I love it when I go to a big landmark like this and get to watch Japanese people be just as excited and touristy as I am. Also, I love the outfits Japanese girls wear (and, oh, the umbrellas and parasols!).Miyajima is just south of Hiroshima and you must take a ferry to reach the island. It was believed to be the home of the gods and that is why this shrine (only about 1/4 of it is in the bottom picture) was built in the ocean as a pier. The Japanese believed it would be disrespectful to use the land. Even though there is a small town on this island today and it is home to about one thousand people, there is no hospital on the island and burials are not permitted there. Kozue told me that in the past (and I'm not clear on whether this still happens today) the injured and the dead were transported from the island on red boats: literally "blood boats" in Japanese.
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