Follow our trail, starting in Hokkaido, followed by Miyajima and Hiroshima, Kyoto and Amanohashidate, Kobe and Osaka, finishing in Tokyo.
Once we decided we were willing to fly domestically from Hokkaido, orienting our plans to start near Hiroshima made a bit more sense. One of the Three Views of Japan was on the island of Miyajima, and there were some very nice ryokan there. Miyajima became our romantic weekend, despite it being a place for day tourism.
Described as a “shrine island”, Miyajima has hundreds of little shrines, not to mention temple complexes and an Otorii built on a tidal plain; it is alternately surrounded by sand and by water depending on the tides.
To get there, we flew from Sapporo to Hiroshima, took a bus from Hiroshima airport to Hiroshima train station, took a train to the ferry station, and took the ferry to the island. From the airport, we shipped most of our luggage to our ryokan in Kyoto, so we just had a carry-on bag each. We walked from the ferry to our ryokan, checked in and freshened up before taking short walk before dinner.
Dinner and breakfast were kaiseki, local food preparations. We would schedule our time and go in, either in kimonos or street clothes. We had so much kaiseki (local specialty food), and excellent service.
Our one full day was devoted to hiking Mount Misen through Momijidani Park. We took a bit of a detour to see the Daishoin temple complex – multiple shrines and temples arrayed at the base of the mountain, near the end of town. We saw the cave of eighty-eight Buddhas, and there were plenty of other Buddhas on the grounds as well.
The hike took a couple of hours, moving slowly because everywhere we went was a little shrine to see. The views were tremendous. We managed to walk through Kiezu-no-Reikano, the temple that houses the eternal flame used to light the peace flame in Hiroshima.
Eventually we made our way to the observation platform, only to realize it was a bit of a hike away from the ropeway. I wanted to head down more quickly than we’d come up, hoping to see the Otorii at a higher tide level before we left.
When we returned, we idled along with hundreds of other tourists along the strand, walking out to the Otorii as the tide receded; we’d do the reverse later that night, when we went outside to get night shots.
Miyajima is a tourist destination for the Japanese as well as foreigners, but because it’s so easy to get to, it’s very often a day trip. While the town felt like Coney Island by day, by night it was quiet and you could see the main island across the bay.
After our second night, we packed up and checked out. As lovely as our stay was, we had more Japan to see, starting with Hiroshima.