Miyajima

Another amazing place just outside of Iwakuni, is Miyajima Island.  It takes about 30 min to drive to the ferry (the speed limits are rediculously slow, only about 50kph) and a 5 minute ferry ride to the island.  The first time I went Mark was gone again, and I went with a friend to the aquarium, the second time I went with Cultural Adaptation, which is a program on base that sets up short day trips and other educational and cultural experiances for free!  The trip with Cultural Adaptation was awesome because we went as a group to Miyajima and made rice scoops before we had a couple hours of free time, this is also where D and I met our friend A!  The most recent time I went was when I was finally able to bring Mark and show him this beautiful place.  So here is a photographic journey of my time spent on Miyajima.

Miyajima has a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which is the O-Torii gate for the Itsukushima Shrine.  During high tide it is surrounded by water, but during low tide you are able to walk up to it.

A five-storied Pagoda

View from the pagoda

A, me, and D with the rice scoops we made

 Okonomiaki is a Japanese "soul food" made with cabbage, noodles, pork, egg and sauce. 

Miyajima is known for its oysters, so A and I tried their oysters!

A small shrine

The Itsukushima Shrine, is on top of the water during high tide/

Mark and Kyle near the pagoda



Me on Miyajima!

The other cool thing about Miyajima, there are hundreds of deer that just wander around the island and are completely tame!  Just watch your purses, if you have food they will start nosing in there and try and steal it! 

Kyle loved the deer

 

Miyajima means shrine island, because it has so many shrines and temples on it.  They are known for their oysters and for rice scoops.  Have I mentioned that they have the largest rice scoop in the world?

 

Well they do :)