Our day in Miyajima & Hiroshima

The alarms started going off at 5:30am or so and we were all on the 6:45am train heading downtown to catch the Shinkansen (a.k.a. - bullet train) to Hiroshima. This well-known city is approx. 400km from Osaka, yet it only took 90 minutes to get there. This was our first time on the Shinkansen and we recommend anyone coming to visit us to look into purchasing a pass because it will allow you to see a lot of Japan in a short amount of time. Unfortunately you can only buy the pass in Canada if you are coming over on a toursit visa. It costs about 28 ooo yen ($280 Cdn. for 7 days) and allows one unlimited use of the JR line. Since Jame and I didn't have a pass Ma & pa McD bought them for us -- A BIG THANKS. You can also use it to get to Tokyo, Kyoto etc. It is well worth it if you plan on visiting all of these places. If you can work it out.....you should look into buying the pass, land in Tokyo, take the Shinkansen to Osaka (that it itself would pay for the pass), and fly back home out of Osaka. Because for us to take a trip to Tokyo it would cost each of us 30 000 yen return, so one trip from Tokyo would instantly cover the amount you paid for the pass!

We caught the 9:25am train and instantly fell asleep in the super roomy, comfy chairs! We arrived in Hiroshima at 11:00am and decided to head straight for the island of Miyajima. The weather wasn't the best ever -- cool, gray, and rainy -- but we weren't complaining as this was the first day we got stuck in the wet stuff. Pretty good considering the forecast called for rain the whole time Ma & Pa McD were here!

Miyajima island is well-known for its floating torii and is acclaimed as one of Japan's most scenic sights. The torii which stands 5o ft. high in the sea denotes the whole island as sacred. In fact, no one is permitted to die or give birth on the island. Pretty interesting!!

There were soooo many people on the island this day to partake in a New Year's tradition of prayer (The first 3 days of the new year are set aside for prayer). The busiest place on the island was Itskushima Shrine which was founded in 593 and is built on stilts above a cove. We walked around, took in the sites, and tried some of the local food/sweets.

On our way back to the ferry we noticed another group of people heading up the mountain. My back was pretty sore at this point, so I stayed behind while the other 3 went up to check it out. There were several temples at the top where people were praying and ringing the bell in hopes of a happy and healthy 2007. The stairs on the way up were lined with hundreds of small Buddhas and one of the rooms in one of the temples was lit with only lanterns.

**Front view of the Shinkansen**

**Ferry to the island of Miyajima**

**Entrance to Itsukushima Shrine**

**Just like in Nara...deers are considered sacred and roam the streets. These poor lil' guys are hungry**

**Ha ha ha ...only in Japan!! **

After a couple of hours on Miyajima we took the ferry back to the mainland and decided to visit the A-Bomb Dome, Children's Peace Monument & Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park. Of course everyone knows what happened to this city back in 1945, but words cannot begin to explain the feeling of standing in the exact place where the atomic bomb was dropped. It was a very somber experience and a definite eye-opener given everything that is happening in the world today. A couple blocks away from the A-Bomb Dome is the Children's Peace Monument. Here you can see thousands of colorful origami cranes -- a Japanese symbol of longevity and happiness. Some pictures are made out of all cranes....pretty neat!

The symbolic nature of these cranes refers to a story of a child victim of the bomb who believed that if she made 1000 paper cranes she would recover from her illness. The girl did not survive, but her story is well-known throughout Japan and fresh cranes continue to flock to the memorial. It was an extremely touching site!

From the Peace Monument we walked to the musuem which exhibited the effects of the bomb. From models-to-pictures and videos-to-artifacts...everything was so real and gave you a true sense of everything that happened on that grim morning. It was so quiet in there you could hear a pin drop...very moving!

We walked around a bit more trying to find something to do because our train didn't leave until 9:25pm. We went for some dinner then just hung out in the station. It was a LONG day (about 17 hours) and my back is totally wigging out, but it was definitely a day trip that will be hard to forget!