My day began horribly early, at 6am, very quietly exiting the dorm room and getting dressed in the bathroom, as I wanted to go see Miyajima before leaving Hiroshima (my train being at 12) and also wanted to see it as close to high tide as possible. High tide was at 9.30 so I planned to be there around 8, before it got too busy. I left the hostel at 6.45 and walked through the empty village to the streetcar, getting to the ferry port about 7.15am. So early 😞

Found the JR ferry, as it was free if you had a JR pass – I activated mine the day before as I was going to Hiroshima, and had checked the ferry timetable in advance and knew it would leave around 7.40. There were about 3 people in the queue ahead of me, and only about 25 total got this ferry! Lovely scenic ride across, only 10 minutes, and I was there!

The island was so empty this early in the morning, people were still raking the paths clear of deer droppings and general detritus from the day before. Amazingly empty on the island, so tranquil, and a pleasant 31C as it was still so early in the morning.

Walking along the coast, you can see the Grand Torii Gate materialising out of the water majestically. I went into the Itsukushima Shrine, and even that was still relatively empty of tourists. It opened its doors at 8am and I arrived only a few minutes later. Walking on the boards which seemed to be floating above the surface of the water, past ancient shrines and the monks selling fortunes was really quite eerie. Also didn’t really understand the meaning of many of the temples, but it didn’t matter, as the atmosphere was just wonderful. A kind chap took my photograph on th edge of the temple nearest the Grand Torii Gate.

After that, I walked around the island a bit, watching as it steadily started to fill up with foreign tourists, day-trippers, and large organised tour groups, before heading back to the ferry and going back to the mainland. The queue for the ferry at this point, only 9.30 or so, was immense, hundreds of people. If you want to go, try and get a really early ferry and coordinate it with the time of the high tide, in order to have the best experience possible.

It was now time to begin my long journey to Tokyo to collect my mum from the airport! Got the streetcar to the hostel, collected my bag and checked out, then a streetcar and a train to the central train station, before the Shinkansen to Shin-Kobe and another one onto Tokyo from there. Arrived at Tokyo at 4.40pm, and as the airport train I planned to catch wasn’t until just after 5pm, thought this would be plenty of time, right? WRONG!! Turns out that if you have a JR pass and want to take the Narita Express to Tokyo Narita airport, you have to have a reserved seat. Nothing indicated this, not Hyperdia, not the NEX website, nothing, until I reached the platform and was told to go all the way back to a reservation window. The queues were so long… I got to the front of the queue at 4.59 by which time they had stopped advertising the NEX I planned to get, so I asked for a reservation for the next one, thinking I was going to be late. Mums flight had also been delayed so I thought I should still be just about able to meet her. The ticket office gave me a reservation for the train at 5.03pm – it was now 5.01!! I legged it down to the platform (once I eventually found it) as I knew if I missed this one, I would have to queue again to get another reservation. Made it with 30 seconds to spare… And for a “fully reserved train” I’ve never seen it so empty. In my carriage were about another 4 people. Why I couldn’t just get the train… So annoying!

Went to the airport, collected mum (who was knackered after travelling for 22 hours) and took her to our hotel. Should’ve been simple as it was just one subway line from Tokyo station, 3 stops. Right? WRONG!! The station was having major renovations so to get from the entrance of the station to the actual ticket gates for our subway line took 15 minutes of going up and down stairs, around corners, through shopping centres, all with no aircon – not great! Finally got to Hanzomon station and the heavens opened – by the time we got to the hotel (only a 3 minute walk) we were absolutely drenched! However it was a lovely hotel with a view over the Imperial Palace Gardens, not that we could see much that late at night! I went out for Katsudon at Maisen in Harajuku, which was delicious, you could even choose the breed of pig and cut of pork that you wanted! Went back and went to bed, ready for a day showing my mum around Tokyo😉