Miyajima 2019: A rainy morning in Miyajima

The next morning I awoke to the sounds of heavy rainfall. In 2017 a major rainstorm had passed through while I was on Miyajima and with this storm in 2019 I had officially struck out again with regards to the island’s weather. At times the rain got less intense but throughout the entire day it would always be raining at least a little bit. There was nothing I could do about the rain so after getting ready for the day I grabbed my umbrella and set out to make the most of my time on Miyajima. I started by exploring the neighborhood near my guesthouse.

Down by Itsukushima Shrine the tide was mostly out but it would be a couple more hours before the lowest point of low tide hit. Everyone was walking around with umbrellas and even the local deer were taking cover underneath trees. I was planning on coming back to the shrine and going down to the beach later so for now I moved on and headed towards the main part of the village.

At Miyajima’s main commercial area the rain was only slightly slowing down business. Miyajima had received noticeably more development since my first trip to the island and whenever I’m next able to visit I expect to find even more new or renovated buildings. The thing that most caught my eye was the fact that there is now a Starbucks on Miyajima. What I’m glad to say hadn’t changed was the tasty maple leaf-shaped pastries that are sold on Miyajima. These are called momiji manju and later in the day I would buy six of them.