Even more species hunting adventures in Japan: Hiroshima & Miyajima.

The following day, we were up early again to head to Shin Osaka station to catch the shinkansen to Hiroshima. It was Ryan’s first time riding the bullet train, so he was very excited.

The Shinkansen is brilliant! Fast, efficient and safe, you might be surprised to know that it has been operating in Japan since 1964!

In only an hour and twenty minutes, we had travelled 327km and had arrived in Hiroshima. Ryan was suitably impressed! Heading west from Hiroshima station on foot, We stopped briefly by the Kyobashi River when we spotted some black seabream hanging around, but they were incredibly skittish and all swam off when a rig landed in the water anywhere near them. Even casting away from them, any that then came over to investigate our chunk of raw prawn quickly rejected it and swam off with purpose. Giving up, we continued west until we reached the A-Bomb Dome.

Eighty years ago, an atomic weapon was detonated almost directly above this building, destroying most of city.

The Cenotaph for the A-Bomb Victims. This arched tomb holds the register of victims. It's a focal point for annual peace ceremonies.

For me personally, visiting the Peace Park in Hiroshima is a deeply moving experience and also an opportunity for reflection. The horror of what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki is beyond comprehension. There are no winners in war. I took a moment to gently ring the park's peace bell before we left the park. 

Crossing the river from the Peace Memorial Park, we caught the fast ferry to Miyajima. We spent a couple of hours exploring the island, visiting Itsukushima Shrine and as the tide was out we walked down to see the huge Torii gate that marks its entrance out in the bay.

Lilian loves a silly selfie!

The massive Torii gate was very impressive, and it was nice to actually see it.

When we visited six years ago, it was covered in scaffolding whilst it was being refurbished!

After passing through Itsukushima Shrine, we walked for a while along the coast and then doubling back we visited a pagodo up on a hill and then wandered back through the town's busy streets. There, we enjoyed sharing some tasty snacks for lunch in the shape of curry pan, deep fried oysters and beef and potato korokke. We wanted to go up to the top of Mount Misen using the island's ropeway, but the queues were ridiculously long, so we decided to go do some fishing instead! Heading around to the large concrete steps at the back of Hiroshima University of Economics' Seminar House, we scratched around with small hooks initially. Things were slow to begin with, but eventually we caught a few fish and remarkably every species we caught were additions to our tally.

First to bite a little piece of prawn was this tiny oblong rockfish. 

After having our bait stolen a few times, and then our hooks bitten clean off, we caught a few of these grass puffer.

I then moved around the corner to fish over a sandy area. This produced a small red bream, the same species Ryan and I had caught in the fishing restaurant back in Osaka!

This was followed shortly afterwards by a small black seabream. Not as cautious as the bigger ones in the rivers of Hiroshima!

After a while, we realised that we were running out of time before we had to pack up and walk back to the ferry terminal to catch our ferry back to Hiroshima. For the last fifteen minutes of the session or so, we switched to fishing small paddletail lures on jigheads over some rougher ground at the bottom of the concrete steps. This proved to be a great choice. As the sun began to set, this approach tempted a few marbled rockfish out of their hiding places, and we both caught them.

As the sun went down, we tried something different.

Our first marbled rockfish of the trip aggressively hit our lures.

Quickly packing up, we briskly walked back to the ferry terminal and caught our ferry back to Hiroshima. Walking back towards the station, we headed to an okonomiyaki restaurant for another large savoury pancake washed down with a few beers.

Hiroshima style okonomiyaki is my favourite. It's all about layers!

With full stomachs, we headed back towards the station, but before we caught the shinkansen back to Osaka we headed to the Kyobashi River for a quick session targeting yellowfin goby. I caught some there when Lillian and I last visited Hiroshima, but sadly Ryan and I drew a blank on this occasion. Back on the shinkansen, we were back in Osaka in no time. It had been another enjoyable day trip, and Ryan and I only needed another two species to hit our target. Maybe we could get them the following day somewhere in Himeji after visiting the city's famous white castle?

Tight lines, Scott.