Reasons to visit Chūgoku region in Japan.

Having been travelled to Japan for few times on my own and with my family, there was nothing better than backpacking and venturing out in the country with your free and easy tour. I dislike guided tours as they tend to take you to commissioned areas and wasted so much time. Of course travelling on your own means you have to do your planning and budgeting first.


Chūgoku region is one of the places in Japan that not many people tend to visit unlike in Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo are often frequented by tourists and even locals. It was like an amazing race when going interstates. I started the journey from Osaka where we took the shinkansen (bullet train) from Shin-Osaka to Hiroshima. Upon arriving at Hiroshima station, we have to take a local subway via JR Sanyo Line to Miyajimaguchi Station since Itsukushima is an island in the western part of the Inland Sea of Japan, located in the northwest of Hiroshima Bay. The subway takes another 20 minutes where you get off and walk towards the pier using your JR Pass to board the ferry to the island.

 

From there, the scenery is breathtaking where you see oysters were bred and grown in the area as the water is calm and warmer. Apart from that, the most important and iconic scene is the big orange wooden Torii gate floating majestically in the water. Aaah...

There are times when it's high or low tide. When it's low tide, you can actually walk towards the big Torii gate but it's muddy water. There are plenty of  tame deers roaming around the island asking for food or resting away. Some have their antlers shaven to prevent hazardous events such as knocking or injuring tourists.

The food in Hiroshima is rather unique. Since they grow oysters, you'd be expecting to eat seafood and lots of oysters grilled at the Miyajima island. I loved their style of Okonomiyaki as it comes with lots of seafood, noodles, cabbage and carrot with egg topped with it. Unlike anywhere else the Okonomiyaki is filled with lots of batter, it's different in Japan since it's usually consists cabbage, meat or seafood.

A must to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial park. It brings that solemn feeling and the time where the atomic bomb struck the city and destroying many lives for generations. The A-Bomb Genbaku building stood still with some steel structures holding it is the eeriest place to stand and hold a silent prayer for the victims. On August 6th 1945 where the atomic bomb landed in the city exploded directly in front of Shima Hospital so that is the reason the Genbaku dome remained as it is.


There were plenty of origami cranes folded and left at the memorial park. Often you see many Japanese local students were brought there for school trip - part of history lesson. It has been nearly 72 years since the disastrous event took place. For those of us who have never seen or been through the era, it is definitely a memorable experience to walk through the area.
I have personally never been to the other area Nagasaki which was also struck down by the atomic bomb. It might not be so well preserved as in Hiroshima however they were cities that were destroyed badly and the after effects were devastating. If you happen to visit the Hiroshima museum, you are bound to see the clock that was preserved at the time of the bombing.

Apart from that, you can take the Hiroshima city tour using your JR Pass. It is quite easy to move around the city as it is not as big as Tokyo. The population nearly reached 1.2 million citizens in Hiroshima city.
So ensure your next trip to Japan, you do drop by at Chūgoku region to explore and see the history.