The first stop on today’s tour was Miyajima. This is considered to be one of the three most beautiful places in Japan. I’ve been here before more than 10 yrs ago but it was pouring rain and there was no one on the island. This time I thought it might be a good idea to do the same things I did last time so I rented a Mazda Verisa for the day. Driving along the coast of the seto naikai (inland sea) was very nice but I wish I was driving MY car! The verisa was alright but I almost fell asleep a few times driving automatic. Sooo boring. Miyajima is about 20 minutes drive from central Hiroshima. The parking at the ferry port costs ¥1,000 which I thought was a bit expensive considering you’re only parking there for a few hours.

(1) We arrived at 9am and the tide had not come in so you could walk out to the gate (2) About 2 hours later the tide had come in. High tide is at 1pm which is the best time to appreciate the scenery. It’s also the most crowded.

More shots of the Torii (Gate)

(1) Torii with Ferry (2) Torii long shot (3) Torii front view (4) Torii close up

(1) Torii thru the shrine (2) Torii thru the trees (3) Torii with Chinese family.

Miyajima (and Hiroshima) is famous for Momiji Manjyu. Momiji is a maple leaf but the manjyu do not come in maple flavor even though you can get anko, chocolate, cream, fruit, raisin etc (1) A lot of places sell them individually with a cup of green tea (2) Be careful, some places do not serve them fresh (3) This place had an autograph of Kaga Mariko when she visited. She’s the Bridget Bardot of Japan. Seeing her picture was enough to make me want to eat two of those momiji manjyus (4) This is the momiji manjyu machine.

Miyajima is also famous for oysters, raw, baked, boiled, deep-fried. I don’t like oysters but I didn’t have a choice in this. We were the first people to get into this shop at 10:30am which is supposedly the most famous oyster shop on the island. I forget the name. Who would eat oysters in the morning? Well by 11am the place was full and there was a line outside.

Miyajima is also famous for Shamoji. Shamoji is a rice paddle. A paddle used for serving rice. Some one came up with the idea of selling shamoji with various things written on it like “Love”,”Win”,”Get Rich”,”Lose Weight” etc. It’s such a touristy thing but there were some very expensive handmade Shamoji. The obasan explained the craft of how they make them for 10 minutes.

Miyajima is also famous for deer. There are lots of them on the island but how they got there is a mystery. The deer will smell your crotch at every opportunity they get so be careful.

Finally, there was a wedding going on at the shrine. I took a picture of them without their permission. gomenasai.