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March 24, 2007
Hiroshima/Miyajima again (も一度広島と宮島へ行きました)
I took a few days to head off to Hiroshima and Miyajima - a repeat of a trip I took last year at the same time. I really like it down there - it is super relaxing compared to Tokyo and Miyajima is one of the three best sights in Japan, so how can you go wrong.
Here is O-torii gate in front of Itsukushima Shrine at sunset...
This time I stayed at Ryoso Kawaguchi, which is just off the Omotesando Shotengai and close to the Five-Story pagoda. It is a small place, but the people are very nice and the food was absolutely incredible. Really! They also have the bath with the HOTTEST water, which means Japanese people should especially love it. I felt like a lobster, but I could ease myself in without embarassment, because the baths are all private.
As one does, I spent a lot of time walking around the main part of town taking pictures...here are a few more of the torii and also a wedding party that was at the shrine when I entered. There was also a documentary crew doing some filming...that was strange - even more strange was to see them two hours later in front of my hotel in Hiroshima. They may have been doing a documentary about me?
The highest point on Miyajima is Mt. Misen at 550m...more importantly, there is a monkey park at the top. I really need to catalogue all these monkey places someday. In any case, they have some new warning signs that are worthy of being shown - so cool! - and I saw a prayer/plaque that was so sad, I have to post it. The last picture is a monkey trying to escape from me - he does not know there is no where to go.
From Miyajima, I took a high-speed boat directly to the A-bomb dome (原爆ドーム）, that is a picture I took as we were arriving. I did not really spend much time sightseeing in Hiroshima - I walked over to the castle, but it was late in the afternoon and I decided I would save going in for some other time. One place I do have to mention is the Choco-cro/St. Mark's Cafe at the end of Hondori...because really this is the coolest branch they have. I went there last year also, but did not realise that there is a second floor that you reach by escalator or that there is a woman playing a grand piano when you get up there. I love that place.
Again, I stayed at the Hiroshima Aioi Ryokan. It is super convenient to everything and very quiet. Well, except for the company puting on the floor below mine and the whole "saying good night after drinking loads of sake" seemed to go on forever.