Japan Trip 4

Our fourth day in Japan we got up and ate breakfast again at Shimizu.  Then we took everything and checked out.  We walked back to Kyoto Station and caught the Kodama Shinkansen to Shin-Osaka.  Then we switched trains to the Sakura Shinkansen to go to Hiroshima.  In all our JR Rail travel that had trains with green cars we had reserved seats in the green cars because we had Green rail passes.  The green cars are nice.  On the Shinkansens we always had reserved seats. 

In Hiroshima we changed trains to a local JR line, the Sanyo, to go from Hiroshima to Miyajimaguchi.  This train didn’t have green cars, but it was still a nice train ride.  I was feeling my cold somewhat, which caused me to be a little draggy, but was still enjoying myself a lot.

Once we arrived in Miyajimaguchi, we took the Miyajima Ferry from Miyajimaguchi to Miyajima Island.  The first picture in this post was taken from the ferry.  You can see the O-torii with Itsukashima Shrine in the background.   The big O-torii in the bay is the structure that Miyajima Island is most famous for, and actually, this big torii gate can be seen on a lot of advertisements for Japan.  It’s massively huge.  The second picture is taken from the Itsukashima shrine looking back at the O-torii and the mainland behind it.

When the ferry docked we got off and walked to the Kuroyada Iroha Ryokan, which was right on the main shopping street on Miyajima Island.   Again we had a little trouble finding it.  My friend left me with the luggage and went looking while I rested.  Standing there waiting I spotted the landmark they told us to look for, so the ryokan wasn’t that hard to find.  We just forgot to look for the landmark.  We were early for check in so we left our luggage there and went for some lunch.   I had a pork cutlet set at a really nice little local place, sitting in a room with a view of a gorgeous small garden and koi pond

  

After lunch we did some sightseeing.  We walked over to Itsukashima shrine and walked around the area around it, taking pictures of the shrine and pagoda.  We also took lots of picture of the O-Torii from different angles.    We also took pictures of wildlife, including the Miyajima deer.  These little guys almost don't qualify as wildlife.  They are totally unafraid of people and beg handouts from people.  Full grown they come up about mid-thigh on me so they’re not big.  Keeping their population in check is a major problem for Miyajima Island.

 

We also took pictures of crabs as the tide was going out and this little snowy egret.  He was pretty.

We then began checking out some of the souvenir shopping.  I had bought cough drops the day before because Vicks Cough Drops are recognizable everywhere, but I couldn’t  figure out cold capsules, being unable to read Japanese, so I dealt with the cold with just cough drops and Kleenex.

While we were shopping we bought some local fish cakes and ate them.  Mine was a maple-leaf shaped, cheese-flavored fish cake.  Interesting texture but not a bad flavor.  There was also beer in a vending machine!  I didn’t believe it but my friend had seen it and showed me.  We also saw it in vending machines in Tokyo later.  They also have coffee in vending machines.  This time of year they didn’t have much in the way of hot drinks, but usually you can get hot drinks from vending machines here too.

We then returned to Kurayada Iroha and checked in.   The room was really awesome, although we were a little freaked out at first because we thought it didn’t have a private bath.  It did.  We stayed in the Yo Room. It was good sized and gorgeous, and they welcomed us with tea and a small sweet.

 

I don’t remember what we ate for supper.  I imagine snacks from one of the little shops again.  We had gotten maps of the island from the ryokan, so we poured over those and decided on the best route to take to climb Mt. Misen the next day.  There are three possible routes, and we decided on the shortest one the Daisho-in route.   I remember my friend wanted to go out and see the O-torii at low tide (roughly 7:00 pm) when you can walk out to it, but she didn’t.  That worked out as it was low tide the next morning, and we walked out to it then.  This last picture shows the stairs you walk down at low tide to walk out to it.

I wore the new Reebok tennis shoes this day and my feet felt wonderful!  No issues with blisters or with falling off the shoes or having trouble walking or balancing in them.  It was such a relief not to have my feet hurting, but I was dragging somewhat from the effects of the cold.