We only spent two days in Kyoto. Wednesday marked our move to Okayama, while one of our group mates went back to Tokyo. Our train arrived just before 1 PM, so we were able to check out later than usual. While we were in a waiting area at Kyoto's station, I saw the news talking about an incoming typhoon that will affect Kyushu, in which Okayama is relatively close to. While the train took us from Kyoto to Okayama, you could literally see the skies starting to darken.
We arrived about 30 minutes before check-in at our hotel, thus we had to wait instead of dropping off our luggage. Once we checked in, we went back to Okayama station to head to Hiroshima. I wanted to try Hiroshima style okonomiyaki and tomorrow wasn't an option since the shinkansen will be shut down in preparation for the typhoon.
The ride to Hiroshima is only 40 minutes. After arriving at the station, we looked for a particular okonomiyaki place that strangely both my brother and I were reading up on while we were on the train. I was a bit confused, because on the website, it mentioned that it was outside of the station, but Google Maps suggested that it was underground, though at the edge of the station. After walking around for a while, we managed to find the place. We had to line up for around half an hour, but it was definitely worth the wait. Hiroshima style okonomiyaki is different than Osaka's style in that there was a yakisoba layer and all the other ingredients were stacked in layers. Osaka's style tends to be a mix of all ingredients. Personally, I prefer Hiroshima's style since it looks more organized. Taste was really hard to compare, since I haven't had Osaka okonomiyaki since 2017.
After eating, we walked above ground to find the Pokemon center in Hiroshima. When I last visited Hiroshima in 2015, we only had time to see the Peace Memorial, thus making Hiroshima city, somewhat a new experience. The streets were quiet, but I'm not sure whether its due to the cloudy skies or it's normally this quiet. We eventually found the location and ventured inside. The Pokemon Center's mascot was a Pikachu on top of a shiny Gyarados.
We purchased a few things from the centre, including a Kimono Pikachu plushie. As we left the building, we saw that there was a fair bit of rain. Not wanting to walk in the rain, we took the train car back to Hiroshima's station. We caught the slower Kodama shinkansen (around 70 minutes to Okayama) and purchased convenience store food for dinner. There was a pasta place in the underground mall linking to Okayama station, but somehow I didn't feel up to it. I noticed that the convenience store had a limited selection of food... I wonder if it was due to other people stocking up for the typhoon.
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