Japan : Miyajima Tori Gate and Itsukushima Shrine, Hiroshima

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Hotspot #19 and #20 : The Giant Tori Gate and Shrine-Island

We woke up in tranquil and checked out from the hotel. As per gazetted in itinerary, we will be exploring Miyajima Island, to view the giant Tori Gate.

We took a 150yen-tram-ride and stopped at Hiroshima Station. Since Miyajima is still in Hiroshima, we left our bags in 400yen locker, and took a local train (JR Sanyo Line) to Miyajimaguchi Station. (For a cheaper price, you can take slow tram via the same route.) Again, with JR Pass, it was fully covered!

Approximately 30 minutes, we arrived Miyajimaguchi Station and took a short walk to the pier. It wasn’t difficult at all to find the Miyajima Ferry Port. With clear signboard and amazing statue before the port entrance, we started to feel overjoyed.

“Ferry ticket?”

“It is covered under JR Pass.” Explained hubby.

WOW! Wasn’t that amazing? JR has its own ferry service! Besides JR, there was another competing ferry company that is Matsudai. The round trip ticket was 340yen for a 10 minutes ride. Another way of reaching Miyajima Island was via ropeway (cable car) that surely cost us a bomb. Just by looking at the cable car and the length to reach the island already made us cold feet! NO WAY!

We queued along with other passengers and waited for the ferry to arrive. We thought of walking faster than others, to get the best view, but thank God, the boat was super huge! Bigger than our ride to Nami Island, South Korea!

Knowing that the famous floating Tori Gate will be on the right side, we didn’t sit on the bench. Instead, we stood next to the railing and didn’t dare to leave the spot! Hahaha!

We were correct! The view from the right was the best choice to take. Though it was quite misty, with the help of zoom lens, hubby didn’t stop, not even a minute, to capture the small island and the giant Tori Gate.

It was unbelievable to see that it seemed to float on the top of the water during high tide. In fact, visitors can walk and linger around the giant Tori Gate during low tide. From afar, we saw small boat that full of tourists, went through the Tori Gate. Since it was closely related to this “shrine-island”, going through (under the Tori Gate) was literally paying respect before “entering” the Itsukushima Shrine.

Once arrived, we hopped down the ferry and walked towards the main shrine. Similar to the Tori Gate, the shrine’s main buildings are built over water. This sight is ranked as one of the three best views in Japan, where couples considered it as a romantic place, and perfect spot for their outdoor wedding photos.

Suddenly…

“DEER!”

“Where?”

“THERE!”

“And there! There as well!”

“SO MANY OF THEM! I thought we can only find them in Nara.” Which will be our next place to visit.

These wild deer have become accustomed to people, wandering around at the same sites as tourists. Anyhow, most of them were sleeping since it was a wonderful breezy sunny day. I tried to get closer and touched one of them, and sat in between of two lazy bum deer.

“The face looks like kangaroo, huh?” I was talking alone. Hubby was too happy to walk the deer.

“Eh, don’t feed them.” I saw hubby putting his hand in the pocket.

“No, I didn’t feed it. It follows me tries to lick my lens.” Hahaha!

I looked around for deer food but failed to see anyone selling it. Then I saw one of the deer, EATING TISSUES!

“THEY EAT TISSUE?!” I saw more deer eating tissues. And I can imagine the taste of “paper” in my mouth! YUCKS!

“Pity them…” Seriously.

Via the walking path to the Tori Gate, we met two Malay girls from Malaysia. Dapat cakap melayu kejap. In contrary, they came from Hiroshima going up to Tokyo.

We stopped at the so-called boat dock that taking visitors under the Tori Gate, and I asked how much was the cost. Freaking 800yen! Ok, nextttt.

We walked further up and stopped at, I considered the most ideal place to shoot the Tori Gate. People were posing and snapping pictures after one another, including us. I setup the tripod and voila, we had 4 perfect shots! (Well, need to give others the chance as well. Hahaha!)

Meanwhile, a group of 20 people were arranging their spot to get a group photo. Guess what? Deer were included too! No one had arranged them and they squeezed in on their own! The photographer tried to shove them away but they still stand at the most front of the group! CRAZYLY CLEVER CAMWHORES! Hahaha!

We then walked up to explore the other shrines and pagoda. From up there, we can see the whole shore, clearly. But walking down the path was super scary! We had to step one foot at a time, at the most side of the path. Hubby was slower than me, coz his flat-canvas-Nike shoes was quite slippery.

2 hours later, we walked back to the pier and looked for fridge magnet. We bought at the first shop, which later, I found other shops offered more and nicer FM! Dang…

Waiting for the ferry to take us back to the main island, we snapped few pictures of the shrine, a holy site of Shinto. The pillars can be clearly seen and there was a newly wed posing on the boardwalk. Its been said that after the sun has gone down, the shrine and Tori Gate are illuminated, and guests can enjoy their evening walk in yukata and geta sandals.

Read HERE for Travelista version.  

Japan : A-Bomb Dome and Hiroshima Castle, Hiroshima

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Hotspot #17 and #18 : The 1st Atomic Bomb Ever Dropped and Carp Castle Replica

In the afternoon, we took a Shinkansen ride from Okayama Station to Hiroshima Station via SKS Sakura 553, with the help of JR Pass. Else, 5860yen shall be burned into ashes.

In just an hour, we reached the legendary city that was destroyed in 1945 due to atomic bomb. The destructive power of the bomb was tremendous and demolished nearly everything within a two kilometer radius. But seeing what I saw, 65 years later, was far greater than what we have in Ipoh. Kudos to Japanese Government, great efforts were taken to rebuild the city.

The vista was calm and peaceful. I never thought that I would step my foot on this re-born city. Predictions that the city would be uninhabitable proved false. They were in fact, living vastly in harmony.

While chit-chatting with hubby on WWII, we walked towards the streetcar, where we bought a 1-day Hiroden Trip Card (600 yen) that would bring us around the city. Knowing that it would be quite a composed exploration, we had to check-in our bags first.

Earlier, we booked Chisun Hotel since it is located just right in front of the tram stop. We were attracted to its statement, “It says 0 minute on foot. Let’s see how close it is.”

We stopped at Kanayama-cho, and guess what, the hotel was just right in front of it! Hahaha! Super darn close! Well, we can actually walk from Hiroshima Station, approximately in 15-20 minutes, but we aren’t going to waste our time since we only have one full day in Hiroshima. And it was a good buy though, since we had fully utilized the day pass, which I will tell you guys how, at the end of this post.

It was a quick check-in. We left our bags and later, came down, grabbed a map, bought pancake and fries at the convenient store, and took a tram ride to Atomic Bomb Dome. In Hiroshima, we were so happy to know that it was a good time to view Sakura in Japan, particularly Ueno Park, which we had visited earlier. It was even in the local newspaper!

The stop was 5 minutes away from the site and we were served with serene situation where locals walking their cute dogs along the reservoir. "Pirate?"

Right before me, I saw an Aioi river that connects the whole 120,000 square meters Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park with medium-sized Aioi Bridge. With trees, lawns, and walking paths, the surrounding was totally contrasted to Tokyo city. There were locals enjoying hanami along the pedestrian, small boats cruising along the river, but most of the visitors were concentrating on the historic dome.

Hubby and I remained silent. "Wah, got alarm somemore..."

We stayed focus on the former Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. Despite of controversy either to torn it down of preserve it as memorial, I am pretty sure that preserving it is the best option, in order to remind war undertakings.

I looked at hubby with sad face.

“Of all the buildings, this is what left?” “There’s a reason behind it.”

The reason why the vertical columns were still intact was due to the detonation location, which almost directly above the dome. So it was slightly missed from the original target, vertically and horizontally T-shaped from Aioi Bridge. Over 70,000 people were killed, particularly whoever inside the building, and another 70,000 suffered from fatal injuries from radiation.

“Make peace, no war…” Now hubby giving me a sad face.

Right opposite the building, we saw more people walking down the lane. “Let’s go to the other side.”

We stopped for a quick reading at the end of the building compound before crossing the bridge. I also grabbed almost all fridge magnets on shelf for TravelholicAwesome, since none of them have been to Hiroshima. From far, the dome still viewable and it was even nicer to capture it with sakura trees added on it.

“What’s that?”

“Cenotaph.”

I barely noticed the axis shape. It seemed like a clay house which has been said looked like a burial mound in ancient Japan. But some said it looked like a gem. Whatever it is, the arch tomb is dedicated for those who died because of the bomb, regardless of the blast or the radiation.

“A-Bomb dome is seen through the Cenotaph.” Hubby told me, for I was too lazy to walk that far. While I played Alice in Wonderland with those big fat trees!

On the other side of the banks, we saw another statue with more information on human activities like origami paper cranes and clock tower. Mostly, to remember the tragedy, where they will have yearly “moment of silence” ceremony held exactly at the same time, the same day, of the catastrophe.

“Eh, Japanese girls in kimono! Quick, take my picture with them.” Luckily then spoke little English and understood what I was asking for.

“Ayang, look at that auntie.”

“Why?”

“See the lens la.”

“Hahahahahaha! Kalah orang muda.”

We walked back to the tram stop and took a tram ride to Hiroshima Castle. The stop was somewhere near the Hiroshima Sogo Shopping Complex.

“Sit at the steps.” Knowing hubby, he will NOT simply sit on the floor. Unlike me, I can just sit anywhere I like.

“Why?” Hubby questioned.

“You never sit in front of KL Sogo, so do it here in Japan. Rasa rempit tak?”

“Hahaha! 100 times clean than KL. Ok, I sit.”

It was about 20 minutes walk where we had to use the underneath tunnel to Hiroshima Castle. From outside, the castle was surrounded with wall, canal and watchtower, all still intact. Right before the bridge, there was a metal signage of Promenade of Culture, which explained precisely, by looking at the reconstructed “ninomaru”.

We entered the castle compound where we saw two trees that survived the bombing. A Willow and a Eucalyptus, both located approximately 760meter from the hypocenter.

Further inside, there was one small shrine where cabbies and locals had a quick break. I observed that all cabbies in Japan ALWAYS clean their cabs. Shining and sparkling, always customer-ready.

From far, we can see the five stories keep and every inches of this castle was previously reconstructed in 1958 due to bomb blast, which made this castle is a replica from its original, which was built in 1589.

“Do you know where Hiroshima got its name?”

“Definitely from…a…Japanese name…lah?” Hahaha!

Earlier, Hiroshima was called Gokamura, which later renamed with Hiro and Shima taken from an ancestor and his helper, a.k.a, a wide island. We didn’t enter the castle since it was already late. Else, the fee was 360yen. So we enjoyed sakura viewing by the river.

“It still early. Where else should we go?” I asked hubby, showing him the 1-day Hiroden pass.

“To the last tram stop. Hiroshima Port.”

We gambled and stayed on the train, till the last stop. It was getting dark outside and no one left in the tram except us. Ya la, who wants to go to port kan? Hahaha! Once we reached the station, it was quiet and empty. No one was there. We didn’t dare to go far so we played funny with unmoving coach, over and over.

Later, the tram driver walked into the arrived coach, and so, we followed. We giggled and smiled, for we had so much fun, making stories while riding from the very last stop of the route. This was how we spent the 24 hour day pass! Hahaha!

“Next?” I still wanted to spend the night, to the fullest.

“Just walk around and see how…”

We walked to Nagarekawa Street, the largest and most entertaining street in Hiroshima city. Nature of business were varieties, from restaurant to karaoke to dvd to ehem-ehem, you name it.

One thing that’s for sure, you are safe to walk anywhere you like, regardless day or night. That’s Japan. And we found peace, in Hiroshima.

Back in hotel, we explored the lobby and room. Hubby then made a hilarious statement where he thought that the grey flat board was an exercise equipment or a heater or some sort of robotic thingy. We can't hold the curiosity any longer and went down to the reception to ask about it. AND IT WAS AN IRON BOARD! Pfft!

Read HERE for Travelista version.