JAPAN~ HIROSHIMA & MIYAJIMA!!!

KONNICHIWA!!!! So last week I arrived back in Seoul from a little trip over the water to Japan!! (yes, AGAIN!) That weekend saw the celebration of Chuseok in Korea so I decided to zip away from the crazy National holiday mayhem and take the opportunity to see a bit more of Japan!
So from one extreme to another~ last month in Sapporo was as far north as I've ever been in Japan and this month, the furthest south of Japan I've ever been!!! I've wanted to visit Hiroshima for many years so it was amazing to eventually go and learn more about the place~as you can imagine it's a pretty sombre place but, at the same time it's a beautiful city.
When I arrived into Hiroshima I had scored a room with the most incredible view right across the Peace Park and set on the banks of the river was the A-Bomb Dome building surrounded by endless green mountains. It felt a bit strange to be able to see such a prominent and symbolic sight from my actual bed...but, it felt more powerful opposed to depressing.

When I was over there I split my time between Hiroshima and Miyajima- an island around an hour away. Hiroshima was massively interesting and really intense....I checked out the Peace Memorial Museum and Park, Genbaku Dome as well as Hiroshima Castle... the Museum was incredible...I learned so much that I didn't know about the city, not only about it's destruction but, also it's story about how it was rebuilt to how it is today. The Peace Park is equally as moving with it's Children's Memorial Monument and endless strings of colourful, paper, peace cranes dotted around.  

During my time there I also did some shopping and lots of sampling of awesome veggie food around downtown Hodori!!!! 
My first quest upon arrival was to pick up a box of daigaku imo~ This is one of my all time favorite Japanese snacks... Back when I was living with the Takahashi family in Mino during my artist residency in Japan a few years ago, I would live in hope when I opened my dinner bento that there would be a couple of 'College Potatoes' as they are also known...!!! They are basically fried sweet potatoes coated in sticky, sweet, sugary~honey and black sesame seeds....they are the ultimate snack of dreams!!! 

I also wanted to do some serious craft shopping whilst I was there as the stuff you can pick up in Japan is phenomenal and I had a few necessities I wanted to get for some new pieces that I'm currently working on! Luckily I took a virtually empty case so I could haul back an abundance of pastel pom poms, rainbow yarn galore and various delightful treasures and trimmings...also picked up some Japanese bamboo knitting needles which I'm super excited to use!!! Of course I also made sure I left adequate space to bring half of Daiso back with me as well as an outrageous amount of cute cosmetics, whopper supply of Matcha, couple of juicy new outfits....ooooppps and a few more little ceramic cups which I definitely do not need!
So then it was on to Magical Mijajima~ a National Park set on an island about an hour away from Hiroshima city! I opted to take one of the cute, little green trams that you see trundling around opposed to the train which was really fun!!

The journey was awesome as the trams wind through endless little, old school neighborhoods and villages full of traditional charm before rolling past some hills and the shoreline so it was a really lovely ride to get to the port!
OoooOOO AHOY THERE~ Next mode of transport was a ferry which takes you across the Seto Inland Sea over to Itsukushima AKA Miyajima~ the name basically means 'Shrine Island' and the place is dotted with shrines, pagodas and temples galore!

The scenery was BEYOND breathtaking....one of the most beautiful places I've even been in my entire life and I was lucky that the blue skies were out if full force making it all look even more glorious!!!
Once I got over there I checked out the famous torii gate which sits on the sand meaning that when the tide is in it appears to be floating on the water!!! Then it was onto a bit of temple hopping in the sunshine!!!!

Also there are loads of tame deer roaming around...they are quite brazen and cheeky...my tropical print skirt went down a storm and was chewed to max!! I also had a delicious sweet potato ice cream whisked from my grasp and as I was writing a postcard it was snatched from my hands!!! Super cute though....Bambi central!!!

Right...well I could easily talk all day about this adventure but, this post seems to be turning into an essay when all I was planning on doing what giving a quick speile followed by a bunch of holiday snaps!!! So I'll pipe down and leave you with some photos!!!
Happpyyy Weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love Emma xxxxxxxxxxx