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I woke up at 6am this morning. I love getting up early and walking around a new city. It’s so fun watching the city wake up; seeing people on their way to work, and shops opening. Not speaking the language also makes it more peaceful because words don’t register, so everything is just background noise.
Later, we took the tram to the train to the ferry to get to Miyajima island. The JR (Japan Rail) pass makes traveling here so easy. It’s kind of like the Eurorail pass, where you can just jump on any train without buying special tickets for exact times. It makes traveling really low-key.
Miyajima is best known for the Shinto Shrine Torii gate, and it’s one of the most photographed monuments in Japan. Another thing that’s memorable about the island is the deer. They’re everywhere! They’re much smaller than North American deer. And they like to eat paper, so they stalk tourists. After walking around the island and visiting with the deer, we headed back to Hiroshima.
We found lunch food at the supermarket in the basement of Hiroshima station. The supermarkets under the stations are one of the best-kept secrets for traveling on a budget in Japan. Affordable food at its finest! I had sushi and inari. We took our picnic food to people watch outside the station. There were several crazy Japanese TV personalities running around out filming some kind of TV show. Locals were crowded all around and they were asking people questions. Eventually they came over to harrass the Westerners. He shoved the microphone in my face and asked which of two people pictured were funnier. I picked the one that obviously wasn’t him. Which resulted in the over exaggerated “Ahhhs” and “Ohhhs” of the eccentric Japanese TV personality. So I guess I was on some odd Japanese TV show today. :)