Today I took a day trip out to Miyajima. Its very easy to get there from Hiroshima, you just take a train from Hiroshima station out to Miyajima-guchi (about 20 minutes if you catch an express), and walk 2 minutes over to the ferry for 5 minute ferry ride over to the island. If you have a JR Rail Pass its good for both the train and the ferry, assuming of course you take the JR ferry.
Miyajima is home to the O-Torii, a big red gate out in the bay as well as Itsukushima Shrine which is notable in the way it’s built out over the water. Even packed with tourists it has a bit of a small town feel to it and walking past ryokan after ryokan I regretting staying in Hiroshima instead of Miyajima. Along the shopping street they had store after store selling this maple leaf shaped cake that were packed with different kinds of filling. At each one the baking area was glassed in so you could watch them using these special machines to make them. I tried a chocolate cream and a cream cheese one - scrumptious. I also tried another snack food they were selling, these fish cake sticks that were stuffed will all sorts of stuff (shrimp, cheese, octopus, asparagus, etc) and then deep fried right before they served them to you. Since it was still early I had an egg and bacon one that was a bit greasy but still good.
For lunch I stopped by a little family restaurant where I had cold buckwheat noodles with a tempura assortment. The buckwheat noodles they topped with some small strips of seaweed and then had both a dipping sauce and a little plate with some wasabi and thinly sliced green onions. It was a little tricky to roll up just the right amount of noodles so you weren’t dipping this huge dangling mass but managed with some practice.
On the train back I got the 5th degree from another outgoing little 8 year old. He would gather questions from his classmates in Japanese, then pass them on to me then relate back the answers. What’s my name? Where am I from? Do I speak Japanese? What’s my favorite color? Favorite sport? Favorite subject? What food do I like? It seemed like half the train got a kick out of when I told him I liked okonomiyaki. How old am I? Do I like pizza? Spaghetti? Umeboshi? Natto? I have to say conversing with friendly little kids who want to practice their english never gets old.