An unwary tourist defends her lunch from marauding local thugs.

Attacked!

With barely a bump, the ferry pulled into the dock and we stepped out onto Itsukushima island, a few hundred yards south of the shrine. A large committee of local deer were waiting to welcome the disembarking passengers. "Oh, how cute!" I thought, amazed at the fact that the normally skittish animals were willing to approach so close. I got my camera ready to take an amazing close-up of two of the beautiful creatures that were walking up with me. I heard my wife shout "Watch out!" and I wondered how she could possibly be fearful of such shy and innocent creatures. A moment later, I felt a sharp tug on the bag of lunches I had looped onto my arm so I could focus my camera.

While the two dear were holding my attention from the front, four others had circled around behind me and zeroed-in on our lunch. These animals had gone beyond simply overcoming their shyness. They were doe-eyed, street-smart thugs who had elevated food-theft to an art form. As it turned out, in the vicinity of the dock, a very common sound was the scream of a first-time visitor being caught by surprise.

We walked past the customary souvenir and snack shopping street that stretched a hundred yards or so between the dock and the outlying buildings of the shrine. Deer, singly and in small groups maintained a vigilant patrol but, for some reason, did not directly attach the snack shops, but waited until the customers were a respectful distance away. It appeared that the deer and shopkeepers had established some sort of mutually beneficial treaty (the animals being well fed and the owners occasionally doubling their sales).

The Itskushima Shrine is considered one of the most beautiful places in Japan. At high tide, the orange tori and the buildings behind it appear to be floating on water.

We stopped in a comfortable and scenic spot looking out on the shrine's entrance standing in the water and began to enjoy the lunch we brought. A large, tour moved in behind us and formed a group to be photographed by a professional photographer (another very popular service we had seen at nearly every tourist attraction that attracted package tours). The photographer and his assistant made it plainly known to us that our picnic was cluttering up his background and that we would have to immediately move. My wife's sister made it clearly known to the photographer that he was asking to interrupt the lunch of a group of people who had the same right to be there that he did. More words were exchanged, but we were the ones who wound up moving. Apparently our discussion had attracted the attention of one of the patrols who wordlessly expressed their opinion that, if we couldn't enjoy our lunch at the location we had chosen, we should be more than happy to share it. The remainder of our meal was rather unsettled and was consumed while trying to outmaneuver the deer.

During all of this, the tide had been going out and now the magnificent tori on comparatively dry land and hundred of locals had appeared around its base with small pails and shovels like the kind children use to play in the sand at the beach. I learned that they had come to dig for the delicious local clams that lie just under the surface of the sand exposed by the low tide. Our nephew, bereft of the proper tools, busied himself digging by hand while we walked around the tori's base.

Attrracting Typhoons

The Itsukusima Shrine consists of a large complex of buildings as well as the tori. One group sat suspended over the shoreline on short stilts. When the tide came in, it looked like they were floating on the water. On the hills above, there was a large hall and a pagoda tower. Scaffolding covered the larger part of both.

There is something about Itsukushima that seems to be attracting typhoons. For the past two years, major storms chose this quiet harbor to make landfall, causing significant damage. Several years ago, the shrine was nearly leveled by yet another storm. The current beautiful condition of buildings sat in testimony to how often they had been rebuilt. The shrine was originally established in 593.

We walked back to shore and followed the suspended boardwalk around the low, open buildings. In one area, a large crowd was watching a traditional comedy being performed by an acting troupe in their historic costumes. The audience laughed and cheered enthusiastically throughout the performance. In another area, Shinto priests had made themselves available to direct their prayers at the request of their supplicants. A chart near the entrance listed the donations required for the various services. As I did in nearly every shrine we visited, I tossed a go-yen coin into the slat-covered wooden basket, clapped twice, bowed, said a short prayer, clapped once and then backed away respectfully.

The sound of children's laughter began to erupt behind us. A large crowd had gathered beside one of the buildings and at its center was a local performer and his very talented monkey who was working the audience like a seasoned pro.

Ika (squid) is a popular food. Here, as a snack, it's served broiled on a stick with a sweetened soy sauce.

A Differend Kind of Taco Stand

We slowly walked back towards the dock. Now and then, dark clouds were passing overhead and more and more frequently, light showers traveled with them. We walked along a narrow row of shops in the shopping district and stopped for snacks. A local specialty of soy-glazed squid tentacle appeared to be especially popular. I decided to try the cantaloupe-flavored ice cream which turned out to be truly delicious. Like many desert-type dishes in Japan, it lacked the aggressive sweetness often found in Western food and drink. Even though diet beverages are very hard to find here, Japanese soft drinks are far more subtly sweetened. Coca-Cola and other American soft drinks that are popular tasted overly sugary in comparison.

It was mid-afternoon when we boarded the ferry to return to the mainland. Our niece and nephew, once again, directed us to the seats they had chosen for us. Out the window, I watched the shrine shrink into the misty horizon.

The train back to Hiro was still quite crowded. Eight or nine uniformed boys of junior high school age with their teacher/coach stood in the aisle in front of us, joking noisily with each other. They seemed to be returning from some sort of athletic competition. I watched my niece staring at them as if she was studying a group of strange alien creatures who were, at once, fascinating and yet somewhat repulsive.

I surprised myself by falling asleep for a good part of the trip. It wasn't as if I was very tired, but I was feeling extremely relaxed and comfortable. The regular clatter of the wheels and iron rails was a little hypnotic. I awoke when we were nearing our stop, feeling quite refreshed. The sun was shining brightly as we arrived in Hiro.

A Supermarket - Sort of

My wife's sister drove my wife, her mother and I a few blocks to the town's one large department store so we could do some grocery shopping. Supermarkets, per se, are rather rare in Japan. Most groceries are purchased at small shops specializing in produce, meat, fish or other limited varieties of goods. What we would recognize as a "normal" grocery store traditionally occupied the bottom floor. Jusco was nowhere near as large as the big-city department stores, but the tall, white building with it's multi-storied parking lot dwarfed its downtown Hiro neighbors. Once again, I noticed that the fresh produce here was pricey but the quality of many of the items (probably all locally grown) was even better than the city stores. But aside from the fact that you could take an escalator to a different floor and purchase anything from lingerie to major appliances, it was very similar to an American supermarket. One thing I thought was a bit unusual was the fact that, even though Japanese retailers are service-oriented to a fault, supermarket customers were left to wrap and bag their own purchases. Obviously, this is something that people prefer to do themselves.

After the grocery chores were done, we had a chance to some shopping in other nearby stores, finding some gifts for our niece and nephew and some friends of ours back home. Even though the setting sun was still shining, we found ourselves dodging in and out of some brief but heavy showers. We returned home to a great dinner and an unusually restful evening.

Next: The caves of Akiyoshi

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