Japan day three: Hiroshima and Miyajima day-trip

Another day, another excuse to get on a Shinkansen. Any excuse will do! We spent day three of our Japan trip in Hiroshima, with a side excursion to Miyajima Island. I definitely preferred the latter, as the excellent weather made both the boat ride from Hiroshima Peace Park, and the walk around the island, an absolute pleasure.

Hiroshima as a city is a little drab. Nothing like either Kyoto or Tokyo. Or Osaka for that matter. On the other hand, we were there for less than a day, so I’m sure we didn’t get anything like a rounded experience of the place.

I think my visit was slightly spoiled by the grinning idiots taking selfies by the Atomic Bomb monument. Talk about a time and a place… The area around the monument and the park was beautifully designed and very tranquil. Definitely glad we made the journey.

Miyajima was an absolute delight. Yes, as warned, it was drenched with tourists in large groups, but it was still easy to walk around and not get stuck in crowds.

All things being equal, the highlight of the day was seeing the many wild deer roaming around harassing tourists for food. When they went un-fed, they had no issues Es with trying to eat said visitors’ clothing and/or bags. Seriously – there’s nothing funnier than seeing someone trying to extract their cardigan from a deer’s chewing mouth.

Another rapid train journey (yay for Shinkansen!) back into Kyoto and we finished a really excellent but long day with a very, very large plate of varied foodstuffs deep fried in panko breadcrumbs.

Oh yes. Mighty, it was.