The main reason I wanted to come so far out of our way to return to Hiroshima was to return to Miyajima. I wasn't disappointed. This the first truly exhausting day of the trip, but it has been absolutely worth it. Leaving the hotel before 9am, we planned our route to Miyajima, which consisted of a streetcar, a train and finally the ferry across to the island. We have JR rail passes, which allows free travel on JR trains, and the Miyajima ferry operated by J...

Hiroshima was a fairly late addition to our itinerary. With a couple of days to fill in, and Hiroshima being in the exact opposite direction to everything else we are going to be visiting in Japan, naturally we decided to head there. Actually, I've always said that I wanted to return to Miyajima, a very picturesque island just off the Hiroshima port, so now that Isabelle is old enough to appreciate (and fend off) dears, and possibly monkeys, we thought we'd mak...

Checked out of the Gimmond Hotel, and caught the subway to Kyoto train station, and got on the 7:50am super-express Shinkansen bound for Hiroshima, which headed through Osaka, Kobe (famous for the beef), Himeji (which we will be coming back to in a week or so) and a few other smaller towns. Overall it was just short of a 2 hour trip. Not real pleasant, as it was pretty much fully booked. When we arrived in Hiroshima station we followed the World Friendship Centre...