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宇品本通郵便局 (Ujina Hondori Post Office) - Hiroshima-shi, Hiroshima

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It was an exciting day (but also a bit nervous) for me because for the first time, I would go to get fukeiin with a non-postcard-exchanging friend! 😂 I planned this half-day trip for a few days, giving a few area options for my friend to choose from. In the end, we decided to go to Ujina, where neither of us had gone before. The weather was sunny, a good day to explore a new area.  *** Ujina is a district and port area in Minami-ku, Hiroshima. It serves as a major passenger terminal offering regular ferry services to nearby islands in Hiroshima Bay (Etajima, Miyajima, and Ninoshima) as well as Matsuyama in Shikoku. Some international cruises also stop there. You can reach Ujina seaside by taking the Hiroden streetcar to Ujina and getting off at Kaigandori. After getting off at Kaigandori station, I used Google Maps to guide us to a cozy cafe with a sea view that I had found on Google. I knew we were definitely walking closer towards the sea, but the surrounding buildings were off...
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和木郵便局 (Waki Post Office) - Mihara, Hiroshima

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I went to Waki Post Office on the same day I went to Asuka Post Office. It's about a 20-minute drive from Asuka Post Office, so if you have access to a car, it's a good idea to visit both, since there is no public transport connecting them. For my story on Asuka Post Office fukeiin, read here .  *** 和木 (Waki) is an area in Daiwa Town, Mihara. The area is well-known for Hakuryuko, a lake created by the multipurpose dam "Mukunashi Dam." The name came from a local legend about the Mukunashi River (I need to find out more about it). There are sports facilities utilizing the vast land upstream of Lake Hakuryu, as well as roadside stations and resort centers on the lakeside. You can reach it by taking the bus from Kochi Station (Sanyo Line) and getting off at Wakikyoku bus stop. It was lunchtime, so we decided to have lunch before going to the post office. I checked Google Maps and saw a few places of interest. We decided to have lunch at a place called みちくさ (Michikusa) si...
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安宿郵便局 (Asuka Post Office) - Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima

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On this day, my husband had a PTO, which means he could drive me to post offices that were otherwise difficult to reach by public transport. Yay! After assessing different routes and possibilities, I decided that we were going to the mountains and visiting 2 post offices today. Collecting fukeiin is a perfect opportunity to go to places I normally wouldn't go.  I made sure I brought all 8 postcards (4 cards for each post office) I was planning to send that day before leaving the house. *** 安宿 (Asuka) is an area in Toyosaka, the northernmost municipality in Higashihiroshima. The place intrigued me because it has an unusual kanji reading (normally you'd read the kanji as "yasujuku"). Obviously, I had never been there before. As we went further into the mountains, there were fewer and fewer houses. Apart from the primary school and community center across the road, the post office was surrounded by fields and mountains. If you want, you can reach the post office by taki...
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倉敷郵便局 (Kurashiki Post Office) - Kurashiki, Okayama

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It's our second and last day in Kurashiki. I had posted all the postcards I brought from home, but I wanted to send two more postcards to my friends. I didn't plan this initially, so I didn't bring my washi tapes and sticker collection with me, only some pens for writing. However, I was planning to buy some supplies today, so hopefully I could create something decent. If you haven't done so, you can check out our first day in Kurashiki here and here .  *** After checking out (most hotels in Japan have a check-out time of 10 am), my husband and I went to 橘香堂 (Kikkodo), a Japanese sweets store famous for its むらすずめ (murasuzume).  Murasuzume is a traditional Japanese sweet from Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, with sweet adzuki red bean paste wrapped in a thin, folded, crepe-like egg pancake. The shop opened at 9 am, but the murasuzume-making experience started at 10 am. We were the first participants on that day. I forgot to take pics that didn't show us, so here is th...
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小島郵便局 (Kojima Post Office) - Kurashiki, Okayama

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Still on the first day of our trip to Kurashiki (you can read about the beginning of the trip in my previous post ). After checking into our hotel (hotels in Japan usually only accept check-in after 3 or 4 pm) and having a quick rest, my husband and I headed to the bus stop at Kurashiki station around 4 pm to board the bus to Kojima station at the southern tip of the city. Kojima is known as the mecca of Okayama raw denim. I'm not particularly a fan of denim, but my friend told me she'd love to visit the Okayama denim place on her next visit to Japan, so I thought I'd go there first to see what it's like, and hopefully I'll be able to guide her well when she's here. Plus, I checked Google and confirmed that the Kojima Post Office offered fukeiin, and it was open until 7 pm. All the more reason for me to go. According to the info we got from the Tourist Information Center, the bus from Kurashiki to Kojima usually takes 45-50 minutes. However, that day the traffi...
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倉敷本町郵便局 (Kurashiki Honmachi Post Office) - Kurashiki, Okayama

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It was the week of my wedding anniversary. My husband and I decided to go on a 2-day, 1-night trip to Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture. As a fan of old towns and old buildings, Kurashiki had been on my bucket list for a long time. Of course, it was also a perfect opportunity to get some more fukeiin. I've already gotten some postcards ready to be sent, and this time I double-checked before leaving the house ! (If you want to know what happened last time,  check my previous post. ) *** My husband and I usually travel by car, but since it was the day after the big snowfall in the Chugoku Region, we decided it was better to ditch the car and take the regular train instead. It was a good thing, since my husband could read his favorite manga series instead of driving. From the train window, I could see the remnants of yesterday's snow here and there. On the train, I checked Google Maps for post offices with fukeiin within walking distance from the stations along the line for future re...
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海田中店郵便局 (Kaita Nakamise Post Office) - Kaita, Hiroshima

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Let me be honest with you. I'm prone to seasonal depression. Coming from a warmer country, I had no idea that the lack of sunlight and outside stimulation could affect my psyche this much. The cold weather made me want to stay inside the whole day, and it didn't help that my work is mostly remote (WFH). Staying inside my house all day brought me comfort, and it used to be hard to convince myself to go outside and do something (like, why should I go outside in the cold when I can do the same at home in my pajamas, right?). So yeah, this fukeiin journey is also a way for me to combat seasonal depression .  *** It was sunny outside, past lunchtime. I had a half-day off and some postcards ready to be posted. I checked my fukeiin post office list, narrowed my options to two, and walked to the train station. My destination would be decided by which train came first. Sometimes it feels nice not to take control of everything and let the universe decide for you. The first train came. K...
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