So, I made plans on Tuesday night with Nick and James, a Brit and an American respectively, to meet at 10am in the common room and go to Miyajima Island, to climb the mountain and generally soak up the atmosphere. We were all early, and walked to the station (I didn't necessarily consent to this, but I saw no point in arguing). As we were getting on the ferry at Miyajimaguchi we saw some boat racing going on, and swore to come back and check it out on our way back if possible. Already
the day didn't look too promising, it was cloudy and misty, getting cloudier as we approached Miyajima Island. Upon our arrival we were greeted by a bunch of schoolkids proffering leaflets - Nick shrank back instantly (obviously fresh from China where anyone proffering stuff is probably going to ask for some money), whereas I engaged them in limited conversation - they were doing it for a school project, giving us a map and guide to the area, for free, which was very welcome indeed (as it turned out, the lack of scale on the map gave us problems later, but only to a minor extent). We walked through the town past a load of deer, similar to Nara, but with one major difference - there is very little traffic on the island, so the deer roam more freely than in Nara.Having snacked on some beanpaste-filled-deep-fried-maple leaf pasties on a stick, we visited the main shrine on the island, Itsukushima. This was the main reason to come here, being as it is surrounded by water, looking out onto the Torii which is supposedly one of the three most photographed sights in Japan, although I have no idea how one would measure this.
We had been informed that the views from the top of Mt. Misen
were spectacular, so we walked to the cablecar, to find once we were on it that the fog was pretty much impenetrable - not good for a scenic lookout. All was not lost however, as when we eventually made it back to the mainland (via Oyster Okonomiyaki in a restaurant on Miyajima - I wasn't a fan, but I don't think the oysters were up to much. Probably why I was ill all of Friday) we walked to the boat stadium I mentioned before, and caught a race! We decided, being backpackers, that frugality was essential, which is why we watched it by peering over the wall, therefore not paying a single yen.All this sightseeing over, I booked myself onto the 18:30 Shinkansen to Osaka, raced back to the hostel, grabbed my stuff, and jumped in a taxi (anathema for backpackers in Japan, but I was desperate) and proceeded to miss my train by 1 minute. I got there at exactly 18:09:30, as the whistle blew for the train to leave. I have probably caught over 100 trains in Japan, including subways which run on a timetable, and not one has been delayed or run late by even 1 minute. This is quite incredible, I have no idea how they achieve this. The few buses I have caught have all run to the minute as well.
By the time I got into Shin-Osaka I really couldn't be bothered to get the next train to Nagoya then on to Fuji-Yoshida. I hadn't really slept the night before anyway, as I kept waking for no reason every hour or so, so I headed once again back to #303 Natty North, Kita-Tatsumi, for one final night before posting my key back through the door, never to return again.
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