Japan day 14

Last day with everyone in our group, tomorrow everyone goes their separate ways.

Took subway, then ferry to get to Miyajima Island, which is an hour from Hiroshima.

Miyajima (宮島) is a small island less than an hour outside the city of Hiroshima.

The centuries-old Itsukushima Shrine (厳島神社, Itsukushima Jinja) on Miyajima is the source of both the island's fame and its name. Formally called Itsukushima, the island is more popularly known as "Miyajima", literally "shrine island" in Japanese, thanks to its star attraction. The shrine is known worldwide for its iconic "floating" torii gate. The shrine and its torii gate are unique for being built over water, seemingly floating in the sea at high tide. The shrine consists of several buildings, including a prayer hall, main hall and noh theater stage, which are connected by boardwalks and supported by pillars above the sea.

It is best known for its giant torii gate, which at high tide appears to float on the water. The sight is ranked as one of Japan's top three views. While officially named Itsukushima, the island is more commonly referred to as Miyajima, Japanese for "shrine island". This is because the island is so closely linked to its key shrine, Itsukushima Shrine. Like the torii gate, the shrine's main buildings are built over water. Miyajima is a romantic place, best enjoyed by staying overnight at one of the island's ryokans. While there are usually many daytime tourists, the area becomes much quieter and more peaceful in the evening. There are also wild deer on the island that have become accustomed to people. During the day, the deer roam the same places as the tourists, and in the evening they sleep along the hiking trails. Unlike in Nara, the deer on Miyajima must not be fed. https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3401.html 

Itsukushima temple, famous for the flowing Torii gate.

The centuries-old Itsukushima Shrine (厳島神社, Itsukushima Jinja) on Miyajima is the source of both the island's fame and its name. Formally called Itsukushima, the island is more popularly known as "Miyajima", literally "shrine island" in Japanese, thanks to its star attraction. The shrine is known worldwide for its iconic "floating" torii gate. The shrine and its torii gate are unique for being built over water, seemingly floating in the sea at high tide. The shrine consists of several buildings, including a prayer hall, main hall and noh theater stage, which are connected by boardwalks and supported by pillars above the sea.

Here it was low tide at first so we could go all the way out to Torii Gaten, even though there was some water around. Later in the day it was high tide so you couldn't go to Torii Street.

The centuries-old Itsukushima Shrine (厳島神社, Itsukushima Jinja) on Miyajima is the source of both the island's fame and its name. Formally called Itsukushima, the island is more popularly known as "Miyajima", literally "shrine island" in Japanese, thanks to its star attraction. The shrine is known worldwide for its iconic "floating" torii gate. The shrine and its torii gate are unique for being built over water, seemingly floating in the sea at high tide. The shrine consists of several buildings, including a prayer hall, main hall and noh theater stage, which are connected by boardwalks and supported by pillars above the sea. https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3450.htm 

Daisho In tempel.

Daisho-in (大聖院, Daishōin) is one of the most important temples of Shingon Buddhism. It is located at the foot of Mount Misen, where the sect's founder, Kobo Daishi, first began practicing Buddhism on the island of Miyajima.

Daisho-in has a variety of buildings, statues and other religious objects for visitors to admire. These include Kannon-do Hall, Maniden Hall, a sand mandala made by visiting monks from Tibet, a tea room and a cave filled with 88 icons representing the temples of the Shikoku pilgrimage (japan-guide.com). https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3453.html 

Miyjaima is known for its Lemon Drinks, unfortunately I couldn't taste it because I'm allergic to lemon. But it looked really good! In addition to the fact that there were small baked goods here and there in the shops.

After we had gone together to the various temples/shrines on the island, the group dispersed, I went by myself and looked around in various souvenir shops. Here I bought, among other things, several chopsticks, ordered 4 pairs here, and since there were not many people who bought them at the time I bought them, it only took 15 minutes before they finished engraving them.

Eventually I felt ready and wanted to go home to the hotel, so I went towards the boat again, but bought myself some food and sat on a rock first, then some wild deer came towards me and wanted my food. Didn't feel like sharing it today to be completely honest, so moved away instead. Didn't know what the deer here could and couldn't eat either.

Went towards where the boats left and there I met John and Jonah from the group tour, father and son, they also wanted to go back so I went with them. We chatted and relaxed on the boat, and the subway, before we found our way to the hotel and went our separate ways.

It was lovely and I was able to relax a little longer today. I was also tired and missed them at home, so I called my mum first and had a little chat with her, before I called a good friend of mine and we had a little chat too.

American restaurant

After this I relaxed a bit more, before the vast majority of the group went together to an American restaurant. Last dinner on the group trip. Here I ate Entrekåte and French fries, chatted with the group, got most of them to write something in my book, and I wrote something in theirs. To get cozy memories you can look at later. Here we also played billiards, something several of us had never tried before, since it was my first time, I was in any case an ass, but I thought it was a lot of fun anyway. We chatted, laughed, played and enjoyed ourselves before it was time to go to bed. We had to get up early in the morning.

At 04:00 At night my roommate Samantha left to catch the plane home to New York, then said goodbye. That was sad.

Tomorrow we would meet for breakfast at 08.00 to say goodbye to the group.

All in all, a great day with new and many impressions, visited a torii gate, looked at temples and visited an island. Ate food, played billiards, wrote in each other's books and had a lot of fun. A good and experience-rich day.