I’m staying in a space cat themed hostel in what is essentially a capsule hotel style mixed dormitory. The capsule has a light, charging USB and electric outlet, a small safe, but otherwise is just a bed. I imagine the bed would be hard for most people (slightly harder than mine), but I quite like it. The toilet starts making bird and forest sounds as soon as you sit on it, to cover up your own shameful sounds, and comes with bidet functions.
A space cat, being glared and aimed at by an armed space rat, hangs down from the ceiling of the hostel’s lounge/cafe.
A panorama of my “room.”
What you dirty people really want to see - Japanese high-tech toilet controls.
I slept in a few hours-long bursts, finally getting up around 7:30 and making my way to the ferry port for the sightseeing ferry that runs from the Hiroshima Atom Bomb Dome to Miyajima Island. It’s not the cheapest ferry option (Round-trip = ¥4000 - $26.85), but it was the most convenient and was also very informative, with a slideshow explaining important sites as we passed them. I learned a lot about oyster farming, and also really enjoyed the cartoon image they showed us when we switched from river speed to ocean speed.
To quote the game Undertale, this boat has a lot of determination.
I realized when we reached Miyajima that I should take a picture of the ferry.
A view of the Mitsubishi Aircraft Plant as the ferry travels by it at ocean speed.
Once on Miyajima, I made my way towards the giant O-torii gate and Itsukushima shrine. The shrine was incredibly packed with people, as there were several school groups touring it at the same time, and I definitely missed some things. After exiting the shrine, I made my way to the beach, where I sat for a while and did a quick watercolor sketch of the view. A highlight was watching a Japanese school girl chase a small crab (picture a 1-inch conch shell, but with legs) around the beach while yelling “Kani! Kani! Kani da!” (Crab! Crab! It’s a crab!)
The O-torii Gate, which stands in the water in front of Itsukushima Shrine. The present gate was erected in 1875 and is 54.5 ft tall.
Another view if the O-torii Gate, taken from the beach.
A Horse Shrine near the entrance to the Itsukushima Shrine.
The entrance to Itsukushima Shrine. There were so many general tour groups and school groups here and on the island in general, that it was hard to navigate. If one understands Japanese, though, you get to eavesdrop on the facts being doled out.
Looking across the way at wish placards hung in the shrine. It’s low tide; imagine water there instead of dirt.
A view of the old steep bridge at the shrine, which is closed off.
I then meandered through the town and decided to head through the forest towards Momijidani Park. I saw a number of the tame deer that roam the island. Near the ferry station, an announcement repeatedly warned that the antlered male deer could be aggressive right now, since it is the autumnal mating season, but all of the deer I saw were very chill. I also saw some beautiful ravens, as well as a huge spider and some dragonflies.
When you exit the Itsukushima Shrine, you are greeted by the Daiganji Temple.
The path to Momijidani Park is also the way to the Mt. Misen Ropeway, which I didn’t visit, and I didn’t run.
A bridge on the forest pathway to Momojidani Park.
A red dragonfly tries to blend into the bridge.
Stairs on the forest trail, which lead up to a small shine.
The forest shrine at the top of the stairs on the path to Momijidani Park.
The deer here retain their spots even as adults.
View from the park, which lies at the base of Mt. Misen; I’m sure the views from the summit are even better.
At this point my camera informed me that the batteries were “exhausted” and I learned that my spare battery was also too tired to work, so the rest of the photos are from my phone. I was feeling pretty tired (this is the most walking I’ve done in over a month), so I decided to head back towards the ferry, passing by the five-storied pagoda and once again finding myself in the middle of various tour groups.
Going up towards the 5-storied pagoda, I found myself once again surrounded by tour groups.
Looking out over the rooftops of the Omotesando Shopping Arcade and the town of Miyajima.
A better view of the five-storied pagoda, “said to have been built in 1407” - it is about 92 feet high.
A glance down a side street as I make my way back to the ferry from the pagoda.
Vending machines are conveniently everywhere. This one is a ninja-themed Coca-Cola machine.
I bought a tiny Fanta. It tastes a little different from our version; there is a tiny bit of actual grape juice in it. Also, Coca-Cola and Fanta are very pressurized; there is a loud pop! when they are first opened and you can see the vapors rising from the spout as you remove the cap. To dispose of the bottle, you peel off the label by pulling the designated corner and put the label and cap in the combustible garbage. The naked bottle goes in its own bin.
My brother said he heard the deer are assholes. I asked the deer; she was offended by the suggestion that she could possibly be an asshole.
A couple of deer chilling in front of a convenience store.
The ferry normally allows passengers to stand on the deck while cruising the river, but this was not allowed on my way to the island (tide too low) or on my way back (tide too high). The tide was so high, in fact, that it was very nerve wracking as we slowly passed under some of the river bridges.
Once we docked, I made my way to the Peace Park, which commemorates the dropping of the nuclear bomb on the city. Most of my interactions have defaulted to English, but I had my first fun conversation in Japanese inside the tourist information center here. The clerk near the commemorative stamp station wanted to know if my hat was Bulbasaur (Fushigidane, or “Mystery Seed” - though it also sounds like “It’s mysterious, isn’t it?”), and so we spent some time looking up Squirtle in Japanese (“Zenigame” - “baby turtle”, but what’s really great is that the kanji are 銭亀, or “One-Cent Turtle” and Penny, my own little one-cent, gave me this hat). So thank you Penny for giving me my first great Japanese conversation.
The A-Bomb Dome as viewed from the Peace Park. This building was once the Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, and was one of the very few structures that remained partially standing after the nuclear bomb was dropped on the city. It has been preserved in this state since to serve as a reminder of the destruction.
School children looking at the thousands of origami cranes shaped into messages of peace at the Children’s Peace Monument.
In the foreground of this picture is the peace flame which will keep burning until nuclear weapons no longer exist. The curved structure in the background is the Cenotaph, which serves as a tomb for those killed by the detonation of the nuclear bomb and its aftermath.
There are multiple museums in the Hiroshima Peace Park; I visited the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims. You travel down this spiral, which has information about the morning of the bombing, until you reach the circular Hall of Remembrance, which has a fountain in the shape of a clock stuck at 8:15, the time of the bombing. There was also a video on the efforts of the staff of the Hiroshima Regional Meteorological Observatory to record survivor testimony in the months after the bombing.
Towards the end of the war, thousands of school children were mobilized to work in munitions factories and to create fire breaks within the city to minimize damage from bombings. A lot of these children died when the nuclear bomb was dropped. This is the Memorial Tower Dedicated to Mobilized Students, which was created by families who lost their children.
Another view of the A-Bomb Dome.
I made my way through shopping arcades to find Yoshinoya, where I had gyūdon (sliced beef and onions over rice) for my main meal.
It’s true; Budweiser is very American.
I walked around 17,400 steps today, covering 5.8 miles according to my phone. I took a good (probably too long) nap after getting back to the hostel. Sun exposure always wipes me out, and my feet are very aware that there was much walking. I have also heard German spoken three or four times today.
Tomorrow I shall get on the Shinkansen and head to Kyoto!
