Miyajima

I got into Hiroshima today at about 5:00 pm. I got to my hostel and noticed on the counter that the ferry's went to a location called Miyajima until as late as about 9:00 pm. Miyajima is a small island off the coast near Hiroshima. It is a very beautiful little town. It is so peaceful that even the deer feel comfortable coming right up to humans. I decided that I would head there tonight. I got in Miyajima about 645. I was really hungry so I went to have dinner. I got a dish that was kind of like an egg noodle cheese pizza. The base had a fried egg. The middle was soba noodles. The top was then layered with an egg and the top had cheese. It sounds odd but it was good. I don't know what it was called. After I got out of the restaurant I realized that I had only about 2 and half hours to check out the town. Now Miyajima is small but every portion of it is beautiful. It is the type of town the encourages exploration because every step I took I found beauty. Every corner I went around I was lured in by sights that go beyond any expectation.




I wanted to explore but had limited time. I took a deep breath and checked how full I was. Then I set my stop watch and started running. I ran around the entire town. It was an incredible run. There is something about getting lost in a run in an environment like this. Of course, I had to keep stopping to take pictures.

One of the interesting things about Miyajima (and a few other places in Japan) is that that the deer here are socialized. They come right up to people. They want food. They are so comfortable that when I got close to a deer they would start moving toward me.










Miyajima is famous for having a large shrine type thing (not sure the name) right on the coast. The bottom of it is under water. My pictures really can do no justice to the sight of it at night. After running I went back to the location of the large shrine esque item and just stared at it for a while. This really is a special little town. It caught me off guard because I just assumed that it would be nice to walk around (prior to getting here). It is always nice when things exceed expectations…