Day 11: Miyajima

Miyajima is a small island an hour from Hiroshima. It has a famous shrine, a mountain, deer… so it’s a lot like Nara except an island.

Lunch

There are several streets filled with tourist shops and restaurants. Main specialties are seafood (oysters and conger eel), but also these cookies called momijimanju which you can get with different fillings.

Itsukushima Shrine

The most famous spot in Miyajima is the Itsukushima Shrine and its tori gate. This is at high tide when the shrine and gate are in the water.

Nap Time

Evening

Almost all of the tourists clear out by 6pm although that means almost all of the shops and restaurants close as well. It gets a lot quieter!

Dinner

Got dinner from pretty much the only place still open. Anago (conger eel) with rice, sides of fried oysters and miso soup with clams. Not sure what I was expecting from the eel, but it pretty much tasted like white fish with soy sauce. Not bad, just not terribly exciting.

Night

It was very peaceful at night…

That is, until a group of 100+ middle schoolers showed up. No idea where they came from or where they were staying. It very well may have been the same group from the Peace Museum yesterday. Anyway, that was my cue to go back to my hotel.