One of the unique features of the Ryokan's that I forgot to mention yesterday is the Onsen's, or public baths. They are separated into men's and women's and are very spa like. The kids loved them.
These pics are from the Onsen at Iwaso Ryokan
On Friday night we stayed at the Miyajima Grand Hotel Arimoto in a traditional Japanese style room. The Arimoto was not as traditional as Iwaso, so we felt a bit more relaxed there.
The kids and our hostess Zhingpang
Our room
The kids dressed up and ready for dinner
The Arimoto Dinner
I have never, in all of my years of eating out seen as much food for a table of four people. On top of the dishes you see below, we had two pots of broth that we cooked two kinds of fish and veggies in, a beef dish that was similar to a hot rock fondue, tempura shrimp, two rectangular platters with massive raw oysters, rice and dessert. It was crazy, there was no way that we could have come close to eating all of the food.
Appetizer plates
Who is this guy???? Since when does our son eat RAW Sardines covered with fresh grated wasabi????
This sashimi platter was insane. We ate a lot of it and we didn't even make a dent! I didn't capture it in the photo, but they had skinned one of the fish and used it as decoration on the platter. The dish was visually stunning.
We had two of these mussel hot pots....
We were much more adventurous at this meal then we were at the meal the previous night at Iwaso Ryokan. We tried just about everything, some of it was great and some of it was, well, disgusting. All in all, we are really glad we got to experience the traditions of the Ryokans the artful Japanese cuisine.
Saturday April 10th
Today was spent traveling from Miyajima to Tokyo. The total journey including the ferry, a commuter train, subway and the shinkansen took about 6hrs. We only had about 45 minutes to relax in the hotel before we headed out, grabbed a bite to eat and made our way to the FC Tokyo football match.
This is a take off of the the very famous "This is Anfield" sign that hangs in the hallway leading out to the pitch at Liverpool's home stadium. 
Pitch before the teams came out
The starting lineups
Great save by the Tokyo keeper off of a free kick
The FC Tokyo supporters. At the start of the game they sang the song made famous by the Liverpool FC supporters, "You'll Never Walk Alone". 
The Kashima Antlers supporters
Two happy FC Tokyo supporters
It was a long travel day to get there, but it was a great night out. The atmosphere at the game was fantastic. Both sets of supporters sang throughout the entire game. The quality of football wasn't the greatest, but it was a thoroughly entertaining evening.
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