2017 Private Summer Tour of Japan | Miyajima and Hiroshima

Aug 13 | Evan | No Comments |

After a few days of exploring Tokyo it was time to move to our next destination, Miyajima and Hiroshima. We took the bullet train from Shinagawa all the way down to Hiroshima and then a local train to Miyajimaguchi before finally taking a ferry to the island of Miyajima. As you can see, it’s quite the transfer to get to Miyajima from Tokyo, but Miyajima, considered to be one of Japan’s three most scenic places, is worth the effort to get there during a trip to Japan!

Besides the scenery, Miyajima is famous for the semi wild deer that roam free on the island. I use the word “semi” because the deer are more or less completely adjusted to seeing humans and walking next to or even begging for food. In some cases, like in the video below, if the deer on Miyajima think you have food, they will chase you! If you go to Miyajima, hide plastic bags, don’t eat in front of the deer and avoid the baby deer as mom’s can be overprotective! The baby deer are super cute though!

In addition to spending time on the island of Miyajima, we explored Hiroshima a little before moving on to our next destination, Kyoto. The morning was spent at the Peace Memorial Park and Museum, obviously a very somber experience but a important to learn about the horrors of what happened. After the museum, thanks to Gluten Free Japan Tours, we went to an okonomiyaki restaurant, Koguma, that can prepare gluten free okonomiyaki before finishing up our day at Shukkeien Garden.