Countries Of My Life: Maple in Summer - Journey in Hiroshima Part 2

At our last day in Hiroshima, Kazuki-san, Niko and me went to 宮島 (Miyajima). It's a small island near Hiroshima which is just about 15 minutes away by boat. So after the check-out at the hotel, we went straight to it.

The Streets of Miyajima

Miyajima is popular for many reasons, for example its unique shrine and a pastry called "紅葉饅頭" (momiji manju, roughly translated: maple bun). But there is one thing that I didn't know before coming here: They have real deer on the street! :) It was very unexpected when I went outside of the station and a deer stand in front of me. Wasn't sure at first if this wasn't a hallucination of the hangover from yesterday night :D

Picture Proof: The Real Deal :D

I thought that deer on the streets are just common in 奈良市 (Nara), but in many places of Japan animals like deer and monkeys seem to live in areas with humans too. Another reason why Japan is great ^^ Okay, sometimes deer can be annoying when they try to eat your clothes :D Probably the colors make them think that humans wear some plants ;)

After watching some of the deer, we went to the shrine. It's special because at rising tide, the ground is flooded. Thankfully they used stilts when they built the area ^^
Besides from the special place, they don't have that many attractions or statues like in other shrines of similar size. But the atmosphere here is in my opinion a bit more magical, because of the surrounding mountains and the low clouds which seemed to crouch over the mountains towards us :)

Inside the Shrine of Miyajima

During low tide, you can see numerous crabs on the ground and many birds trying to pick them :)
So of course, we went on the ground too. And I tried not to crush any crab on my way which wasn't that easy. They have a really good camouflage, so you see them only when they move. But if you are walking slow, they can escape your feet easily ^^

Birds in Search for Crabs :)

It was close to lunchtime, so we wandered around in search for a restaurant. We were in Hiroshima, so of coure we took お好み焼き (Okonomiyaki, savoury pancake with ingredients like meat, cabbage, egg and so on). As I was told, there are 2 different ways to make Okonomiyaki, the way of Osaka and the way of Hiroshima. Well, I did already eat Okonomiyaki in Osaka, so I was excited to see the difference :)

Original Okonomiyaki á la Hiroshima ^^

And the difference itself is simple: Noodles. In Hiroshima, they use them with the Okonomiyaki. It reminded me of 焼きそば which can be translated to "fried noodles". Either Hiroshima or Osaka way, Okonomiyaki is very delicious and you should really try the original ^^
From what I've tasted, it's also very easy to cook by yourself. The only thing that could be hard to get outside of Japan is the Okonomiyaki sauce. It's quite strong and therefore necessary for the "Okonomiyaki taste" experience. But there should be recipes for that in the internet too :D

One of the last highlights of the day was making our own 紅葉饅頭 (maple buns). It's recommended in every guide for Miyajima and it was recommended and organized by Kazuki-san too. We were guided by one baker of the shop and he explained everything step by step. He can also speak English, if you want to try this ^^

Baking Process

It was really funny and exciting to bake our own 紅葉饅頭 (maple buns). We also got some already baked ones with different kinds of fillings as present. Definitely something I will do again when I am going to Miyajima again :)

The train arrived soon, so we went back to the station after wandering around in Hiroshima. Because we needed a dinner before getting on the train, we searched again. After a little dispute, we decided to eat Okonomiyaki again :D