Japan Adventures: Hiroshima and Miyajima

Thanks to a Japan Rail Pass and those swift Japanese bullet trains, in my short visit to Japan (just 12 nights) I was able to zip to the far reaches of the country in a matter of hours.  Indeed, with my Rail Pass, the cost of whizzing from Kyoto to Hiroshima (along with both the short train ride and ferry to the island of Miyajima) was effectively gratis.  An extra that would otherwise have cost me $130+ more if purchased separately.

Not exactly what I had in mind…

Originally, I’d planned to stay in Kyoto for 5 nights and just do a day trip to Hiroshima on the bullet train (little more than an hour and a half to traverse more than 360 kms!)  My research showed that a day was plenty of time to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, as well as get a peek at that famous torii gate “floating” off Miyajima Island that has arguably represented THE icon of Japan for centuries.  Ah but therein lay a problem:  the tides. You can visit Miyajima and see the famous torii gate at any time of day of course, but when the tide is out, the vermilion red gate set amid the Seto sea is surrounded by um, MUD.  Clearly not nearly as photogenic as at high tide when it’s “floating”.

But… no matter which day I chose, a day trip to witness the torii gate at high tide simply wasn’t doable (or at best, would require returning back to Kyoto at near midnight).  And then I got lucky.  In my oh so diligent pre-trip research (e.g. scouring the www for Japanese tide tables 9,000+ miles away – I mean, who DOES that???) I stumbled across a truly magnificent gem:  an after-dark boat tour from Miyajima Island that would take me – not only out to the (illuminated!) torii gate floating majestically at high tide – but sail me BENEATH the 55 ft. towering gate for just 1600Y (~$15).

Needless to say… done and DONE!

I booked a night at Guesthouse Kaniwaso, a hostel on the island of Miyajima (one of the nicest at less than $30) and reserved a place on the 6:30 pm (precisely high tide AND sunset – yay!) boat tour.

Thus, with my plan for a single overnight excursion to both pay my respects at Ground Zero of the Planet’s first nuclear bomb, and glimpse the splendor of one of Japan’s most iconic Shinto temples – I hopped on an early morning bullet train to Hiroshima (by then, dawn skips to Japanese train stations had become my standard modus operandi).

The Hiroshima Peace Park

For better or worse, visiting the (sadly, too numerous) sites on the globe that have historically witnessed humanity’s most horrendous tragedies now has its own moniker:  Dark Tourism.  Indeed, some deplore the notion of “tourists” flocking to such places.  And I emphatically agree – when it comes to utterly witless folks that giggle whilst snapping selfies with their friends in front of um, holding cells for innocents before they were herded into gas chambers at places like Dachau outside of Munich).

But still…  though visiting such places can indeed induce strong feelings of outrage, depression and hopelessness (not to mention serve as a downer on an otherwise happy holiday) – personally, I nonetheless strongly believe that it is my DUTY to pay my respects at such “dark tourism” sites – not only to honor the innocents who perished there, but also to remind me to remain ever vigilant and speak out when such inhumane acts emerge anywhere on the Planet (um, Myanmar, I’m looking at YOU!)

Thus it was with no little dread, and respectful humbleness that I spent a morning honoring the tens of thousands of lives that were snuffed out in an instant that day at Hiroshima back in my birth year.

I might also add that – to better understand the history of such places (or any foreign land you might visit) I often grab a book on the culture and/or history of the countries I visit, long before I actually arrive there.  And for Japan, knowing that I’d be visiting Hiroshima, I opted for an excellent (Pulitzer Prize–winning) history: The Rising Sun:  The Rise and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945 by John Willard Toland.

Most importantly, (unlike the many “Saving Private Ryan”, et al movies and books on WWII we Americans have long been exposed to) the entire book was written from the perspective of the JAPANESE.  I began reading it (all 976 pages) well before I departed for Japan (as well as on those many marathon flights and airport layovers from Ecuador to Tokyo).  And I must say, the book proved an eye-opener, and greatly enhanced my visit to Hiroshima.

Miyajima and the Itsukushima Torii Gate

After a sobering but beautifully blue-sky and sun-shiny visit to the Hiroshima Peace Park (happily augmented by an exceptionally delish lunch of fresh oysters bruchetta – yum!), getting to the isle of Miyajima was surprisingly easy-peasy.  The city of Hiroshima has a most convenient (free!) hop-on-hop-off bus from the central train station that runs a circuit route to the Peace Park.  So it was just a matter of hopping back on it to the train station, and subsequently catching a local train (just 30 minutes) to the ferry port at Miyajima-guchi pier.  From there it was a 5 minute walk to step onto the 10 minute ferry to the island of Miyajima.

With my characteristic penchant for befriending total strangers in my travels (even – especially? – when they don’t speak a word of English), en route to the ferry, I met a lovely young Japanese lass who taught me how to say “blue” (i.e. note her blue sweater in the pic below) in Japanese:  青 ao – pronounced simply “ah-oh”.  And as we neared the isle, we got our first glimpse of the vermilion torii gate – err, not so breathtaking amid the mud at low tide.

Arriving mid-afternoon on Miyajima Island gave me just enough time to check into my sweet upscale hostel (I swear, the common lounge was so quiet and wafting soft jazz music – it was like having my own private jazz club for the night!), visit the Itsukushima Shrine, and explore the luscious trail of street eats and small restaurants along the shore.  Plus of course, snap a bazillion pics of that famous icon perched just off-shore.  And after a dinner of grilled oysters on the half-shell (yes, my SECOND oyster meal of the day), it was time to board my sunset cruise that sailed out to (and under!) the – now sweetly “floating, at high tide – glowing Toii Gate.

And finally – a single pic of that glorious Shinto gate shimmering in the dark:

Needless to say, it’s quite amazing the eclectic variety of wonders I was able to squeeze into but a single 24 hours in The Land of the Rising Sun.
 

 
 
 

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