We visited both Hiroshima and Miyajima in one day. Staying for a night in Hiroshima and taking the short ferry ride to Miyajima. This day trip was with our 2-year-old son. Was one day enough to see both? See our whole day and thoughts below.
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Accommodation in Hiroshima
We had booked one night in Hiroshima to visit the memorial park and Miyajima island. The Sheraton Hiroshima Hotel is right outside Hiroshima station and the prices were very reasonable. A deluxe king room was $135 (AUD). We were looking forward to a spacious 35 sqm room in between staying in a small room in Osaka.
At check-in, we received an upgrade. Now we had an 80sqm room with two queen beds. It was a lovely surprise and a little bit of luxury on our budget trip. The room was a corner suite and had amazing views over Hiroshima.
Miyajima
Miyajima is a small island located close to Hiroshima. The island’s official name is Itsukushima but it is more commonly known as Miyajima, which in Japanese means shrine island. It gets this name from its famous shrine Itsukushima shrine, which is built over water and appears to float during high tide. The shrine features a large orange torii gate that is positioned out in the water and during high tide it also seems to be floating.
Getting the Ferry to Miyajima
To get to Miyajima we took the JR Sanyo line from Hiroshima station to Miyajimaguchi station, a 25-minute ride. We exited Miyajimaguchi station to find it was pouring rain. Once the rain got a bit lighter we made a mad dash across the road, where we found an elevator on the street. The elevator took us down to a walkway under the road and then we came up in another one closer to the pier.
As we had a JR pass, we didn’t need to get any tickets so joined the line for the next ferry. The ferry soon arrived and we boarded, folding the stroller up and carrying our two-year-old up the steps to get seats inside. Soon after leaving the Hiroshima port, we could see the large Torii gate coming into view. It was a short 10-minute ferry ride and we were on Miyajima island.
Itsukushima Shrine
We spent some time outside the entrance of the shrine complex, viewing the large torii gate that sits out in the sea. I juggled the camera and the umbrella and took some photos of the famous ‘floating’ gate. There were lots of deer wandering around the area.
We proceeded to the entrance of the shrine, paying ¥600 entry fee for 2 adults. The entire shrine complex is built over the water. There are several buildings that are joined by wooden boardwalks. We strolled along, mainly staying under the covered areas as the rain had become heavy. I ventured out to snap some quick pictures.
We continued along the boardwalk under the orange corridor. We took our time to admire all the details around the shrine complex. There are many lanterns and impressive lion-like statues that act as guardians of the shrine, keeping evil spirits away. A highlight for our two-year-old was watching a deer slowly walk through the water and up onto a sandbank.
Five storied Pagoda
After exiting the Itsukushima shrine, we turned around to find a view of a beautiful five-storied pagoda. The pagoda is next to the Hokoku Shrine and was originally built in 1407.
Sanmon Gate
Next, we came across the Sanmon gate of Daigan-ji Temple. A conveniently placed rickshaw added to the charm.
Miyajima Aquarium
As it was raining, we decided to visit the Miyajima Aquarium. We found the aquarium on Google Maps and it was only a short walk. We entered and paid the ¥2800 entrance fee for 2 adults.
The aquarium features many different displays and sea life from around the local area and the world. One display shows an example of the many oyster farms that are around the area of Miyajima and Hiroshima.
Our 2-year-old loved the aquarium. He was able to really enjoy the displays as most of them could be viewed from his height. Tim and I sat on a bench seat while Fletcher had a great time at a large tank that contained many different fish, eels and stingrays.
He had people laughing at him while he pretended to be scared of the stingrays. Whenever they would swim close by he covered his eyes and ran away before laughing. He could have stayed at this one tank all day. We eventually moved him on to explore the rest of the aquarium and found ‘Finding Nemo’ fish.
While we were there, there was one show/talk taking place so we headed straight to it. Two aquarium staff bought out a penguin each and sat down with them. People were able to go up and give the penguins a pat. I thought Fletcher would want to touch a penguin and I wasn’t sure about it but, he was more interested in the large fake penguins anyway.
After seeing the penguins we backtracked to view the tanks we had passed. There were all sorts of different sea life to view and we watched as a man cleaned the stones in one of the tanks.
The aquarium had outdoor pools but as it was raining and there were no feedings happening at the time we didn’t go to view them. We were able to see the finless porpoise or as the aquarium referred to them ‘whales of the Seto Sea’, from the inside tank. They were playing around with each other and were hitting a ball on their heads.
Lunch in Miyajima
Once out of the Aquarium, we realised it was lunchtime. It was still raining so we dashed into a restaurant near the aquarium. Due to the rain, we didn’t even know what we were walking into, turns out it is a hotel, called Mizuhasou. It was a nice, modern open space, suitable for our toddler and stroller.
Tim had Katsudon, a dish of rice, breaded pork and egg. I shared a tempura plate with our toddler. It had prawns and various vegetables with dipping sauces. It was delicious and reasonably priced.
Rainy day in Miyajima
It rained steadily the entire time we were in Miyajima. I had wanted to go up Mount Misen but it was too rainy. We still enjoyed our time on the island. Itsukushima Shrine was beautiful with the rain falling around it. The Miyajima Aquarium got us out of the rain and it was a hit with our toddler.
Back to Hiroshima
We walked back to the ferry pier and boarded the next ferry to Hiroshima. We were able to leave our sleeping toddler in the stroller and stay on the bottom level.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
From Hiroshima Station, we took a tram to The Peace Memorial Park. By the time we arrived, it was almost 3:30 p.m. It was raining quite heavily, so we sheltered under a tree to look at the A-Bomb dome.
The building used to be the Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. When the atomic bomb exploded all those inside died, however, the building was not completely destroyed and remains standing today as a memorial. In 1996 it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Children’s Peace Monument – Sadako Sasaki
We then made our way to the Children’s Peace monument. Here, the statue of Sadako Sasaki stands tall surrounded by paper cranes. I had learned the story of Sadako at school and this was something I wanted to visit.
Sadako was two years old when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. When she was eleven Sadako became ill and was diagnosed with Leukemia. Several years after the explosion there was a large increase in Leukemia, especially among children. It had become clear that this was a result of radiation caused by the atomic bomb.
An old legend states that a person who folds 1000 origami cranes would have their wish granted by the gods. Sadako started folding cranes while in hospital. The story has different endings. One claims she finished before her death while another claims she didn’t complete the 1000 and they were finished by her friends.
Sadako was twelve years old when she passed away. Her classmates set about having a monument built in her name. In 1958 the monument was built, a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane. This not only represented Sadako but all the other children who had been affected by the bomb. It stands today surrounded by many paper cranes that have been sent and placed by people from all over the world as a symbol of peace.
Getting back to Osaka
Making our way to the museum, we realised if we visited, we wouldn’t get back to Osaka until quite late. We still had to get a tram back to Hiroshima station, a shinkansen to Shin-Osaka station and then the subway to the station near our hotel. In order to get a bullet train that would be covered with our JR pass we had to make our way back.
We made it back to the hotel at about 7 p.m. after picking up dinner on our way. It had been a busy day and soon after eating, Fletcher was in bed asleep. Tim headed out to search around for somewhere to buy nappies. Looking online, we couldn’t find much. After walking around for quite some time, Tim came back empty-handed. We were onto our last few nappies so needed to get some the next day. (see our post on buying nappies in Japan )
Is one day enough time to visit Hiroshima and Miyajima?
We didn’t feel we had enough time to visit both places properly. We were travelling with a small child and the rain had an impact on our sightseeing.
One thing I didn’t factor in was the travel time from Hiroshima station to the Peace Park and back again. We ran out of time to visit the Peace Memorial Museum and it would have been good to see Hiroshima Castle and more of the city. I recommend you spend at least one full day in each place.
