Hiroshima/Miyajima

This was a trip that I wasn't at all looking forward to taking, but felt like I needed to do before leaving Japan. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is an incredibly moving commemoration of what happened, and plea for peace. I was honestly really curious about how the Museum there would deal with the politics and the war behind the bombing, and what I found really impressed me: they seemed to walk the line that didn't condone or condemn either side. It was incredibly impressive, and one of the things I liked most- the issue they dealt with was documenting what had happened, so as to convince people that it should never be done again. It was incredibly draining going through all of the displays, but I'm really glad we did it.

We had originally planned on going to Miyajima in the morning, and then the museum, based on the idea that we probably wouldn't be in the mood to enjoy anything afterwards. However, when we checked the tide schedule with the hotel, we found out that the best time to be there would be early evening. Turned out to be a really nice way to set things up: Miyajima is an island on the Seto Inland Sea, and is famous for its "floating" Torii. It was really peaceful, but with nosy deer wandering everywhere trying to steal food. It was a nice way to shake off the funk from the museum without feeling like you hadn't taken it seriously. And it was absolutely gorgeous. We took the ferry over right at sunset, and the high tide meant that the Torii were pretty far out in the water. It was really lovely.