I had heard good things about Miyajima Island from my friend Heather, and the place looked beautiful based on all the pictures I had seen. The island is well-known for having a large orange torii gate built into the sand on the beach, which looks very different depending on the tide. At high tide, the base of the gate is flooded with water, so it looks like it is floating. At low tide, people can walk out on to the sand to see the gate up close. The island is just off the coast of Hiroshima, and is only accessible by ferry. That’s about all I knew about the place leading up to the trip. And, because one had to go to Hiroshima to get to the island, we figured we ought to make a stop at the Hiroshima Peace Museum to get a sad but important history lesson first.

Getting to Hiroshima

After breakfast and check-out at the St. Regis, we headed straight down the elevators to the ground floor, where we could take an escalator to the train station and start our journey. So easy! On the ground floor, we met Marie, the Director of Rooms for the hotel. She asked us about our stay (great) and where we were headed next. When we told her we were going to Hiroshima, she looked at us and our large bags with dismay. “With all of that?” She asked us. Well yeah, we had been schlepping it around all over Japan. “But that’s a really big trip to do with all of your luggage. You have to take the local train to the bullet train to Hiroshima, and then another local train to the ferry. And there are stairs on the ferry, but they might let you keep your bags below before you go upstairs…” she went on and on about how difficult the trip would be for us. 

“How long are you staying in Miyajima? We could arrange a luggage courier for you.” I was aware that luggage courier services were a big thing in Japan, and also reasonably priced, but knew we likely wouldn’t get our bags until the next day.

“It’s okay, we’ve been doing this for over a week now,” we told Marie. “We can handle it.” She looked at us with concern and handed me her card in case we ran into any issues. Lauren and I swapped dubious glances. Was there something that we didn’t know that would make this route especially complicated with our luggage? Well, we’d find out.

Getting to Hiroshima was no big deal. We were more concerned about what to do with our luggage once we got to the museum. All of our research informed us that we’d be able to store our bags for free at the museum, but we weren’t sure how large the storage lockers were, or how many there would be.

Once we arrived at Hiroshima Station, we opted for a taxi in lieu of the bus and explained our destination with the usual fanfare. We figured the Peace Museum was a very popular destination for tourists, but our driver seemed to think we wanted to go to the park instead. Fortunately, the museum was located within the park, so no big deal. And then, he dropped us off right at the entrance to the museum. Perfect.

Visiting the Hiroshima Peace Museum and Park

At the entrance of the museum, we did see a hall of lockers of various sizes. They even had extra large lockers for mammoth-sized checked luggage. Yes! But… they were all full. Nooooo. The security guard didn’t seem to want to help us, so we asked the women at the admission desk if there was somewhere else we could store our luggage while we toured the museum. “No, you will just have to take it with you.” Okay, that was not an option. The museum was crowded, and I was not about to interrupt everyone else’s serious day by bumping into them with my bags. Lauren stood there and continued to press the woman for options while I manned the XXL lockers in case someone returned for their stuff.

Fortunately, Lauren’s persistence paid off and we were directed to another building in the compound, where they had more lockers. Except my big bag was too wide to fit. Motherf@!&er. I appealed to the kindness of an office worker in the building, and they eventually allowed me to store my bag in their office for a couple hours. Arigato gozaimasu!

The main section of the museum was actually closed for renovations, but they had moved the main exhibits into the smaller building where we purchased our tickets (200 yen, or less than $2). We purchased audio guides for an additional 200 yen, but I found that they didn’t add anything to the experience. The audio guide simply narrated the same descriptions that were printed on the walls throughout the museum, and I could read the text more quickly than I could listen.

We began upstairs, which started with a detailed background on the end of World War II, the development of the atomic bomb, and the ultimate decision by the US to drop the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The experience hit especially close to home when I saw a picture of a laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where my grandparents had moved after my grandfather graduated from Caltech to work on the Manhattan Project. The exhibit then transitioned to the actual bombing in Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945, and the after-effects, including Japan’s surrender and subsequent occupation. It focused on the continual development of nuclear weapons around the world, touching on the Cold War, the development of the hydrogen bomb, and the testing of nuclear weapons. Finally, it went into the efforts for nuclear disarmament, making a strong case for why we need to rid ourselves of nuclear weapons and the threat of nuclear war. It was a solid history refresher.

The second section of the museum downstairs was what really got me. Here, the stories, images and remains of personal effects from people living in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped were showcased. They focused on a lot of children, and it was heart wrenching to think about the impact on these innocent people. For example, they told the story from a father’s point of view about his three year old son who loved riding his tricycle, next to the charred remains of the trike the boy had been riding outside during the bombing (he was killed). Very intense and sad stuff.

After reflecting on everything, I appreciated the efforts that had gone into creating the museum and making the case for “no more Hiroshimas.” The Peace Museum provided not just a history lesson, but a strong message to take away from the experience.

At that point, we still had some time before we needed to leave to catch the ferry to Miyajima, so we explored the park surrounding the museum. It was a beautiful day, and the park was maintained impeccably, just like the other parks we had visited in Japan. It felt very strange to juxtapose the beauty surrounding us with the devastating images we had seen in the museum. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the city of Hiroshima, but I was impressed with its beauty and bustling activity. It had bounced back into a thriving city of over a million residents, and I would have been happy to have spent more time there. 

Getting to Miyajima

We eventually collected our luggage, and I thanked the staff at the office profusely for keeping my giant rolling bag safe and sound. Then we awkwardly wheeled our bags along the river toward the ferry landing. When determining our route to Miyajima Island, we learned that there were two different ferries: one that departed right across the street from the park (but costed about $20) and one that required a couple trains to get to from the park (but included with a JR pass). In this case, we were willing to spend a little more for convenience. Both routes would take about the same amount of time, but the more expensive option had us on a boat for a longer period of the trip, which sounded preferable to yet another train ride.

Well, we got to the ferry landing and saw that all the departures from 3:30pm on had been cancelled (we were aiming for the 4pm ferry). What?! I stayed with our luggage while Lauren ran downstairs to the ticket office to investigate. Sure enough, no more ferries for the day since it was low tide. Google had failed us yet again.

I had started to re-route us and determined that we would now need to take a bus to a train to a ferry. Fantastic. We decided to try to find a taxi to cut out as much of the travel time as possible, and thankfully we found one pretty quickly. We told him we wanted to go to the ferry landing, but he refused us. Okay… “Much better for you to go to JR train. Otherwise, very expensive.” Fortunately, he spoke better English than most of the other cab drivers we encountered in Japan, so we could at least understand his logic. But having a taxi driver insist on getting a cheaper fare was a very foreign concept to us. He dropped us off at the train station with plenty of time to catch our desired train, and handed us candies as we bid him farewell. I just could not get over Japanese hospitality.

The train ride was uneventful, and we joined a group of fellow travelers getting on the ferry to Miyajima. Fortunately, we weren’t the only ones with our luggage at this point. It was no problem to keep our luggage on the bottom deck of the boat, so we secured our bags and headed up to the top deck to catch the view and take some pictures.

As we glided closer to the island, I started to get excited for the next couple of days. The island was truly beautiful, and the setting would offer us a different perspective on Japan after spending so much time inland and in cities. I didn’t remember too much about the hotel (Kurayado Iroha) I had booked for us in Miyajima, but I knew it was pricey, so I hoped it would be nice. Fortunately, it was a quick walk from the ferry landing, and I was pleased to see that the hotel was right on the water, with views of the stunning torii gate on the waterfront.

I was also pleased to be reminded that I had booked a sea view room as we checked in. I had made many of these bookings so long ago that I didn’t recall a lot of details, but I was happy with all of the decisions I had made on accommodations thus far. In this case, it was worth the splurge for the view of the water, the gate and the sunset. The hotel itself was also wonderful. It offered all the modern conveniences we could want (two restaurants, two full beds in our room, a Nespresso machine, free wifi) with traditional Japanese touches (yukatas we could wear to breakfast and dinner, a seating area in our room with tatami mats and a low seated table, an onsen on the rooftop). And of course, the location was ideal, right on the waterfront and within walking distance to all of the main sights on Miyajima. 

First Night: Sunset and Dinner

We arrived at our hotel a little after 5pm, which was just enough time to be able to settle in with green tea and some local sweets before venturing out to watch the sunset. If you couldn’t tell from previous pictures, the weather that day was perfect, with barely a cloud in sight and temperates nearing 70 degrees Fahrenheit. As mentioned, it was low tide, so we were able to walk out onto the shore and see the large torii gate up close.

Another nice thing about Miyajima: the island was inhabited by a bunch of wild deer, and they were much calmer and sweeter than the deer in Nara Park. I am inferring that they aren’t fed by tourists very often, so while they were comfortable around people, they weren’t aggressive. They also didn’t bow, but it was nice to see them peacefully relaxing along the water, unbothered by all the humans walking around them.

Our hotel reservation included both breakfast and dinner, so after the sunset, we headed back for another traditional, multi-course dinner. We walked into the restaurant in our jeans and sweaters, quickly noticing that all of the other guests were donned in their yukatas. Okay, that looked way more comfortable. We informed our server we’d be right back and ran upstairs to change.

We figured that Miyajima didn’t have much of a nightlife, so we didn’t feel bad going to bed after dinner. We also had another beautiful day ahead of us and wanted to make the most of our only full day on the island.

Hiking Mt. Misen

One of the natural attractions of Miyajima is the peak of Mt. Misen, which can either be reached on foot or by ropeway. We of course opted to hike up to the top and take the ropeway back down. As we went over the trail options with the concierge at the hotel, he warned us about venomous vipers that inhabit the mountain. Wait, what?! Spotting a viper was not in my plans for the day. He told us that they likely wouldn’t bother us, but gave us an emergency number to call in case we were bitten. Oh man, this trek was becoming a lot more adventurous than I had bargained for.

To get to the base of the trail, we walked along the waterfront, passing by some of the famous Miyajima sights. 

There are several different courses that hikers can take to get to the summit of the mountain, and we had chosen the Daisho-in course, which understandably passed right by the Daisho-in Temple. 

The trail itself was not very long, but was almost all uphill with flight after flight of stairs. Along the way, we passed a lot of mini shrines and saw some great views, however.

Finally, we reached the top, where the scene was glorious. We had 360 degree views, including Hiroshima, the bay and other small islands. We stayed for a while to take some pictures and soak everything in.

Finally, we headed to the ropeway, which was actually a bit of a hike in and of itself. I was glad I was wearing sneakers and not a dress and sandals like some of the girls we saw at the top.

Final Afternoon and Evening in Miyajima

After the hike, we were hungry. Miyajima has its own craft brewery named (what else?) Miyajima Brewery that is set right on the waterfront. Seemed like the perfect choice to us. 

I tried the sampler, which included the Weizen, the IPA, and the Oyster Stout (Miyajima is known for its oysters). The IPA was my favorite. I was really hoping that the brewery would have food like an American brewery (i.e. salads and burgers, or veggie burgers in my case). The best I could do was a cheese plate and fries, however. I obviously wasn’t on a diet (although Lauren did share with me).

We wandered around the shops on the island for a while and then headed back to the hotel for our final Miyajima dinner. As we walked into the hotel, the concierge from the morning asked us how our hike was. “Did you see any vipers?” he inquired. “Thankfully, no!” we responded, relieved. “Oh, they must still be hibernating,” he responded. Okay, he could’ve told us that was a likelihood when we started off in the morning…

The next morning, we awoke to a foggy, drizzly day.

Fortunately, the weather waited to turn until the day we left Miyajima. This would also be our longest travel day (over six hours, across multiple modes of transportation), but we felt as prepared as possible after almost two weeks navigating through Japan. We packed up, enjoyed our Western breakfast and embarked on the journey to our final destination: Hakone.