Japan trip, Day 8

On Sunday, we took a short ferry ride to the island of Miyajima. At high tide, the famed vermilion torii gate of the Itsukushima Shrine looks like it is floating in the middle of the sea. 

The shrine complex is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Miyajima has been selected as one of Japan's three most scenic places.

After an unusual but delicious okonomiyaki lunch, we went back to Hiroshima and visited the Peace Memorial Park and the Atomic Bomb Museum.

This entire area and the museum made a deep, emotional impact on all of us, and should be a mandatory destination to every Head of State, the world over, especially with insane leaders like Putin and Trump with their hands on the nuclear levers.

In the afternoon, we will drive through the Shimanami Kaido to Shikoku Island. The Shimanami Kaido is a 60 kilometer long toll road that connects Japan's main island of Honshu to the island of Shikoku, passing over six small islands in the Seto Inland Sea.

It is also known as the Nishiseto Expressway. We stopped by Kirosan Observatory where we could see the Kurushima Kaikyo Bridges standing among hundreds of islands beautifully scattered over the Seto Inland Sea. 

The modern observation deck was cleverly designed and well integrated halfway into the hillside to minimize its impact of the natural surroundings.