A ryokan is a hotel where you can rent tatami rooms with futons. By futon, I mean a special cushion that unfolds on the floor, that you sleep on. I've never seen a futon in Japan that lays on a frame like the ones in the US. This was half of our room.
Sometimes futons are really flimsy, flat and uncomfortable but these were really cushy. Even though I sleep on a Western bed in my apartment, I found these futons very comfortable. Most ryokan also include breakfast and dinner in the price. The meals are sometimes served in their dining room or brought to your room.Here are the sites..
(Those are hundreds of paper cranes behind Matt made for the Sadako Memorial.)
The Hiroshima Carps were playing the Tokyo Swallows while we were there. It was pretty easy to get cheap tickets ($15) and buy the necessary cheering gear. We had more fun at this game than most of the baseball games we've been to in the US. However, the baseball itself was a little less impressive. We had fun because the fans were going crazy (except when they were on the big screen, and then they were just embarrassed and shy), everyone around us was eating noodles, the popcorn was good, the baseball diamond and field was half the size as in the MLB, and the batting averages were as low as .111! Instead of clapping and yelling obscenities/encouragement, fans hit plastic bats together in an organized beat and song. None of it was prompted by the big screen either. There were bass drums in each section of the bleachers to keep the cheering together, and I'm not sure if those are always there or people actually bring them to every game.
During the 7th inning, everyone blew up these special balloons, cheered something and then released them.
We saw a lot of this.
We're always a fan of giant cups of ramen, especially when they are driven around in a tiny truck.
Whenever the Tokyo Swallows scored a run, the Tokyo fans opened up their green/blue umbrellas and cheered.
Tokyo won, but it was still a lot of fun!
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