Osaka to Miyajima. A gentleman for whom the term "spry" was invented, got onto the Shinkansen with his good lady wife and proceeded to lift a bag, which easily weighed the same as himself, onto the overhead luggage rack before sitting down and neatly placing a sheet of newspaper on the floor, removing his shoes and putting his stockinged feet firmly upon it. People watching really should be considered a sport for the next Olympics now that they've allowed golf to join in the adventure, and it provides a more fascinating and engaging experience than curling too.

We opted to stay at a ryokan for two nights in Miyajima to gain something akin to what you would define as an authentic Japanese experience. This initially caused a little trepidation to me, as I'm a creature who enjoys the modern comforts and being able to pick what food I eat and when ... so warping back in time and being fed fish on a daily basis would probably not constitute my ideal holiday. For the former, there was no real problem once we arrived and I discovered it wasn't a small room made from bamboo, but a large building with spacious rooms (ten tatami  in size) with modern facilities, electricity and air conditioning and instead was more tradition in terms of the wonderful people who ran it, and how they presented the ryokan to you.

Meals were an odd affair and it is probably worth mentioning at this point, I don't eat fish. It's not an allergy, simply a preference based on unpleasant food experiences with sea-based fare as a child and something that never appealed to me in adulthood so was never pursued. This poses a problem in a country that not only loves fish, but classes it among the key food groups that can constitute elements of two or three meals per day.

Dinner on the first night was already on the table when we reached the dining room, and comprised of sashimi, pickles, daikon and an enormous prawn inspecting you as much as you were inspecting him. My wife was always trained as a child that when confronted with a food you didn't like but were compelled to eat, add ketchup until the original taste was no longer present and it become paleteable. My take on this approach consisted of adding a little delicious wasabi to the dipping sauce then going to town on the sashimi. Tuna and salmon were both excellent but the sea bream didn't fare so well, but otherwise it went well. Delighted with my progress (three types of fish, more than I've had in the last 20-25 years) and feeling reasonably full, I sat back to revel in victory ... but then the next course appeared. More sea breem, but this time cooked through and presented with vegetables on the side, so back to the plate we go. It was delicious, and a huge improvement on the odd-tasting offering that it was when raw. Having finished this, we sat back again ... just in time for the beef course to appear. My word! Hiroshima beef in a teriyaki marindae is rather superb but after three strips the fourth eluded me, but thankfully the wife was on course to hoover that up. No dinner would be complete without the compulsory dessert course, so out came that most traditional of Japanese dishes ... baked cheesecake. Somewhat of a surprise after the distinctly regional fare offered to that point (with the meat sourced locally) but pretty damned good and thankfully that was the end of dinner.