Miyajima - 6/3/2012

Miyajima is an island that is home to Itsukushima Shrine, and by far the most famous tourist spot in Hiroshima Prefecture, perhaps in the Chugoku region.  It's home to the iconic "floating" red torii seen above.  Unfortunately, on this particular day in June the torii itself was under construction so I wasn't able to get a great shot of it.  The picture above is from a previous visit. 

Anyway, because Itsukushima is so famous and I've been in Japan nearly 5 years now, I have been there several times in the past.  I think this was my 5th or 6th visit.  But the area is really beautiful and it's pretty close to where I live, so I don't mind going there, especially with first-time visitors, as was the case this time.  Here are some pictures that I took on my visit this time.

This is the ferry that carried us to the island

One of the very, very many wild deer that inhabit the area

The deer are usually hungry and will eat anything, especially any food you happen to be carrying

One of the many food vendors in the area.  This one is offering some yakitori.

Many shops are selling trinkets.  This one is selling shamoji (rice paddles), a famous product of Miyajima.

Another famous product of Miyajima, anago (salt-water eel).

The most famous product of Hiroshima, oysters.  Not pictured: the equally delicious fried variety.

When the tide is slow, people scrounge the beach for shells.

Inside the shrine.  On this day there was some kind of martial arts demonstration going on.

Sword fighting! The kind of thing everybody wants to see when they come to Japan.

This was the car that would carry us to the top of Mt. Misen via ropeway.

The view from high up inside the car.  Nothing but trees.

The view from the top of Misen.  Apparently, on a clear day you can see Shikoku!

It was a fun trip to Miyajima, as always.  I hope you enjoyed the pictures.