Hiroshima and Miyajima Island

Day trip!! Travis had done an awesome job planning our day trip to Hiroshima and Miyajima Island for the day. Its an early start as Miyajima is 2.5hours away.

We take the bullet train to Miyajimaguchi and catch a ferry to the UNESCO heritage listed Miyajima Island. We have a few hours to explore the island and take in the sights, the most famous of which is Torri Gate- considered to be one of the top 3 sights in Japan. Sounds dull as its just a big wooden gate but its actually very beautiful set in its surroundings and we were lucky enough to be there at low tide. The gates are fabled to be the gateways to heaven. We sample the local delicacy, grilled oysters (delicious!) and enjoy lunch in the peaceful gardens. Apparently a thing in Japan there are also deer on the island, mainly chilling out but some stealing food and scaring the tourists.

Next stop is Hiroshima to visit the Hiroshima Peace memorial and museum - to commemorate the lives lost due to the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Some very shocking and saddening images.

Not too much more to see in Hiroshima, we head back to Kyoto and have dinner at the 11th floor of Kyoto Station (the architecture is amazing!). Suki finally gets to try Okomomiyaki (japanese pancake) and it doesn't disappoint.Read more