Miyajima

Feed me!

We spent our second day at Hiroshima at Miyajima, a small island off the coast of Hiroshima, accessible by ferry. The island is beautiful, mountainous and heavily forested, with a small town on the near coast, and a few other settled areas dotted around. There is also a large population of semi-tame deer with large appetites. One snuck up on Hunter, and took a bite out of our map before he realised what was happening. The same deer gave my pants a good lick to see what they would taste like, and I also rescued a notebook that someone had left on a chair within reach of the ravenous beasts.

Miyajima had the highest concentration of Westerners I've seen thus far in Japan. I've heard many Australians complain that certain touristy areas are being over-run by Asian tourists, but Miyajima was just as over-run by Westerners (mostly American), if not more so. If anything, I guess this shows that in many countries, overseas travellers are more likely than the natives to visit a tourist spot.

Miyajima is most famous for the Itsukushima Shrine, with its gate, or torii, located in the bay. The shrine, and gate to approach it, are built over the water, so that at high tide they appear to float. Apparently, this was done because the island was considered highly sacred and pure, and common people were not allowed to set foot on the island. Having the shrine over the water, separate to the land, allowed commoners to visit without sullying the island. The commoners had to steer their boats through the gate, before approaching the shrine. Fortunately commoners like us are now allowed onto the island, so we were able to enjoy the beautiful surrounds. The cynic in me says fortunately also for the priests, as they can earn lots of money charging the hoards of tourists entry fees. Nevertheless, it is beautiful.

Having seen the main tourist attraction, we proceeded to explore the rest of the island. Unfortunately, the cable-car to the top of one of the mountains was down for repairs, but we were still able to see some spectacular scenery. Sitting for a while by the river was wonderfully relaxing, and did much to restore a sense of balance after the previous day's trip to the Peace Museum.

When we came back down from the mountains and back into the sun, the heat was approaching unbearable. I don't think I've mentioned this, but Hiroshima is well south of Takatsuki, and the climate is a good bit more tropical, ie hotter and muggier. I saw some children paddling along in a creek, and decided it looked like a grand idea. Hunter took a little persuading, but soon enough we both had our shoes off, and were up to our ankles in refreshingly icy water. A few of the locals laughed at us, but we managed to persuade a pair of American marines to do the same thing. Not satisfied with this, some half an hour later, I saw a lady hosing down the pavement to cool it off, and saw another opportunity. I ran through the hose, and for good measure, ran back and forth a few times. Hunter was even bolder, and stood in the flow for a while. The lady must have thought us crazy foreigners, but we got a laugh, and were cooled off for a little bit, before we boarded the ferry back to the mainland.