Japan three most scenic views (日本三景) #2 Itsukushima shrine (厳島神社)

One week after Amanohashidate I visited hiroshima for 'nihon sankei' #2;  Itsukushima shrine in miyajima, hiroshima prefecture. It was supposed to be a 2 days one night trip, but because november-december is high season for tourist visiting japan we couldn't find ourselves a hotel room so we decided on a one day trip, beside the main attraction of this prefecture is the miyajima where the shrine located :p

Actually I visited this shrine 3 years ago when I first arrived in Japan, but i was so unfortunate that the toori gate was under maintenance so they covered it. I promised to come back again and I did. I visited others hiroshima attraction during my first visit such as the atomic bomb museum, so this trip is solely for the sake of that Toori gate. To hiroshima from Osaka is not cheap (at least for student like me); return shinkansen ticket are 17160 yen ( with student & return trip discount). Bus trip takes 5 hours and cost 5000 yen one way ( if I'm correct).

From Hiroshima station take the local train to Miyajima guchi station (410 yen) around 30 minutes, then from miyajima guchi station walk 5 minutes to the miyajima ferry pier; return ferry tickets are 360 yen. If you have japan rail pass you can get on the JR ferries for free. there are two ferries operator from this pier. It takes 5-10 minutes to reach miyajima pier. 

Beware of the deers!!! they are everywhere and very aggressive, especially when you have foods with you. Itsukushima shrine is a 10 minute walks from the pier, it was very crowded with local and foreign tourists when i visited. You can smell the grilled squid, oyster and other seafood along the walk which are very tempting.

The toori gate itself is breathtakingly beautiful, stand tall on the calm sea water. I approve this place as one of the japan's best views. We were blessed with a nice weather that day, which we found very rare, usually bad weather always accompany us in our previous trips. Admission fee to the itsukushima shrine is 300 yen (If my  memories serve me right). There is a ropeway to the top of the mountain which cost 1800 yen for return trip, We didn't take the ropeway, we thought that it is too expensive, we prefered to spend that 1800 on oysters.

After miyajima we went back to the hiroshima station to eat hiroshima style okonomiyaki, the famous local cuisine. this hiroshima style okonomiyaki differs from the osaka style is they use less fluor, more cabbage and a choice of noodles, soba or udon. I like the hiroshima style, I wish i bought some from hiroshima station.

Matsushima in sendai will be the next nihon sankei that I'm going to visit. I plan to visit in december 28th but I already have 2 winter vacation with friends in January to shirakawa go and kinosaki, so I will safe matsushima for spring or summer.

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Japan three most scenic views (日本三景) #1 Amanohashidate- 天橋立

One of my goal before leaving Japan is to visit Japan's three most scenic views (日本三景), by the look of it I can accomplish this mission by the end of 2015. Last week I visited  amanohashidate which means 'bridge to heaven'. It is a sand bar at the sea of Kyoto, reading Kyoto many of you would thought that it'd be close to Osaka. But this one is the other part of Kyoto, it's a 2,5 hours bus ride from Osaka. one day trip is highly recommended, since not so many attraction in this area.

To view this sand bar, there are two view land from both ends, I went to the one near the amanohashidate station, return trip to the top with lift chair or monorail is 850 yen. I took the lift chair it's more interesting. At the viewing ground there are some bench facing the sand bar with instructions to stand on the bench with your back facing the sand bar then bent down and looking at the sand bar from between your legs. I tried this position but I didn't see it any difference from looking the normal way, but many japanse shouted 'kireii...kireii' when they did this position

I spent only 10 minutes at this viewing park, then went down to rent a bike and crossed the sand bar to the other side. Bicycle rental is 400 yen fro two hours, there are so many rental places that you can choose. Cycling is the best way to cross the sand bar, but if you have more time you can also walk leisurely. There are not many things to see at the other side, I wanted to go to the nairaiji temple, but it is located at the mountain and i was wearing the wrong shoes :p.

At 4PM I already back to shopping area, because my bus was at 16.45. Most of the restaurant are seafood restaurant, and the omiyage are all about kani (crab). I bought the kani miso ramen, it's very delicious. I arrived back at Osaka around 8.30 PM. 

I kinda like the solo trip I did recently, If i had to wait fro my friend to go with me I will never go anywhere. from now I will do most of my trip solo, Next week I will go to Japan most scenic view #2 itsukushima shrine in Hiroshima and at the end of the year i will visit Matsushima in Sendai.

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