Yesterday we took the bullet train to Hiroshima, metro to Miyajimaguchi stop, and ferry across the water to the island of Miyajima where we stayed last night and will stay one more night tonight. Miyajima is gorgeous! It's known for its Great Torii gate (it's a red gate) that rises out of the water and in case you can't tell from the multitude of pics I took of it the whole thing is breathtaking.
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| Ferry ride over to the island of Miyajima |
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| First glimpse of the torii |
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| We arrived at 4:30pm which was low tide. There were around 10 Japanese ladies out clamming for these small clams. So we tried it and one of the ladies even loaned us her sharp shovel! We got a handful of small clams. It was so fun and all the kids want to do now is clam. |
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| Our clamming friend |
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| Our hotel - Kinsuikan Ryokan. It's a traditional style ryokan with tatami mats that we sleep on and a kaiseki dinner with 13 (small) courses served in our room. Super fun. |
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| So pretty. We took tons of pics. This is low tide so during high tide the water rises quite a bit. |
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| This is the bottom of the gate. There are lots of shells/barnacles and people prop up coins everywhere. |
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| Nice view from our room |
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| Right before dinner starts. They loan you the kimonos to wear throughout your stay. There's also a onsen (hot water spring) on the basement level where we soaked last night. It was super hot! |
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| Our dinner menu. Kids were a quite hesitant at the first course of pretty much all raw stuff but they came around with the hot pot, the beef, and the dessert. |
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| Dinner soup |
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| Looking so cute in their kimonos |
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| First course of hors d'oeuvres |
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| Dessert. Very sweet fresh strawberries and custard. |
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| They take away the dinner table and set up our sleep mats - foam mattress. Not bad, comfort-wise. |
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| I've never seen deer like this. They're all over the island and they are so docile and non-skittish. They are very friendly and people even pet them! |
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| They're everywhere walking on the island |
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| Clamming. The clams are pretty plentiful at low tide and you don't have to dig too deep. We really need a shovel but we couldn't find one to buy. We tried today. haha. |
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| Loot. |
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| More torii |
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| And more... |
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| So funny. We have almost an exact photo from 12 years ago when Dae and I stayed at a Ryokan in Kyoto and ate ourselves in to a stupor after like 17 courses. Luckily, last night's dinner was not food coma. It was just the right amount of food. |
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| Breakfast. There is a buffet element as well as the set little bento thing they provide with some raw stuff. haha. |
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| City of Hiroshima scouting out a lunch spot today. |
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| More gashapon machines - today the kids scored a jackpot with these tanks that they love. |
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| Hiroshima. This is the "Atomic Bomb Dome". It's one of the only buildings remaining within a certain radius of the hypocenter (just learned that word today) from the atomic bomb of August 6, 1945. We learned so much today at this memorial and museum in Hiroshima. 140,000 people died (out of a population >300,000) and they think a total of 200,000 people died due to the aftereffects. This bomb was a uranium bomb (as opposed to the plutonium one of Nagasaki 3 days later on August 9). Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945. |
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| This plaque marks the hypocenter. The bomb, Little Boy, was dropped out of the Enola Gay B-29 and the bomb was detonated 600 m above the ground. (Fat Man was the bomb dropped over Nagasaki) |
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| This was the same building before the bombing. The museum was really good. Quite sad. |
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