Strolling and Snacking in Miyajima, Miyajima, Japan

For our last three days (of our ten days) in Japan, our home base was Osaka, but we opted to do day trips from there to other prefectures, intending to make the most of our JR Pass. The eighth day was spent in Himeji City in Hyogo Prefecture, less than a 100 km west of Osaka. And the ninth day was spent farther away, at the prefecture of Hiroshima, about 350 km west of Osaka. With access to the shinkansen, these prefectures didn't seem all that far.

But 10 hours or so to spend in one prefecture, is it even enough? Way too short no doubt, so we picked just a few places to visit in Hiroshima and one of these is the island of Itsukushima aka Miyajima 宮島.

Directions to Miyajima: From Hiroshima Station, take the JR Sanyo line to Miyajimaguchi Station (25 minutes, 410 yen). From Miyajimaguchi Station, walk to the pier, and take the JR ferry or Matsudai ferry to Miyajima (10 minutes, 180 yen). A cheaper (but slower) alternative from Hiroshima Station to Miyajimaguchi Station is to take tram line number 2 (260 yen).

We explored Miyajima on foot. From the pier we walked past the town (we spent more time there on the way back), towards the well known Otorii (great torii) of Itsukushima Jinja 厳島神社 (Itsukushima Shrine). On the walk to Itsukushima, we encountered deer freely roaming the streets. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).