In today’s Japan travel vlog, we explore Miyajima, one of Japan’s Three Most Scenic Places. Miyajima (宮島), also known as Itsukushima, is a small island in the Inland Sea of Japan. It’s located in the northwest of Hiroshima Bay, less than an hour outside the city of Hiroshima.
Miyajima is famous for its giant torii gate, which at high tide seems to float on the water. The sight is ranked as one of Japan’s three best views.
🌸Other attractions on Miyajima include:
* Itsukushima Shrine: A Shinto shrine that’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s known for its “floating” torii gate.
* Daiganji Temple: A Buddhist temple dedicated to the Goddess Benzaiten and three Buddhas.
* Daishō-in Temple: A historic temple on Mount Misen, the island’s holy mountain. It’s famous for its maple trees and autumn colors.
* Tsutsumigaura Nature Park: Has a protected beach, camping accommodation, and sea to swim in.
* Miyajima Aquarium: Families can watch sea lion shows.
* Machiya Street: Old-style wooden shops and cafes sell oysters and hina folk dolls on lantern-lit streets.
The best times to visit Miyajima are October/November (fall) and March/April/May (spring). Summers (June/July/August) in Hiroshima/Miyajima tend to be hot and humid. Winters (December/January/February) in Hiroshima/Miyajima can be cool or cold.
🌸Full-day Miyajima Private Guided Tour: https://urlgeni.us/klook/xnKQ8
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🌸 Places mentioned in this video:
Miyajima -YouTube Links in Description
Mount Misen – https://maps.app.goo.gl/XvpWmbGw9g7txLcJ6
Miyajima Omotesandō Shopping Street – https://maps.app.goo.gl/bVSeCMYcBemjnzt48
Ishidatami (Giant Tori Gate) – https://maps.app.goo.gl/Q9ZCAdt6d1Mvi1Vn6
Hiroshima Curry Bread Laboratory Miyajima Main Store – https://maps.app.goo.gl/h3jawb7Z5ayShx7T8
🌸How to get there
Miyajimaguchi Station – JR Miyajima Ferry – https://maps.app.goo.gl/MoihzMPrqd5agdhw7
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Previously on WeWanderlustCo we took the shinkansen from Osaka to Hiroshima where we visited one of the most beautiful Japanese Gardens we’ve ever seen got a glimpse of the Hiroshima castle and ended our evening visiting the peace Memorial Park today we take the JR Ferry to one
Of Japan’s most scenic places Miyajima Island known for its delicious foods nature and the cute but cheeky deer okay all right oh getting a little aggressive getting a little aggressive hey don’t do it Morning this is day two from Hiroshima and today we are making a day trip over to Miyajima
Island it is one of the three most scenic places in Japan we just took the JR train over we’re going to pay the 100 yen tourist tax to go over to the island and then yeah, should take the ferry
Over which is supposed to be a 10-minute ferry ride so I’m so excited for those 10 minutes yeah it might go by fast they say it is a scenic view of the Tori gate which is possibly the attraction
Let’s get going, let right it’s going to be our beautiful ride for the next 10 minutes over to Miyajima Island let’s go hey how about the um the cars coming off it oh it was so cool so apparently you
Can transport your vehicles to and from the island so you can drive around I guess if you like it’s cool We’re finally on board and we can see the famous Tori gate right off in the distance you can see it from here its so beautiful and I think it’s high tide right now so you don’t see like a whole bunch of land no no
The tide changes almost every hour so we’re going to catch the high tide around 2:00 and then low tide happens at 8:00 p.m. or something like that so we might miss the low tide but hey we get to witness the high tide which makes the tori gate look like it’s floating on water
[Music] [overhead announcements] Alright guys welcome to Miyajima Island so MIyajima Island is also known as an island of worship by the locals and also it houses the highest mountain on the island which is called Mount Misen yeah but Miyajima is not only popular for that it’s also popular for fresh oysters and wild
Deer which we’ve been greeted by as soon as we came out the terminal that is so cool like there were so many deer in contrast to Nara so many deer and like they’re running away from people these seem
Like they’re kind of friendly maybe because you can’t feed them lets go play with them it’s so nice to just be able to take a selfie with them like it’s a nice introduction to the park actually yeah so Miyajima actually sits at a national park yes yeah it’s a nice introduction with the deer welcoming
You as you get off the ferry yeah and it seems like most of them are congregated over to the front and we’re just walking over I don’t see any like out here on the sides but maybe we’ll find
Some more deep in the forest yeah and they say like the forest is like so green it’s like so dark green like even on sunny days it may be dark yeah it it holds its darkness and that
People like feel a spiritual healing when they come here and they’re walking so we see there’s lots of stalls and restaurants and shops selling oysters and of course the maple leaf cakes I have a fun story for you guys when we hopefully get the maple leaf cake but I’ll save that for later
He’s trying to go inside the restaurant smells food because you’re not allowed to feed the deer here so as compared to Nara yeah I feel like maybe the locals feed them I’m not sure what but we’re not allowed to feed them so were so excited to try their Curry bread especially
The OIyster Curry bread but apparently they ran out I guess we’ll come back after the hike hopefully they have some fresh ones made after our hike but it’s highly recommended to try out the oyster curry no more? one? ran out oh do you have it? the oyster curry Hai Arigato Gozaimasu Wow
We thought they didn’t any there yeah but they have it’s nice and piping I would say hot wow this is the oyster Curry bread it’s supposed to be full of oysters and the curry we asked it’s not pork
Derived or anything or the bread there’s like no pork in here so we’re very happy about that and so excited to try our first snack here oh my goodness let’s go sit by the Seaside lets go curry bread for anybody?
So guys as we were getting off the ferry terminal there was an automated announcement something about beaks and Claws and them attacking you from the back so be careful and uh yeah it’s actually the Falcons so the Falcons are kind of a searching for food so if you happen to have any food
Try to hide them away because they’ll attack you from the back yeah exactly I’m like not my Oyster Curry bread Hello sorry bye bye um I couldn’t make out what Claws and beaks were cuz I was like the deers
Don’t have claws and beaks they’re not going to attack you from the back but yeah it’s actually Falcons so yeah all right um I guess that deer wants some food actually coffee really yeah they’re about to like I think they have coffee in those cups but on the food note um we are
So excited to try this fresh oyster Curry bread I’ve been looking at photos online for like the past 2 weeks and I’m like I want to try some oyster like I’m not really keen on trying fresh oysters but like oysters like deep fried why not the bread outside is like fresh
And super light um so I think I’m just going to bite into it I don’t know what to expect inside oh my goodness I’m so sorry I can’t give you this is like probably the first and last Curry bread that I maybe eat here
Sorry I feel so bad we don’t have like the proper deer food yeah I don’t think they’re supposed to be eating processed foods anyway so as I was saying uh the oyster is thick juicy and delicious
Yeah it’s not chewy at all and the curry it kind of reminds me of like the Japanese Curry that we’ve been having at Coco Ichibanya uh it has turmeric in it like some cloves uh it’s
Not overly spicy uh it’s just right well balanced and it’s filled with like curry sauce and then the oysters Hello, Hi [laughter] Hey! Shafeen found a beautiful spot next to the water Tori gate right in front of us this thing weighs almost 400 tons and it’s supposedly uh standing on by itself there is no Foundation its self support yeah and they actually did some renovation back
From 2019 into December 2022 so glad there’s no scaffolding blocking the view or anything like that is it’s perfect as it is right now Scratches? I can scratch you I can scratch you don’t eat it don’t eat this I’m going to take this away from you I feel so bad
It saw the jelly beans in my hands but I’m a sour type of guy with sour beans you want to show them again I don’t know if I want to show em I think it knows the sound yeah it knows the sound
Yummies so cute it’s super cute yeah got the magical jelly beans [laughter] we are standing right in front of the Itsukushima Shrine it’s a Shinto Shrine that dates back all the way to 6th Century that is super old and it’s sort of sitting right at the foot of Mount Misen
It is so beautiful there are many different Halls there’s a main hall prayer Hall we can see lots of people kind of going up uh giving their respects and then kind of taking photos right in the center maybe that aligns with the Tori gate uh but yeah it’s so beautiful out here
the site is a UNESCO world heritage site and it also appears to be floating just like the Tori gate does when the tides are high so that’s pretty cool to see it’s really nice
We are going to try some more oyster this time they’re grilled and they’re in Shell which is quite interesting one order of grilled oysters you get two and it’s 500 yen we have soy sauce and vinegar
Or Citrus juice this is straight soy sauce and we have lemon sauce okay all right why not why not let’s go try our oysters oysters kind of look small yeah so like for 500 I’m not sure I think
They’re sort of expensive but at least you get two pieces instead of just one we’re just going to try it we have a little deer sorry it’s okay it’s okay it’s okay I don’t have it by it’s okay you he means no
Okay all right oh getting a little aggressive getting a little aggressive hey don’t do it oh oh my God man his uh his head is pretty strong yeah it was trying to get up in here for the oysters don’t mess with it all right so let’s go let’s at least take a bite
Piping hot they’re grilled hopefully it has that smokiness from the grilling yeah lets see but as you can see this literally is a one biter but we’re going to share hmm quite good yeah it tastes
Um like the ocean yeah really yeah tastes like the ocean it’s nice and clean uh fresh yeah not chewy at all like it’s nice and soft so I think you’ll like that we’re done Drop it back off where we took it from let’s go
Okay this is uh special tea coffee and vanilla look at the swirl it’s like double toned it is so pretty I’ve never had it we saw it we had to get it this is our first ice cream in Japan [laughter]
Give us your first impressions I’m sniffing ice cream because I wanted to see if it smelled like coffee and it does so it says it’s a combo of specialty coffee and vanilla ice cream which is so interesting
Uh this is going to be our first time and let’s take a moment to appreciate the beautiful brown cone and then the beautiful swirls of like the beige and white so pretty okay let’s try it sweet soft and creamy you can taste the vanilla ice cream but even
More so you can taste the coffee oh nice which I’m happy about cuz we need some energy you try it so this beautiful story pagoda sits at about 30 meters tall it’s a beautiful blend of Chinese and I think Japanese architecture and you can actually kind of see it like we saw
It from down there you can also see it from like Misen uh Mount Misen and then also I think when you’re like coming on the boat we actually saw it on ferry you get a glimpse of it it’s so beautiful and
It was actually built in 1407 long time ago yeah and and I see like a lot of trees that don’t have anymore leaves so supposedly they’re like surrounded by different of trees like um what is that? the Gingko Tree we have some maple trees and maybe even cherry blossoms cuz those
Are like Barren right now they’re bare so I’m pretty sure it looks so nice and it’s actually said to be one of the most photographed places in all of MIyajima so that is so nice and we’re here you actually can pay to go up inside and maybe pray and show your respect
But then we’re actually going to bypass that just going to go around the grounds and just explore amazing oh so tell them about the tree I didn’t even notice it until later wow so
Big yeah it’s so big and probably so heavy that they had to put beams to support it that is so cool we finally got our Maple Leaf cake it is called Momiji manjū and you can’t come to Miyajima and not
Have this Maple cake uh I told you guys earlier that there’s an interesting story behind this the first prime minister at the time used to come here pay a visit to Miyajima a whole lot and he used to come to the Japanese inns which are called Ryokans and he saw a beautiful girl’s
Hands who was serving him so he thought her hands were so pretty that he wanted to eat them they looked like maple leaves so there’s a baker in Hiroshima who overheard this and he was like you know what I think I’m going to bake some Maple Leaf cake so here we
Are today with the Momiji manjū finally we got the custard one and they have like four different flavors they have custard chocolate uh sweet red bean paste as well as matcha cream but we
Just went with what we think would taste good I got the custard one let’s try and see how it is smells so good it’s like castella cakes filled with like custard cream the custard cream is almost like custard pudding it’s pretty thick yeah it’s almost like custard pudding
Not overly sweet and it’s nice and creamy but I feel like I’m eating pudding that’s been stuffed inside a sponge cake it’s good yeah we had a lovely day here on Miyajima Island Amazing day yeah uh to get to have seen one of the three most scenic places in Japan
Would you say it holds true? yes it does especially because the Tori Gate stands so Grand and beautiful right in the middle in the water and actually you could see the tide receding a little bit you could see the algae so yeah we got to experience it
In full tide yeah I would just highly recommend um checking the tide timetable just Google search it for Miyajima uh tide and it’ll let you know as to what time the tide is going to be and uh just
Kind of plan your day around it yeah the fact that we get to see the mainland from here uh the feryy is going back and forth uh it’s just a peaceful scene to think that we’re on a different Island yeah just 10 minutes away 10 minutes away so would highly recommend if
You guys do end up getting the JR Rail Pass do fully utilize it this is the only ferry you get to take yes ever on the pass so yeah we made the most out of if you guys could as
Well right and getting here was very easy and convenient and pretty affordable because the JR pass covers our train ride from Hiroshima station all the way to a different station closer to here and
Then uh from there we just kind of came onto the ferry which is free but we only had to pay like a 100 yen tourist tax which you’re going to have to pay anyway but so cool yeah tomorrow is going to
Be a travel day uh we’re going to be going to the most southern point of our trip uh not the actual southern point of Japan but uh the most south we’ll go on our trip uh but yeah we’ll catch you guys in that
Next video but remember “Wherever you go don’t forget to Wander” all right catch you guys in the next video, bye Next on WeWanderlustCo the check out time of Japanese hotels is way too early for us oh my goodness
We found Santa early, look And he’s a Santa with a big belly too [laughter]
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Watch the NEXT Episode ➡ https://youtu.be/cM7RaowR0Lk
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