All Summer Long

Armed with our Japan Rail Passes, we were ready to go on our first day trip to Miyajima Island and Hiroshima and obviously, the most exciting part of this trip was travelling on the shinkansen!! YES!!!!!!

Anyway, if you didn’t already know, Japan in January is extremely cold so we were well wrapped up and opted to go to Miyajima first. We had to get a shinkansen, local train and then a ferry to get there but a visit to Japan wouldn’t feel right if you missed out on the Itsukushima Shrine with it’s famous ‘floating’ torii gate.

When you’re travelling on the ferry, you have the (extremely) cool sea breeze and the Jurassic Park theme tune playing on repeat in your head as you feel (and part of you hopes) that you are sailing to the island of dinosaurs. It is simply stunning and with the blue skies, experiences don’t get much better than this. When you arrive, it’s more than acceptable to hit the vending machine straight away and warm up with a can of coffee or can of honey and lemon then decide how you want to do things. There are plenty of walks to do (and maps are readily available when you arrive) but as we were fitting Hiroshima in on the same day, we chose a shorter 2km walk which gave us lovely views and plenty of deer. Even if you don’t have long here, you can still fit in a lovely walk and some of the trails are only 750m long so don’t miss out!

The Five-storied Pagoda here is a very impressive 27.6 metres high and was originally built 1407, reconstructed in 1533 then restored to its original style in 1945. What makes this structure even more impressive is that it is said to resist horizontal swaying caused by earthquakes and typhoons. A very important feature in Japanese infrastructure!

Opposite the Pagoda is the Toyokuni Shrine which is the largest structure on Miyajima Island and named Senjokaku (Hall of One Thousand Tatami Mats) to reflect its standing. This hall was supposed to be a library and was built in 1587, however it was never finished as the warlord  who the building was dedicated to passed away 11 years later. One can only begin to imagine what it would’ve been like if it had been completed as even unfinished, it still takes my breath away looking at all of the workmanship.

The Great Torii Gate is probably the attraction that most tourists come to see when they come to visit Miyajima and when you first sail by it on the ferry, you can understand why. It is an iconic structure that many of you will probably have seen a picture of when looking at anything to do with Japan. The first Otorii of Itsukushima Shrine was constructed in 1168 about 200 metres offshore and the Great Torii that stands today was built in 1875 and is the 8th in history. It weighs a whopping 60 tons and stands at a splendid 16.6 metres but it isn’t buried deep into the seabed, it is merely supported by the 6 lower pillars and the structure’s sheer weight. The vermilion colour of the shrine is to keep evil spirits away but the added lacquer protects it from corrosion. They literally think of everything!! Another point to make is at low tide you can actually walk to the Great Torii so if you have time to spare, check out the tide times as I think that’d be really awesome to do! http://www.tides4fishing.com/jp/hiroshima/itsukushima#_tides

After all of that, Omotesando shopping street is a lovely place to wander round and a fab chance to sample some local delicacies. We only had one thing on our mind though and that was oysters! The Hiroshima Prefecture is famous for its oysters due to the favourable weather conditions so we were all geared up for them. Oh my god, they were amazing!!! They were grilled and we tried a couple of different toppings but reverted back to just a dash of lemon. Yes, we went back for more! As well as oysters, food retailers sell a lot of nigiri ten which are a kind of fish cake steamed or grilled and served on a stick. They come in different shapes and sizes and are really worth a try.

We had an extremely busy morning but what a morning it was! Even if you are not staying too close by, get up early and make the trip to Miyajima. Public transport is incredible and will get you there quicker than you think. I feel if you don’t go here, you really will miss out on something quite special. After all, it wouldn’t be a UNESCO World Heritage Site if it wasn’t worth the trip.

Enjoy 🙂