Originally I was going to visit the Peace Park first and leave Miyajima last because there was a lot to see there. I could then take the non-JR ferry from there straight to Miyajima too but then I realised I wouldn’t be able to see the “floating gate” by then because it would be low tide. Also, only the JR ferry heading towards the island did a brief detour in front of the gate.

So, it was a change of plan, Miyajima first. I made my way to the station half 6 in the morning. I've been getting up for early breakfasts and leaving at lunch time mostly this trip, rather than go for the earliest train.

Churches around Japan are something…

Don’t quite know the Karasuma area I was staying in that well yet so panicked a bit when the way I usually take down to the metro was sealed off…

Nice idea of using Playstation button symbols to catch attention. An ad letting students know there is a study space near the station.

Just managed to make it despite the sealed off entrance and taking a local train in the wrong direction… Hurray for starting a bit early. It was still fairly much rush hour and the regular carriages on the bullet train were packed full of people.

Despite making base in Kyoto and taking the earliest direct train at 7:20 to Hiroshima, I didn’t really get a chance to see the floating gate. I didn’t account for another 30 minutes by local train to reach the ferry terminal either.

You’d probably need to stay somewhere closer or even on the island itself so you can see it “floating” during the day.

Pretty cool passage way to get to the pier. Some shelter from the sun.

There was a 100 yen tourist tax to pay so even if you had the JR Pass, you still had to pay for that before boarding JR’s ferry.

It turns out the ferry didn’t get as close as I thought it would but that might be down to the tide starting to get low. Not as much etiquette going on with people taking photos on the gate side of the ferry and continuing to hog the space.

Other than that there was an inner deck offering shelter from the elements or, the open upper deck.

There are maps and guides of the island at the port itself but you can also find one on the official site.

It seems the place was a popular school excursion destination because it was full of students too. And if you haven’t been to Nara yet, there are plenty of deer around, lying around, taking a stroll, even by the restaurant and food stalls without attempting to steal food.

I had one approach me but might have been because I had a bag tied to my sling bag and it thought it was food, lol…

Low tide was at 2pm (there’s a chart on the site) so I thought it wouldn’t be too bad. There was still enough water to cover the Torii gate’s surroundings at 10:00 but the dark roots were already starting to show.

It was still pretty scenic as you approached the gate and the shrine.

Idea was to go up to get a nice view of the island so I tried making my way to the five story pagoda first. I thought I had to go through the Senjokaku Pavilion because I wasn’t sure you could walk around the side (turns out you could). So I paid 100 yen to walk through it, shoes off. It kind of felt like Kiyomizu shrine except it wasn’t held up by a big scaffold.

Unfortunately the area around the pagoda was sealed off and surrounded by scaffold… Better check the official site for any maintenance work before visiting.

The path at the other end also actually circled back to the big stone Torii gates so I ended up having to walk the extra way back towards the shrine. Not ideal when the sun was burning.

Probably best visiting the pavilion first then the shrine.

Miyajima (AKA Itsukushima) Shrine itself which required a 300 yen entry fee (cash only), wasn’t really that impressive. It might just be me having visited other shrines and castles already but this didn’t felt that different.

There was a ceremonial square and a long walkway extending in the direction of the “floating gate”. Plenty of people wanting a photo there.

By this point the tide had withdrawn enough for people to make their way to the gate. I went down and it was very sandy. The blazing sun probably helped dry up most of the ground but there was still some sludgy patches and running streams.

Up close, the 4 pole Ryobu Torii gate felt pretty majestic considering its size which is also older than the one in Hakone, dating back to the Heian Period (8th century). It's been rebuilt a number of times since then. The current one is the 9th version built in 1875.

If you looked close enough there were some tiny aquatic life to spot like little shells moving around and crabs.

Hope I didn't step on too many of them!

I also spotted the sun and moon on each side of the corners as the site explained. There were plenty of barnacles clinging on the lower part of the posts.

I moved on to the Henjokutsu caves which was actually part of the Daisho-in Temple.

Steps wasn’t as bad as I thought because they were very short in height and hardly took 5 minutes to walk up.

Vibes the cave gave was quite something. Each statue represented a temple from a different part of Japan’s smallest main island, Shikoku so if you walked through them all, you could say you’ve visited them all. Believers made donations at the entrance and took there time walking through the statues. Others who weren’t popped in briefly and left.

By this point, thunder could be heard. Bit of deja vu like when visiting Ginkaku Pavilion.

I had wanted to visit the two storey Tahoto Pagoda too for a different picturesque view of the island but looked up the wrong place on GPS by mistake so oh well...

I made my way back down and headed in the general direction of the ferry. I'd already seen what I set out for and wasn’t sure the ferries would be affected by the weather so better be safe.

It was starting to rain pretty badly and I didn’t want to risk using the Osmo Pocket because it’s not waterproof.

While queuing to get aboard, a young Japanese couple ran and squeezed by trying not to get wet. Shows there are rude folks everywhere.

Since I already took the train to get to the ferry terminal, I thought I would try the tram if it went to the Peace Park. Turns out it did but not the best form of transport to use because of the few carriages the trams had.

Payment worked like buses too; you paid when you got off. Now the tough part was getting through the crammed carriage when it’s your stop or even to the gate with the payment machine…

Think I’d stick to train next time. Or, you could also take the touring ferry to the park too I guess.

By the time I reached the park, it was still raining so it was very hard to use the Osmo Pocket without an umbrella. The peace memorial dome was quite a sight letting you feel the devastation of war. There were plenty of tributes and other monuments around it.

Sad war still happens today when all that funding and effort could be used for better issues.

I didn’t stick around for too long because of the rain. Was hoping it would have stopped by now but it didn’t.

Decided to call it a day but Maps showed the only way to the station was by tram again… Wasn’t too keen but since it was just 30 minutes walk, I thought I’d do that and check out more of local Hiroshima,

At this point I didn’t realise the Osmo Pocket seemed to have sucked away my entire 10000mAh power bank when I left it charging and my phone had 20% left! Fortunately, there were local maps around the area so I could set up flight mode to save what little power was left on my phone for when I really need that GPS.

Still wasn’t enough to make me take the tram again. Taxi might have been another option but I decided to pushed on.

Came by a Tully’s so dropped in for a quick break. They had mains and USB-A slots so for a moment I thought I could rely on GPS again. Unfortunately I only had USB-C cable so no salvation for my phone here…

Still wasn’t sure how to sort the litter afterwards like last time because it was only paper and plastic so I left it for the staff.

Now my tactic was to remember the key points of the most straight forward route GPS was showing.

Finally made it back to the station by the time the sun was setting.

Entering the station I found a Karaage (fried meat in batter) mascot, Karaageta impressing the ladies.

By the time I was returning, there were non-direct trains back to Kyoto, mainly the slower Sakura class trains so I had to change at Shin-Osaka. Train was packed, even in Green Class. With no power to my phone, I just tried to sleep the time away. Been walking a lot for the day anyway.

I guess in retrospect there could have been a number of options to recharge my phone such as using one of the rental power banks or buying a cheap suitable cable.

It was a nice day out though.