Hiroshima and Miyajima can be visited in one (long-ish) day trip from Kyoto, thanks to the wonders of the Shinkansen (bullet train). Most tourist come to Hiroshima to visit the Peace Park and Museum, and other sights related to the nuclear bomb dropped in World War 2. Miyajima is a neat island just off Hiroshima that has neat trails to hike.
Of the entire itinerary, this is the one day I would consider changing – we didn’t get as much out of this trip as we hoped for the effort of getting there. I’ll describe the day anyway and you can decide if it’s worth doing.
Getting to Hiroshima – Taking the Shinkansen
About Shinkansen Trains
Hiroshima is about 2 hours away from Kyoto by Shinkansen. Since this is the first time this itinerary we’ve talked about the Shinkansen, here’s some details.
First, the bad news. The JR Pass has just one major limitation: you can’t use it on Nozomi class Shinkansen trains. There are 3 classes on the route between Tokyo and Hiroshima:
- Nozomi: makes the fewest stops, but also the most frequent (about 6 an hour each direction)
- Hikari: only makes a few more than Nozomi, but only 2 scheduled per hour
- Kodami: makes all stops, much slower than Hikari, and also only 1 or 2 an hour
It really shouldn’t be a problem getting a seat, you just have less flexibility. Also, many Hikari trains only from Tokyo to Osaka or from Osaka to Hiroshima, requiring a change in trains. Also not a big deal, but if you can avoid it, all the better.
As of the schedule in June 2010, there were 2 Hikari trains around 8am that went from Kyoto thru Osaka to Hiroshima, and one in the evening around 8pm returning. So it worked out well for a day trip. Of course the schedule can change.
Reserving Shinkansen Seats
First, decide what trains you want. An excellent resource is the online schedule Hyperdia. Just put in the search box Kyoto and Hiroshima, the the date and time you want to go, and it will give you ALL ways of getting there. At the bottom of the results you’ll see options to refine your search. You might want to uncheck “airplanes”, and if using the JR Pass, uncheck “Nozomi”. Run the search again. Note the train numbers and times you want.
Go to any JR Ticket office – there are several inside the Kyoto station alone. Show your JR Passes and tell them what you want. I found that while most agents don’t speak a lot of English, they speak enough. Having a calendar to point at the dates, and having the cities written down (rather than speaking them) helps.
The agents will give you seat reservation tickets (just like the ones you got to go from the Osaka airport to Kyoto).
We were always able to get seats we wanted reserving 1 or 2 days in advance, though we were not traveling at peak times. Unfortunately with the JR Pass, you cannot reserve seats until you are in Japan and have your pass. If worst comes to worst, most Shinkansen trains have some cars that are unreserved and you can take your chances.
Riding the Shinkansen
First, these trains run exactly on time. Give yourself a little extra time to get to the right place in a complex station like Kyoto.
Shinkansen stations always have a separate entrance from any other trains, clearly marked for Shinkansen. As with other JR trains, you show your pass to the human (he or she doesn’t need to see your seat tickets.)
There will be large electric signs showing which trains are due on which platforms. They alternate between Japanese and English. Know your train name (e.g. Hikari) and train number (from the schedule or ticket) and find it on the signs. If you are too early they won’t be on the sign yet. The sign here shows the HIkari 495 leaving at 8:20 for Hiroshima that we took.
Once you get to the right platform, there will be signs showing which car stops where. At major stations like Kyoto these are also electronic. Smaller stations might have fixed signs, and also markings on the pavement. We found the signs on the pavement often confusing, but the electronic signs are always right. For reserved seats, there is really no reason to line up early. Each car also has a car number sign on it.
Note that sometimes train cars are numbered oddly, like not starting at 1. This happens when the train is going to meet up somewhere down the line. This never happened on the Kyoto – Hiroshima trains we took but did elsewhere. So trust the signs, don’t just count cars.
If the train is arriving and turning around, as it might at Hiroshima, there will be a brief delay before you can board. A cleaning crew cleans each car, and you can watch the wonderful dance of the train seats as the automatically spin around.
On board, the Kyoto to Hiroshima trains are 2 x 3 seating. They are like coach airplane seats, but with considerably more leg room. If for some reason you are bringing lots of stuff, there is storage overhead roughly similar to airlines (maybe a bit smaller – if you have a suitcase that just makes it on an airplane, it might not fit here.)
We always got food at Kyoto station before getting on board, and eating on the train. Everyone is eating on the train. If you are late, you can also get food on board, you can expect someone to come by with a food trolley every 30-60 minutes – mostly snacks.
Getting to Miyajima
We choose to visit Miyajima island first. At Hiroshima, exit the Shinkansen area and reenter the JR area and look for the JR Sanyo line. Trains run frequently (you can check the schedule on Hyperdia), and takes about 25 minutes to get to Miyajimaguchi Station.
From the station, it’s about 2 blocks to the JR Ferry to get to the island. There are 2 ferry companies, JR and Matsudai – the JR pass covers the JR Ferry and there’s no reason not to take it. They run frequently.
The ferry is 10 minutes and is a wonderful approach to Miyajima. Even if you decide not to hike around the island, you might enjoy the ferry ride. In particular, you’ll get great views of the island’s signature Torii Gate:
Miyajima Island
The main attractions are the Itsukushima Shrine and Mount Misen’s trails. We didn’t visit the shrine itself, but anyone can visit the famous Torii gate if the tide is out.
There are the usual shops at the base of the hill. Follow the signs for Mount Misen. You’ll have to hike at least part way yourself, before you get to the ropeway.
Unfortunately for us, the ropeway turned out to be closed, with no advance notice, so we can’t tell you how cool the top of the mountain is, nor did we get to see the monkeys that are part of the attraction. But the hike up to the ropeway is still very beautiful. 
When you are ready to return to Hiroshima, take the ferry back to the mainland, and walk to the JR station, and take the JR Sanyo back to Hiroshima station.
It is also possible to take Hiroshima City tram #2 directly to the peace park, but this is actually longer than taking the JR Sanyo train back to Hiroshima Station and then taking the tram to the peace park.
Hiroshima Station to the Peace Park
Take tram #2 from Hiroshima Station to the peace park. Here’s a map of the Hiroshima streetcar system. Exit at stop M10 – Genbaku Dome-mae. From here you’ll walk past the Atomic Dome to the Peace Park.
Hiroshima – Peace Park
From the tram stop, there are a number of things to see loosely gathered around an area called the Peace Park.
The Atomic Dome is the only building not destroyed by the bomb in the city, and it has been preserved. You can walk all around it.
Continuing towards the Peace Park, you’ll find a really cool memorial made by children – they’ve created thousand’s of origami cranes and assembled them into wonderful murals.
From the origami cranes, continue south towards the Peace Museum.
Peace Museum
The truth is – we wern’t thrilled with this museum. It’s tough to build an entire museum on what is essentially a single topic. If you’ve had the chance to see the Caen Memorial and museum in Normandy, France, the Hiroshima museum will pale in comparison. It’s not a bad museum, it’s just that it starts being redundant because there’s only so much to say.
Elsewhere in Hiroshima
The Japan Guide provides more things to see – we filled our day with just these two. If we had actually made it up Mount Misen, we might not have had time to even go thru the museum.
You can walk back to the JR Hiroshima station, or take the tram. There is a shopping mall underground near stop M9. You can get something to eat there, or above ground, or back at the station.