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Seeking advice on Hiroshima, Okayama and Miyajima

fdKen

後輩
22 Jun 2003
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Myself, wife and 2 daughters will be spending just over 2 weeks in Japan in September.

Could anyone advise on the feasability of staying at Okayama for 3 nights, spening one day visiting Hiroshima, one day visiting Miyajima and one day around Okayama region.

I am not sure that I am allocating enough time for Hiroshima?

We will be using Japan Rail pass to travel between cities.

We are thinking of staying at Okayama as the Matunoki Ryokan
at Okayama appears to be convenietly located, good value and well set up. Does anyone know anything about the Ryokan?

Any advice would be appreciated
 
I did Hiroshima & Miya Jima in one day!

Hi

I came back from my first trip to Japan in May and i only stayed for 8 days in total. For hiroshima i took a 7am flight from Tokyo and left Hiroshima at 8pm for the flight back to Tokyo, the flight only takes around 1hr 30mins and once in Hiroshima just under an hour to take the coach from the airport to Hiroshima station which is a good starting point for you explorations. Once there the tram system is excellent linking the main sites (A-Bomb Domb, musuem etc) and also linking the port where a boat can be taken to get to miya-jima (approx 10mins). If i remember correctly it takes approx 1 hour to go from Hiroshima station to the port for the boat to Miya-Jima. I managed to fit it all it one day however it depends how young your children are if they could cope with this type of fast track visit, however i think you will be fine with two days to see both

Regards
Austin
 
Excellent!

Thankyou very much for the information.

That confirms what my thoughts were.
 
One day for Hiroshima should be plenty if all you plan to do is visit the Peace Museum and, perhaps, the castle. You don't really need a full day for Miyajima. Most tourists just visit the little town and the shrine but you could make it into a longer adventure by climbing the little mountain. (There is also a gondola or chair lift which you can take one or both ways.) There's not much at the top except a small monkey park and, perhaps, some interesting vistas. I'd go to Miyajima first thing in the morning -- that way if you find yourself done with it, you can go back and explore Hiroshima some more. On the other hand it's nice to see the shrine at sunset. Very pretty.

Don't forget to have Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki while you're in the area. Yum.
 
Konnichiwa FdKen-san!
I have forgotten about explanation of Ryokan.:p
Ryokan is written "traveling" and "mansion" in Kanji. "Ryokan" is "traveling mansion" in literal translation and means "Japanese hotel" in English.

Ryokan has a lot of Tatami room. Tatami is a traditional Japanese carpet(mat) that is made of rush. Size of Tatami mat is a 6 feet in length and 3 feet in breadth. Usually Tatami room has 8 or 10 Tatami mats. And there is low table at the center of room. The Japanese don't use a chair in Tatami room and sit down on Tatami mat directly. And the table is very low height. But Tatami floor is hard and you can sit on a floor cushion "Zabuton".😊

Most of all Ryokan has a bath and toilet in each room. But usually the Japanese take a bath at big common(public) bathroom in Ryokan. Common bathroom is divided into the male and female. You get undressed at a dressing room, but you must not leave an article of value at dressing room. There is a strongbox in the room and you must put an article of value into the strongbox. You has only the key of room and strongbox. Of course you should has a towel.

There is a rule to take a common bath. You must wash your body at first, and you must rinse out the soap bubbles completely. And after, you can soak in the bath. You can not use soap and shampoo in the bathtub. And you can not wash your body by towel in the bathtub. Some of foreigner wash their clothes at the common bathroom, but there's a ban on wash clothes at the bathroom. If you want to wash your clothes, you can request washing to Ryokan.:giggle:

Usually you get a meal at your room. The hotel clerk carry the meal into your room and set on the table. But some of Ryokan set the table(dinner) at a dining hall.🍜

There is not bed in the room. You use Futon when you lie down to sleep. Futon is a Japanese traditional bedclothes. Futon is made from under mat, coverlet and clean sheet. Of course there is a pillow too. You lay out the bedding on Tatami mat directly. But usually you need not lay out the bedding by yourself. Usually hotel clerk tell you about preliminary time of bed making. Hotel clerk come again when the preliminary time of bed making, and he(she) start a bed making on Tatami mat.:snore:

You can go out in the night and morning from Ryokan. A lot of Japanese enjoy shopping in the night and walk in the morning. But you must get back by curfew.👍

I found the site of Matunoki Ryokan in Okayama. But I don't know that this site is your staying Ryokan or not.

http://ww3.tiki.ne.jp/~matunoki/etop.html

NANGI
 
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