendour. Still, the plums blossoms were a lovely sight, and smelled delicious too.
The rest of the gardens, although apparently one of the top three scenic gardens in Japan, were a little less impressive. We think perhaps we came in the wrong season, as the vivid green grass on the posters was very brown and dead looking indeed! (More so than the bit in this picture).
After waiting for a pair of Japanese men to excitedly pose in all the different costumes and weapons in the dress up box, we got our turn. We didn't mind waiting, they were actually quite entertaining! Tom obligingly tried on the above...
....and this was my ensemble.
Then it was a hasty walk to the station to catch our train towards rabbit island. It was a multi part journey, with a couple of changes, and then a boat trip at the end.
This is the view that greeted us at Tadanoumi station, just a short walk from the port.
Around the corner, it was a walk back over the train lines, into the shop to buy our boat tickets and rabbit food, and then all aboard!
The bunnies did not disappoint, coming out in force to greet us! They are mainly a tannish brown, but come in all different colours and patterns.
They aren't shy, if you have food they will clamber all over you to get at it. I didn't let them climb up much though as I didn't fancy a scratch or bite if they got over excited, though they did seem pretty tame.
The 'hill in evening sun' was exactly that. Other than the distinctly non-tropical temperature, it was just like being on a lovely tropical island!
The other islands around us were looking lovely too. There was a man lying on the floor taking photos just out of shot here. I was a bit concerned upon first glimpse, but relieved to see he was just taking pictures, and he hadn't been overcome by a mob of wild rabbits.
This was their favourite trick- standing on hind quarters and awaiting food. They did such an irresistible job of it, who could refuse?
And here is the lovely resort on the island. I bet in summer when you can go on the beach and enjoy long evenings, it's quite the place to be!
On the ferry over, there was first a Japanese commentary, followed by an English translation. A sentence similar to this was read aloud- 'on our beautiful island you can enjoy feeding the rabbits, visiting the souvenir shop, take in the rabbit island hotel and resort with hot springs, and visit the poisonous gases museum'.
Poisonous gas museum?! On a perfect holiday resort island? What?!!! Obviously I had just chosen to take a gulp of water from my bottle just before this was read, and it took several minutes to swallow, as I was trying so hard not to laugh out loud and spray the person in front of me. I was not expecting that!
It turns out that during world war 2, the island was the location of a secret poisonous gas factory, which was hidden from view by embankments built up in front of it, and in front of the various storage buildings dotted across the island.
This archway took you from the seafront to the factory. It wasn't what I expected to find on rabbit island, but it was nonetheless an interesting side feature!
People in Japan seem very friendly and obliging. We were sitting waiting for our train back at the end of the day, when some school girls were trying to get our attention from the other platform. At first I didn't think it could be for us, as no one knows us here! 'Hello' they were saying, amidst giggles. 'Where you go?'. When we said, they pointed to the platform they were on. Turns out we were on the wrong side. Very good of them to tell us, even though it seemed quite amusing to them!'. They came over again to check where we were going, once we were on the train, I think they were concerned they'd accidentally sent us the wrong way, but they hadn't!
We enjoyed some delicious peach nectar on the train.
Then changed trains and collected our luggage from Okayama. They have cycle share schemes everywhere in Japan, thought I'd share this picture of the cycle share fleet in Okayama, as they await their morning commuters.
And tonight we sleep in Kyoto, in a dormitory with capsule type sleeping bunks all built along a wall.
Goodnight all!
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