For breakfast, we stopped into the train station food court which was clean and had great light options. We each picked different veggie rolls, soy bean roll, and rice rolls and had tea and traditional and matcha lattes to pair:
We took the Sanyo commuter train line south to Miyajimaguchi station which takes about 30 minutes. You then walk a few blocks to the port and pick up the JR West Ferry for a few minutes to cross the water. Both run about every 15 minutes and can be paid for on Pasmo / Suica cards. Here we are getting on the ferry and arriving at Miyajima island:
Walking along the island to the shrine and torii, we stopped to have our first set of grilled oysters which the area is known for. Apparently, Hiroshima produces 60% of the country’s oysters. They were plump and so fresh!
After about a ten minute walk, we arrived at the shrine complex entrance:
We started taking many pictures of the floating torii:
The island is called Miyajima meaning “shrine island”, but the official name is Itsukushima, with the key shrine being Itsukushima Shrine. The temple complex also is the first I’ve seen sitting over water as most are on hillsides or mountains:
You can see the tide has started to go out from the shrine buildings / docks:
We queued for a central position to take photos when it started to drizzle, but it was worth waiting for:
You could also see the torii through various buildings which we stood under to get a break from the rain:
Some folks decided to kayak up to the gate which is a popular activity:
Here you can see the water receding again and when it’s at its lowest, you can walk up to the gate:
As we exited the complex, you can see the pagoda and warning signs such as for tsunami and earthquake - we are indeed in Japan:
We walked along the walking paths that were lined with cherry trees:
There are other temples and a popular hike or cable car ride up Mt. Misen, but with the weather, we decided to indulge in snacks and eating on Omotesando Shopping Street:
We had the traditional oyster curry bread:
What’s famous here is momiji manju which is a sweet bun in the shape of a Japanese maple leaf that can have various fillings, but the most traditional is red bean. This place served them fried, baked them onsite, and had a long queue of Japanese tourists. In addition to red bean, we had custard and lemon (Hiroshima area is known for their lemons too):
We stopped at another grilled oyster spot with many Japanese patrons. My mom had the one with eel which is famous here while Justin and I split the one with cheese and another with soy butter - very oishi!:
We then bought some treats, and the store gave us complimentary snacks - you can see I had done my nails in honor of cherry blossom season:
After stopping in a café for mango sorbet and some lemon and apple juice, we headed to the ferry. This island, like Nara, is known for the sacred deer and they sent us off near the pier:
As we departed, you could see that the tide had receded enough for folks to walk up to the torii:
After the smooth ferry to train transfer, we returned to Hiroshima Station and ran an errand at the nearby department store as Justin’s suitcase wheel broke off. We also picked up our Shinkansen bullet train tickets at the vending machine. Despite buying them online, you still have to print the tickets at the station.
An option for today was to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, but my mom really didn’t want to go and I was neutral on it. And because we visited the park last night in case it rained heavily today, we were able to relax at the hotel.
So we rested with some drinks and then headed back to the station to take the famous bullet train. My mom was looking forward to this and thought we could take trains the whole trip, but the rental car was the right call for flexibility and also multiplying by 3. Also, we did not predict she would twist her ankle in Kyoto on one of the many steps, so the car was helpful. Nevertheless, she’s been a trooper and we have been taking it slow.
Conveniently, our hotel is connected to a walkway straight into the train station and we inserted our tickets and waited at our platform. We are coincidentally taking the Sakura Shinkansen - so meta! Here’s a selfie all aboard in our reserved last row seats. Being in the last row is clutch, so we could have our large luggage stowed behind us instead of having to ship them in advance:
In planning the trip, there were no airports near Hiroshima that would fly to Seoul, so either we would have to double back to Kansai airport in Osaka or move further south to Fukuoka. I opted to head south for the last leg of our trip and for the train experience.
The train ride was about an hour and Fukuoka is the 6th largest city in Japan situated on Hakata Bay. At the taxi stand, we had to try a few different taxi trunks that could fit our suitcases. The winning taxi was a Prius - the same as our rental car!
Our hotel is the Grand Hyatt Fukuoka connected to a mall called Canal City. In search of food, we crossed into the mall when they were starting a light and water show which had robots “Targeting Fukuoka”. It felt very Japanese:
We ended up on the 5th floor Ramen Stadium where there were about a dozen ramen shops, but some were closed already. I suggested the one with local Japanese queued up and it was Hide Chan! There’s a Hide Chan a few blocks from my office. We had gyoza, fried rice, and kimchi to complement our tonkatsu ramen:
We are checked into our last room in Japan and my mom thinks our room numbers are pretty funny. In Tokyo, one of the rooms was 701, in Osaka we had 702, and here we have 703 and 704. My mom thinks it’s lucky number 7’s and as we make our way sequentially through Japan in 7 cities and now in our 8th city!
No comments:
Post a Comment