A tram ride from Hiroshima to Miyajima port, then a 10 minute ferry ride, took us to Itsukushima, or Miyajima Island, home to the Great Torii Gate, part of Itsukushima Shrine.

Deer roam freely on the island and as in Nara are keen for any food, but not outrageously so – seeing them on the beach was a little strange however.   We wandered along the front, up to a tall red pagoda, then back down to the torii and sat and gazed at it for a while, watching eagles in the distance following fishing boats, vying for scraps.  The Shrine beside us, moreso to me than the gate, seemingly floating on the water at high tide.

I left my companion just before 2pm (she is carrying on through more of Japan, across to China and then back across on the Trans-Siberian railway!!) and took the ferry back across to the mainland, purchased food for the train from Hiroshima to Tokyo, via Shin-Osaka, then caught the train this time, back to Hiroshima.

Back in Tokyo it all felt familiar; the JR Yamonote line to Ueno, Ginza subway line to Tawaramachi, then a quick shop for more food and my final ‘parcels of joy’, the little rice triangles, from the Rox shop and finally to Bunka, to the less posh hutch.