[Miyajima 宮島 - Giant Tori gate]
We were out of the hotel by 8am and headed to look for a nearby cafe for breakfast. Most of the breakfast spent in Japan will be at convenient stores, so whenever you found a cafe.. go for it.
There are 2 ways to get to Miyajima, by JR train or Hiroden tram. Hiroden tram will take about an hour or more to get to Miyajimaguchi, hence we opted for the train as it takes only 30 minutes. Then we need to further take a ferry to get to the island (~10 minutes from Miyajimaguchi).
The day before, we had checked the possible low and high tides timing in Miyajima, and hopefully, we could see both tides, so that we can catch tori gate on dry land and tori gate floating in the sea. So the forecast told us low tide will be at 10am and high tide in the later afternoon so we will spend almost the whole day on the island.
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| After crossing the underpass, we took the left to get to the ferry terminal |
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| We are arriving soon.. looks like the land is dry near the giant Tori |
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| We arrived at Miyajima |
Deers are also found on the island, so no need to go to Nara later on. Let's look at a series of the different views and angles of the giant tori gate, on dry land and floating.
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| Rickshaw pullers are waiting for customers |
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| The highlight was the silly faces behind the couple.. lol |
Showing off, on dry land, the different angles of the iconic Torii gate of Itsukushima shrine - Unesco site
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| First, examine the pillar |
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| Direct view |
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| Bottom view |
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| Full view |
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| Under the sun view |
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| 180 degree view |
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| 180 degree bottom view |
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| 360 degree view |
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| Jump 1 |
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| Jump 2 |
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| Selfie |
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| Couple |
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| 180 degree wefie |
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| Wefie under the sun |
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| Torii in phone |
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| Ticket torii |
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| Torii against the mountains |
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| Seaweed carpet to torii |
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| Formation tori |
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| Can you spot the odd one out? |
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| Itsukushima shrine |
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| Last but not least - torii gate souvenirs |
We went up to land from the right and arrived at Daiganji Temple. It's near the exit of Itsukushima shrine.
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| Exit of Itsukushima Shrine |
Just before lunch, we saw a pagoda near the exit of Itsukushima shrine, and decided to go take a look. As well as find a place to finish up the snacks that we brought along. It was quite sunny as its almost noon time.
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| In search of Tahoto pagoda, up the steps (good view) |
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| Tiny torii gate in the background |
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| We did not expect the pagoda to be so short, look at Jean trying to climb up the fence!! |
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| Many cherry trees spotted, should be a good place to visit during the blossom season |
When it was lunch time, we tried our luck to see if we can get to eat the yummy conger fish rice, anago (アナゴ). Fujitaya is 1-star Michelin restaurant in Miyajima, that serves anago. Conger fish is slightly less rich and oily than unagi. From Itsukushima shrine exit, it is about 2 minutes walk into a small street. When we arrived, we found a name list outside the restaurant and a big group of people seated in a small shelter beside it. They seem to be the people who are in the waiting queue. We decided to put our name on the list too, but go in search for snacks while waiting for our turn. Judging on the long list, we estimate we should go back in 40mins.
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| Delicious, freshly baked Momiji cake. 550 yen for 6. Yum! |
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| That's the building Fujitaya is situated |
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| Only a main dish and some side dishes are available |
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| Luckily we only ordered 3 bowls to share. The portion is quite large for one pax but it was really worth the wait! |
Next, we headed to look for the other pagoda on the island, as well as in search for more snacks & oysters.
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| Look at the 2 aunties, ogling over the guy selling ice cream |
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| Coffee ice cream & coffee is yummy on this island! |
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| Grilled Oysters - Long queue spotted. Must try! |
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| Oysters cheers - its so yummy, we had 2 rounds of it |
After eating oysters, we found the other pagoda beside us - fived-storey pagoda.
It's afternoon and the tide should be up. Next will be another series of floating Torii.
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| The tide is coming in at Itsukushima shrine |
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| Overview |
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| Right branch view |
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| Left branch view |
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| Branch lantern view |
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| View through lantern |
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| Black & white version |
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| Relaxing |
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| Hide & seek |
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| Selfie.. again |
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| The stone gate.. before getting into the shopping street |
We walked to Omotesando shopping street. More snacks and shopping. Channel set up a Channel matsuri house near the seaside, the place was beautiful.
The sunset was beautiful. And we enjoyed ourselves a lot at the island.
When it's time to leave, we really could not bear to leave.
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| Deer enjoying the sun |
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| Nice butt.. Jean can't bear to leave the deer behind. |
It had been a tiring day. We had a quick and simple dinner at nearby the train station. The spaghetti turns out to be quite delicious too.
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