Day 3 in Kurashiki – City Escape to Hiroshima and Miyajima -広島市 宮島

The day before today, whilst visiting the shrine outside Kurashiki in Okayama prefecture, we were joking about doing something different since we had one spare day and we could leave Kurashiki day tour for the 1^st of January since almost everything was going to be closed.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park - 広島平和記念公園

So she suggested to go to Hiroshima and also if we would wake up early in the morning we could also visit Miyajima, which is an island not far from Hiroshima and according to my friend it was going to be a nice experience.

Indeed, it was.

So even though we could have gone by car, my friend’s family suggested to take the Shinkansen to Hiroshima so we could have more time over there. Since the first train was going to be at 07:00 I didn’t even have time to eat anything but instead my dear friend cooked for us the night before whilst I was sleeping.  I thought she was joking but she brought a lot of food: onirigi (she knows I lov’em) , fried chicken with some sweet sauce (amazing) and some chocolates as well.

Onigiri with salmon!

Tebasaki - crispy chicken wings -手羽先

Well my friends, if you’re as lucky as I was you can catch a 7am train and be in Hiroshima in exactly one hour and I know it was exactly and hour because I recorded a video when the train was arriving in Kurashiki and another when the train was arriving in Hiroshima train station  - punctuality --- oh yes! I do mind paying a lot of money for a tube in London but here even though it’s expensive it really worths the money spent.

as soon as we arrived we left the station behind and rushed to the port to catch the boat to go to Miyajima. Once again, I was going to be as lucky as all my previous days and the weather was amazing: clear blue sky, chilly but nice and very dry air despite being next to the sea.

We lost two boats some 30 mins alltogether but I’ve got to admit I’m the one to blame. They’ve got this wicked souvenir shop in the port, where I wanted to buy it all! Seriously, Japanese and Americans in that sense are not different – they do know how to make you spend your money stupidly – but they had some many cool stuff in that shop. Sadly you’re not allowed to take pictures inside the shop but if you go to Miyajima you’ll have to go to that port and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Moving on, finally we were on the boat and we got to the upper deck were you could have a nice view of the lanscape. It was quite chilly so I do apologise with my friend for making her suffer hihi. But anyway, if it’s too cold or hot you can always go to the lower deck where they have a AC and the temperature is more stable.

Far on other shore we could see the big Torii called “The gate to Itsukushima” that is supposed to be the entrance to the sacred shrine on the island. We had to wait a bit for everyone to jump on the boat but it was ok, but it was ok because that gave me an opportunity to experience an amazig landscape with sea and mountain islands around the place. At the same time, I was listening and seeing how Japanese enjoy this trips and experiencing the Japanese way of life during NYE holidays.

And so we started moving and the lanscape was opening up wider and wider until we were right inthe middle because the two shores and I managed to record and take pictures of the beautiful lanscape with mountains all around.

The whole trip doesn’t long, perhaps som 15-20 minutes but then it takes a little longer to get out of the boat because the corridors at the Miyajima port are not wide enough for the stampede of humans J

Once you’ve passed the narrow corridor whilst on the island and everyone has taken different ways you can breath the fresh air and start seeing on the left hand side all the food shops, restaurants and deers!

Once again and like in Nara you’ll find a lot of deers all around you but these ones are a little bit better adapted to the people and they are friendlier as well (despide the signs telling you not to touch them) It’s funny how these deer seem to be unbothered by the touching and the screaming of all the people around them. I think they are the real monks of the island.

Itsukishima Deer with Big Torii in the background

Once you pass the friendly zone of the deers, who like I said before I not only think they are the monks but also the guards of the island, they’re just chilling ^_^. So once you leave that part, you’ll come to the entrance to the shrine, although it’s important to say that the whole island is a Shrine itself and it’s called Itsukushima-jinja or Intsukushima Shrine厳島神社.

I’m going to copy an extract from Wikipedia that clearly explains the meaning or the reason of this shrine.

“The shrine is dedicated to the three daughters of Susano-o no Mikoto, Shinto deity of seas and storms and brother of the great sun deity, Amaterasu”

Contrary to all the previous Shinto shrines I had visited till then I had never had to pay to get into the shrine, but there you’ll have to pay a bit. Trust me it’s peanuts, don’t worry.

Inside Itsukushima-jinja Shrine

The shrine is painted with this typical vermillion colour all around and something that is worth mentioning is that the shrine is built enterely with wood and it’s suspended by using thick logs that support the whole structure. The way it is structure is very zen style with wide long corridors with open spaces and big lanters, that hanged from the top of the roof.





Once you get to the centre of the shrine you’ll have the praying part with white, gold and vermillion colours aligned in a very subtle and refined way. Since there were so many people it was almost impossible to pray properly. A lot of people, young and old werer rushing to pray as if it really didn’t mean anything to them.  

Since we didn’t have too much time, we threw the coin, prayed properly but shortly, said thanks to the gods and left the praying zone. However, if you’re into photography and you happen to have a cool wide-angle lense or at least 18mm lens, then turn around on the praying zone, kneel down, use the frame as a support (you won’t be able to use the tripod inside the shrine)for the camera and take a picture. Trust me, you won’t regret it. Just remember that it’ll be packed, so you’ve got to be quick and accurate.

Walking inside the Miyajima Shrine with Torii

Perhaps, the most important spot on the shrine is the one that overlooks the big Torii or gate to the shrine. But I’m warning you now, be patient because you’ll have to wait a bit to get the chance to take a picture of you and the Torii behind you. The picture we took of ourselves look as if nobody was there but trust me that’s because Japanese people are too polite and they love photography, so they didn’t get in the way. However, there was a long queue of people waiting for their turn.

We carried on walking and then the exit was just there and from this point you have a couple of options but you must have time or at least a whole day to explore the island. My friend told me that if you carry on walking along the shore it’s a very nice walk but that it’ll take you some time. They actually have on another signs the distance and the approx time to reach that point.

Where to go in Itsukushima

Nevertheless, my friend knew me and how mad I get to climb mountains so she quickly said let’s go to the shops around her and let’s go to have lunch. Aw well, next time will be. Miyajima has many souvenir shops so it really didn’t matter that I didn’t buy any tshirt at the port shop because here the prices were actually cheaper and there was more variety to pick up from.

All countries in the world have different foods, chocolates, sweets and we all agree on that but there’s something about the Japanese wrapping style that makes it look nicer. I don’t quite know what it is, is it the pattern? Is it the colours they use? I don’t tknow but there was this shop that sells wagashi 和菓子 or typical Japanese sweets. Shopping at this kind of shop, mind you there are tons of these around Japan, is a rewarding experience because it’s so nicely decorated and the customer service is astonishing (say you don’t speak English – don’t matter we has sign language and a very nice smile to help you sir).

Wagashi (Japanese sweets) wrapping colours

Inside the wagashi shop in Miyajima

The shop, as many around that place had a person sitting in front of the machine used to bake the wagashi and you can see the whole process, that even though it’s mechanical it looks like it hasn’t improve for quite some time now. The man taking care of the machine was as old as the machine I reckon he does enjoy his job, even though it looks a bit monotonous to me.

I seriously can’t remember how long it took me to decide what to buy but in the end it was this wagashi filled with anko or red-beans paste. I luv it! Not many people likes it so I guess it’s one of those that you either love it or hate it.

As we were walking and trying to look for a nice place that wasn’t packed but that are the same time it was good to have lunch we stumbled upon this massive rice scoop.  That encounter with the Miyajima’s rice scoop taught me that: first rice scoops where invented in that place and second that rice scoop was the biggest in the world and I firmly believe this title will remain here for a long time – unless you can find a tree big enough and you decide to beat them. Looking to beat a world record?

Biggest Rice Scoop in the World in Miyajima

We had lunch almost at the end of the shopping street and we had the typical dish: unagi and rice. They take a deep plate and put a layer of rice and on top the cover it with unagi. We also had a miso soup to start with and it was quite light and tasty – I’m still trying to remember the name of the place, but I’m going to share with you a google map link.

Unagi in Miyajima - special dish

Unagi Restaurant in Miyajima


  Sadly, our time on this tiny Island-Shrine had come to an end and we had to go back to Hiroshima. We took the boat back and it was quick to reach the other site of the shore.

Hiroshima

What can I say about Hiroshima? Let me start by telling you that just being there was a massive bonus to my trip, because I didn’t have Hiroshima on my list of places to visit.

Here I was  in this city was even today after a couple of months still seems unreal. I can’t believe such a big city was completely wiped out and only that symbolic building, designed by a Czech architect would remain as the only proof of such a devastating event in humankind history.

My decided not to join me on my trip because she couldnt bear the experience of ebing there so I went alone to visit Hiroshima or at least as much as I could. The first thing you need to do is that from the very boat port there’s a tram that can take you anywhere in Hiroshima. All you need to do is to ask about around. It’s best if you bring a map with you or you buy one somewhere as the landmark are quite popular but not the names so you’ll have to read it aloud the tram driver.

Once you get to the bombeb building the whole place atmosphere changes a bit. People remain quiet and everyone seem to be thinking about the same – “how could this happen?”

There’s nothing much to say about this place. I think it’s better to share some videos and pictures of the place but still that doesn’t give you the feeling of tranquility I felt there.

Once you’re there, you’ll see many maps and from there it’s not far to get to the main places in Hiroshima, which by the way it’s very modern and developed. I don’t know I was expecting a place more damaged but this proves that japanese people recover quickly and rebuild fast with many improvements. The improvements are noticeable, for example, the streets and pavement are wider than in the rest of the cities I’ve been. The city itself looks newer and the city plan looks like it was properly designed.

From there I went walking back to meet up with my friend at the Hiroshima Station to catch the Shinkansen back home. But on the way I passed the Hiroshima castle, that was closed since it was End of Yeat holidays but the shrine was opened and I went it to take this great picture of the Shinto Priest.

Shinto Shrine outside Hiroshima Castle

Before getting to the station I recorded this video from the streets of Hiroshima to give you an idea of how wide the streets are – reminds me of USA a bit.

Later that evening when we got home we were knackered but we were hungry as well and my friend surprised me with my third favourite food “okonomiyaki”.

Okonomiyaki in Kurashiki

That’s it for today, and I know I wish I would have had more time to spend it in Hiroshima, nevermind I was grateful with my friend and very happy to be able to visit one of the most emblematic places in Japan.