Hachi (Hiroshima/Miyajima)

Saturday 11th July 2015

Accommodation: Sakuraya on Miyajima booked through hotels.com for ￥16,400 (£100) for one night for a double room with breakfast.

A quick trip to Hiroshima

From Osaka, we jumped on a Shinkansen to Hiroshima. Our itinerary gave us a tight schedule of spending a few hours in Hiroshima before heading to Miyajima to spend the night. We ended up wishing we had more time in Miyajima but were glad we got to see both places.

We got off the train at Hiroshima and tried to find somewhere to leave our bags for the day. After being narrowly beaten to what we thought was the last large locker in the station (grrr!), we discovered another locker room upstairs and locked up our cases for a few hundred yen. Our only plan for Hiroshima was to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial so we headed out of the train station and hopped on an old style tram. The trip only took about 20 minutes and we got off the tram right beside the Dome.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial

On August 6th 1945, the United States of America dropped ‘Little Boy’, the first atomic bomb to be used in war, on Hiroshima. 70,000 people were killed and another 70,000 later died from effects such as radiation poisoning. As the bomb landed almost directly above the Dome, it was left standing. The plan had been to demolish the building but it was later decided to leave the Dome as a memorial.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial, aka the Atomic Bomb Dome is the site of something horrific, and I expected it to be a sombre place. However, it didn’t feel sombre and made my respect for Japanese people grow. The Atomic Bomb Dome could easily be seen to be a memorial to a horrific event, but instead it is a symbol of hope for world peace. It stands to remind us how destructive people can be in the hope that something similar doesn’t happen again. So instead of feeling sombre, I felt hopeful that the world had learnt from this catastrophe.

“It symbolizes the tremendous destructive power, which humankind can invent on the one hand; on the other hand, it also reminds us of the hope for world permanent peace.” (UNESCO)

David and I had a walk around the perimeter of the Memorial and found people milling around a table with lots of folders with various languages written on the front. We each picked up an English copy and had a read. The books told the history of the bombing, including events before and after. I would guess that they were provided by the company that runs Hiroshima Peace Park but they weren’t branded in any way and seemed quite informal. Of course, they were from a Japanese point of view and I fully expected for Hiroshima and Japan to be described as the victims in these events. However, the books pretty much said “we caused this because of our actions”.

Hiroshima Okonomiyaki

The books were really interesting and we spent about half an hour sitting in the sun (yes, sun – at last!) reading. By that time it was lunchtime and we were on the hunt for food. After enjoying okonomiyaki in Osaka, we wanted to try Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki which we’d heard was slightly different. Using the TripAdvisor ‘near me’ function, we discovered that we were a few minutes’ walk from a highly rated okonomiyaki restaurant – result!

We walked from Hiroshima Peace Memorial to the restaurant, Nagataya, and got seated at a table with a hot plate in the middle. There was an English menu and we both ordered okonomiyaki which was delicious. The Hiroshima style has the ingredients layered instead of mixed together and also has noodles.

Sightseeing loop bus

As we were seeing both Hiroshima and Miyajima in the same day, we had to head back to the train station and decided to get a sightseeing bus back to take in a little more of Hiroshima. We used the red Sightseeing Loop buses (Hiroshima Meipu ru-pu) which cost ￥200 for one trip or ￥400 for a one-day pass however, we were happy to find that they were free with the JR Pass. There are two routes (orange and green) and they both start at the train station and go via the Atomic Bomb Dome and Peace Memorial Park. The full routes take around 50 minutes and it didn’t take us long to get back to the train station.

Trip to Miyajima

We got the train from Hiroshima Station to Miyajimaguchi Station, which took about 25 minutes and was covered by the JR Pass. When we got off at the station, a Japanese lady tapped me on the shoulder and handed us each an origami bird that I’d seen her making on the train. It was such a lovely thing to do and made two (very obvious!) tourists feel very welcome. We later learnt that cranes are a symbol of hope and peace which was very fitting after our trip to Hiroshima’s Peace Dome.

We walked the short distance down to the pier and waited for the ferry across to Miyajima. While we were waiting we saw a heron (very similar to a crane!) sitting by the pier.

There are two ferry companies that sail from Miyajimaguchi to Miyajima and we took the JR ferry as it was covered by our trusty JR passes. The ferry ride takes about 10 minutes and we got a great view of the famour O-torii Gate ‘floating’ in the sea.

Deer!

When we arrived on Miyajima, we were delighted to be welcomed by the island’s deer! Lots and lots of deer wandering freely about, greeting tourists and trying to eat all of their possessions!

There are signs up to say that the deer are wild animals and asking you to treat them gently and with patience. It also said not to touch them or feed them – easier said than done when they’re determined to eat your map!

Our hotel is only a few minutes’ walk from the ferry terminal but it took us a while as we were chatting to and taking photos of the deer. We had decided to pay a little extra and get a Japanese-style room with a sea view and private bathroom and it was wonderful. There was a little balcony with seats overlooking the ocean. We’d spent the previous night in Osaka in a tiny bedroom with a window facing into a wall so this was a major upgrade and I really wished that we had two nights to spend there instead of just one.

Unfortunately we didn’t have a lot of time in Miyajima so went out for a quick explore around the local area, visiting the Itsukushima Shrine and O-torii Gate before going on the search for dinner.

It was on Miyajima that we bought our most expensive meal – working out at a whopping £25 for the two of us! We’d heard that Miyajima was famous for osyters and there was a little hut selling them right outside our hotel but it wasn’t open so we opted for some fried oysters, squid tempura and mussels at a restaurant.

After dinner, we wandered back to our hotel (chatting to the local deers en route) and then left early the next day on to our next stop.

In hindsight, I would have liked to have spent two nights on the Miyajima and climbed Mount Misen (the Miyajima Ropeway wasn’t working while we were there so no option of a quick trip up). I’m so glad we had at least a flying visit though as it is such a charming little island, the deer are hilarious and the O-torii gate was another one of my ‘I’m in a guidebook!’ moments.