Hiroshima in One Day: /14:50 Matsudai Kisen — Guide miki

Title: What Is a Private Full-Day Hiroshima and Miyajima Tour Like? A Licensed Guide's Report

When I first contacted the guests, I received a reply asking to start earlier, or to change the tour from 8 hours to 6–7 hours. I checked the instruction sheet provided by the guests and, along with an image, explained that the tour was scheduled to start at 11:00, and that shortening the time would most likely not change the tour fee. I also explained that with an 11:00 start, if we made a reservation for the Atomic Bomb Museum at 5:30 p.m. when it is less crowded, there would be no waiting time and they could view it at a relaxed pace. I then waited to hear how they wished to proceed. As a result, there was no change to the tour schedule. On the day, the guests were very pleased, saying they were glad I had explained the crowd situation at the museum.

Today the daytime temperature was 30°C, sunny, and warm enough to make one slightly sweat. In the evening it became cooler and more comfortable.

The guests were having trouble with the Suica app on their phone. They seemed to have struggled greatly to add Suica, and as a result had ended up creating two cards. One card had 5,000 yen charged on it, but payment was always deducted from the other card, which as of today had a balance of only 42 yen. Their question was why the deduction did not come from the card with 5,000 yen on it, so I asked at the JR ferry and the Matsudai ferry, but neither knew about Suica. When I asked at JR Miyajimaguchi Station, it turned out that of the two cards, the one with 42 yen was set as the main Suica, and a setting change was needed. The staff at the counter managed to help, and told us that when tapping at the station where we got off, it would be deducted from the card with 5,000 yen. Feeling reassured, we got off at Shin-Hakushima Station, but an error occurred again. When I asked the station staff once more, they looked up how to change the setting, and after setting it again, it worked properly. We then rode the Astram Line as well, and the guests were very pleased that it now worked properly. The guests said that while traveling in Japan, staff at various places everywhere had been kind, polite, and helpful, and that they were truly happy about this.

On Miyajima, the guests said they wanted to have an iced coffee, but as today was Saturday, Miyajima was very crowded and there were long lines everywhere for both lunch and coffee, so one of the guests bought a can of Asahi beer from a stall. They looked satisfied, saying Asahi is delicious. After that, we finally found a coffee shop with a short line and ordered drinks. Although iced coffee had been mentioned, a hot coffee was purchased. They were pleased, saying the coffee here was delicious, but the iced café latte was left mostly untouched, so it seemed not to their taste.

Regarding restrooms, while more restrooms are now equipped with jet-air hand dryers, today neither the one on Miyajima nor the one in the rest house within Peace Memorial Park had them. Guests often point out the lack of paper towels, jet-air dryers, or soap. Today's guests smilingly said it was fine, but I felt anew that this may be a cultural difference between Japanese people, who carry handkerchiefs, and visitors from abroad. Sometimes I suggest buying a handkerchief as a souvenir for themselves from Japan, but in many countries it is not the custom to carry a handkerchief. I could inform guests of this in advance, but few may actually bring a handkerchief.

Today's guests did not seem interested in oyster curry bread, okonomiyaki, or momiji manju, but they seemed to enjoy chopsticks engraved with their names, sampling Saijo sake on Miyajima, and a meal at a ramen restaurant.

This time the tour ran from an 11:00 start to a 7:00 p.m. finish, and this pattern was very good. If I could ask for more, an 11:30 start and 7:30 p.m. finish would have allowed more relaxed viewing of the Atomic Bomb Museum. The Atomic Bomb Museum admits only online-reservation guests from 5:30 p.m., so it becomes a relatively relaxed time to view. It is currently open until 7:00 p.m., so if one could view from 5:30 to 7:00 there would be a leisurely 90 minutes, but today's guests wished to return to the hotel with me after seeing the museum, so we had to leave the museum by 6:40 at the latest. If the tour end time had been 7:30, they could have viewed for a full 90 minutes from 5:30 to 7:00, and then taken 30 minutes to return to the hotel to finish at 7:30, which I thought would be ideal.

I had informed the guests in advance that many guests spend one to one and a half hours viewing the Atomic Bomb Museum. The crowd level was incomparably less crowded and comfortable compared to daytime, but after an hour of viewing we had seen about half of the whole, and I thought that with another 30 minutes they could have viewed to their satisfaction. Just to be sure, I asked the guests whether they wanted to view until 7:00 and return to the hotel on their own, or view until around 6:40 and return to the hotel, and they chose to return to the hotel with me. At that time they also chose a taxi rather than a bus, and we returned to the hotel by taxi. In the taxi on the way back, they enjoyed conversing through me with the driver, asking whether anyone among the group's older relatives was an atomic bomb survivor, and where gas stations are in Japan since they don't see them. Surprisingly, one member of the group had an older relative who, on the day of the atomic bombing, was on the way to deliver soap to the army and was exposed to the bomb around the Nakajima-cho area (very close to Peace Memorial Park), and whose whereabouts remain unknown to this day. The story was that the family made soap in Kure, and this relative died on the way while making a delivery. I had heard such stories before, but hearing it directly from that family was surprising to me.

That is all.

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Tour Report by miki

Dear guests,
Hello! My name is Miki. I was born and brought up in Hiroshima. I enjoy traveling around Inland Sea areas and I enjoy chatting with guests from overseas!

In Hiroshima, you can see many beautiful rivers and old bridges. Lately, I often take photos of Hiroshima city including bridges and rivers. There are not many tall buildings here, but I know some places you can visit and see the view for free. By the atomic bomb dome, there is a building called Orizuru(paper crane) Tower. You need to pay to go up to the top floor but you can see the view of Hiroshima city and the Miyajima Island(Itsukushima).

Many tourists from overseas as well as Japan want to visit Miyajima Island. You can see a beautiful shrine from Heian Period which is around 12th century and a huge Torii gate in front of the shrine and it is in the water. There are several ways to visit the island from Hiroshima city. If you are going to stay near JR Hiroshima Station, we will visit the island by JR train and JR ferry. If you are staying in the city area, we can go there by streetcar and ferry, or there is a high-speed boat from Peace Memorial Park pier directly to the island and vise versa.

Hoping to see you in the near future!

Miki
Your tour guide in Hiroshima