Japan

We wake up to another sunny day in Hiroshima. Enjoy our breakfast on the rooftop terrace of our hotel and start planning our day ahead. Main activity for today: visit the island of Miyajima with it's famous huge torii gate standing in the water. One of the most iconic pictures of Japan.

We're a bit unfortunate with this tides, as the torii gate is standing in the sand at low tide and only is fully "floating" at high tide. However, low tide is exactly at the middle of day, and it takes until around 8h40PM for it to reach high tide again. Chances are big that we will only see the gate during low tide.
In order to postpone our trip to the island as long as possible, whilst still maintaining the luxury of a leisurely walk and visit, we decide to first visit a garden park in the city.

The Shukkeien Garden only opens at 9AM, and we're standing in front of a closed gate when we arrive at 8h55AM. Luckily, to the meticulous precision of a Japanese watch, the gates open at 09h00AM and we're welcomed in. Standing in front of the closed gate, we could hear people working already on the inside. Employees are carefully sweeping the paths, cleaning everything so that visitors have a tranquil and nice experience. As we make our way through the park and its small walking paths, we swing around ponds full of koi fish. An iconic stone bridge is standing in the main pond that reminds us of the shape of the cenotaph in the Peace Park. Every now and then a fish leaps from the water and splashes a bit further back under the surface. At the side of the pond, we see a lot of turtles bathing in the early sunlight.

Inside the garden, there are some tea houses which are not yet open at this time of day. Nevertheless, their traditional shape and architecture make them blend in with the surroundings perfectly. Of all the parks we've visited so far, this one stands out in it most traditional way. It's oddly calming, and locals come here to walk around and escape the fuss of the city around them. There even is a tiny bamboo forest area.
We take a short break in one of the wooden structures near the water. Even here there's a sign to remove your shoes before entering. This results in an extremely clean and well cared for floor. Just imagine this in a country like Belgium...

Having soothed our inner peace, we head to the train station to go to the harbor from where our ferry leaves for Miyajima.
If you're planning on going to Miyajima from Hiroshima, there are different ways of getting to the harbor. There is a local train that takes a longer time but stops at the harbor itself. There's a train that takes you there in half the amount of time but requires you to walk from the train station to the harbor (approx. 10 min). We chose the second option as it was also included in our JR Area Pass.

When we arrive at the harbor, there are various signs and people informing you that you need to pay an additional tourist fee before you can enter the ferry. We read this information beforehand and easily make our way to one for the ticketing machines. It's only ¥100 per person, but without the ticket you're not boarding the ferry. Afterwards, we head to the line for the JR-ferry.

There's a different line for another ferry owned by another company. The two boats back and forth in alternating order and you won't be waiting that long for your next boat. If you have an Area Pass like we do, the JR-ferry is included in your Pass, the other one isn't.

The trip across only takes about 15 minutes and we take a seat on the upper deck. From the beginning it's not that hard to spot the famous orange gate at the other side. The island itself is covered in green vegetation and has some rather high peaks. From the moment we disembark, it's not that difficult to figure our where to go. On the one side, we've seen the gate from the boat, on the other side it's just a matter of following all the fellow travelers that set foot ashore with us.

To our surprise, Miyajima also has deer wandering around. They're not as social as the ones in Nara, but some of them are starting to understand that people quite often equal food. The sidewalk next to the coast takes us to the Itsukushima shrine which is the shrine complex of which the torii gate is actually part of. We pay our entry fee and walk around the many wooden boardwalks on stilts. When it's high tide, the water reaches all the way up to the main complex. At this very moment, the torii gate is about 300m away and entirely dry. After our visit in the main shrine complex, we don't walk all the way up to the gate itself as we're under the impression that the nicest views are probably from where we're standing.

We head inside the little town that is dominated by tourism. Therefore, it's full of souvenir shops and surprisingly little restaurants. As it's already passed noon, we're getting a bit hungry and start looking for something to eat. We enter some souvenir shops and buy a little cloth banner of Japan. In one of the main streets, we eat something sweet from a food stall. I don't remember what it was, but like almost everything in Japan: it was tasty! We had our own water with us, but finding something to drink isn't hard in this country. You can find vending machines everywhere selling cold or even hot drinks.

With some more jummy in our tummy, it's time for our next stop: the temple of Dasho-in. It's located near the base of the mountain/hill and doesn't have a major road leading up to it. Nevertheless, it's not hard to find as it's well marked by signs. The temple complex is huge! On the way up, you come along some stairs that are covered with rotatable cylinders. These represent sutras and spinning them ought to have the same effect as actually reading them. We join in the tradition and are lucky not having to read every single one of them (not that we even could).

The main temple is magnificent! The wooden structure stands sublime in the surrounding forest and the amount of detail that is put into carving out figures is astonishing. With some of the trees reaching their autumn colored leaves it's a truly remarkable place.

There are some other small temples or shrines in the vicinity. One is almost entirely surrounded by water. Another shrine is hidden in a cave but lit up by hundreds of candles and music is playing inside. The floor is covered by some golden tiles in front of each statue where you can say your prayers.

When we finish our tour and come back in the main area, there's a machine that activated and blows a mist of water vapor into the air and surroundings. Not sure if it's to cool the tourists, or to water the trees surrounding the sacred site. Either way, it makes a neat picture!

When leaving the temple grounds, there's an alternative path next to the stairs with the sutras that takes us along hundreds of tiny statues. Almost each and single one of them is wearing a red knitted hat.

Having concluded most of the main must-sees on the island, we decide to finish our day with a hike up to the summit of Mt. Misen. There are two ways to reach the top: some walking trails that estimate to take between 1,5h and 2h to reach the top, or via a cable car. Because it's both warm and we're a bit unsure of the time it will take us to get up there, we decide on taking the cable car up, and walking back down. The cable car base station is at the other side of the town, so we first have to walk a bit to reach it. On the way, we walk through some forest-like parks with deer and a little waterfall. Having bought our one-way ticket up, we board the cable car. In the mid-station, we have to switch to a larger car that takes us to the top station. The views on the way up are already spectacular, but we can't take any pictures in the second car because we're too cramped together. Having arrived at the top, there are frequent announcements to say how long you still have to walk to reach the actual top of the mountain, and when the last cable car is going back down. If you miss it, you'll have to walk back down. And somehow, I get the feeling that - being submerged in Japanese culture for 11 days now - they mean it.

We start our hike of about 30 minutes to the actual top of the mountain. With the sun blazing down, we're happy that we took the cable car to come up here. There's still some physical exercise to be done to reach the top. On the side of the trail, a snake quickly disappears in the bushes. Some American tourists go and look for the snake, but we happily press on. Not too keen on those creatures.
The trail climbs higher and higher and passes by some smaller shrines that are also part of the Dasho-in temple at the base of the mountain. Just imagine the monks walking up here and constructing these things!

Towards the top there are some larger boulders that provide spectacular views. Having finally reached the summit, we sit down to catch our breath in a beautiful construction. We take in the views spanning from the coastline and Hiroshima to the ocean and little islands.

Just before we reached the summit, we came across a couple of young tourists that apparently walked all the way up. I went over to ask them how long it took them to get to this point. To my surprise, they answered "only like 30 minutes or so". Either way, we now know that the way back shouldn't take too much time.
Having relaxed a bit, we walk back downhill and head for the trail that ends near the Dasho-in temple. The same path that our young tourists walked up. By luck, they are joining us not too far behind. Now it's time to see if it really takes "only 30 minutes" to go up...

Pushed forward by the two tourists breathing down our necks, we hike the entire trail down with only one short rest. Our knees are shaking when we finally reach flat ground again. Like they are saying: "What do you mean, no more stairs or slope?". Our watch tells us: 49 minutes from top to bottom with only one short break. Bollocks that you can do this in the opposite direction in only 30!
At the first vending machine that we cross, we buy an ice cold coffee or chocolate milk. What a luxury to have those machines around!

Satisfied by our day, we head back to the harbor to take the ferry back to the mainland.
By now, the tide has come in a bit and the torii gate is already standing a bit in the water. We take this opportunity to take a ton more pictures as it's especially beautiful with the evening sun.

The way back goes smoothly and with ease. The ferry and train back are uneventful, and we start making our dinner plans.

The day we arrived in Hiroshima, Laurens saw a food stall that sells pancakes. As we didn't have the chance to eat one in Tokyo's Takeshita Dori, this would be an opportune time to catch up. We wander through the pedestrian area full of restaurants and shops near Hondori and find the place. To Laurens' delight, we have our Japanese pancake! The options are almost limitless if you have a look at the menu. Ranging from sweet to sour, anything is possible.

As we continue our evening walk, we hop in the same luna park store to try our luck again on our new favorite Pokémon Munchlax. Again, no luck!
With most shops behind us, we head back to the hotel and stop by a Seven Eleven store to buy something for dinner. We're not very hungry after the pancake and take something small from the store. In our room, we chill out a bit and do some laundry. Just before bedtime we head to the rooftop terrace and enjoy a free Japanese soup as dessert. It's salty, but tasty! It's amazing how much free things this hotel offers.

As we go to our beds, we look back on a satisfied day. Although sometimes, we start to realize that tomorrow we're already travelling to our last stop. Tomorrow, it's time to head for Osaka, the kitchen of Japan!Les mer