bonus

bonus
Published on:

7th Sep 2021

Magic of Miyajima - One of Japan's Top Destinations: My Favorite Spots, Avoiding Crowds, Oysters & Tourist Tax

Miyajima island in Hiroshima is a magical place, but also one of the most popular tourism destinations in Japan- only 1500 local residents yet over 4 million visitors each year, it's an important place to discuss how to avoid crowds and create policies that give back value from tourism income to preserving the local culture, traditions and environment and quality of life for locals. Watch the video of this talk here.

Discussed some of my favorite places to wander: Mt.Misen hikes and views, Daishoin (SuhGenDo) Buddhist Temple, Itsukushima Floating shrine (and usually the giant Tori gate in front but it is still under scaffolding for a few more years), the 1000 mat pavillion and the 5 story pagoda.

Wish List for Miyajima:

  • Transparency for how the tourist-tax benefits local people-planet-profit balance
  • Encourage local oyster farmers to go back to using bamboo, wood and rope (instead of plastic and styrofoam) - Hiroshima plastic pollution from the oyster industry is a huge ocean plastic problem for the Seto-naikai area of Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Okayama but it gets as far as Hawaii's beaches too.
  • Maintain building regulations/restrictions on the island to maintain the cultural/traditional aesthetic for tourism appeal, but as an asset for Japanese heritage
  • Preserve natural beauty of the sacred island, limiting the use of concrete
  • Find ways to stagger crowds on the main shopping street by slowing or limiting entry
  • Serve local momiji-manju cakes without the plastic wrapping at least to those who want to eat-in
  • Offer more local vegetables, local wood, plastic-free options as goods and services

JJ's Miyajima videos:

ShoutOuts:

#sustainabletravel #miyajima

* JOIN the Seeking Sustainability Live Supporters **

SoundCloud sourced Royalty-Free BGM thanks to Hikosaemon

Listen for free

Show artwork for Seek Sustainable Japan

About the Podcast

Seek Sustainable Japan
talks with good people doing great things in Japan
Seek Sustainable Japan launched in 2020 to entertain and inspire us all, sparking ideas through discussions about Japanese culture, travel & traditions with insiders and experts across Japan. All of the guests on the show are creating a more sustainable [i.e. better people-planet-profits balance] Japan in some way through their work, projects and way of life.
Support This Show

About your host

Profile picture for jj walsh

jj walsh

Hi I'm Joy (JJ) originally from Hawaii & long-time Hiroshima-jin (jin=person). My work and content is focused on sustainability & how we can make better choices to balance the needs of people, planet and profits in our lives, work and travel. Join me as I talk with wonderful people and visit interesting places in Japan.
Reach out: inboundambassador@gmail.com
InboundAmbassador.com | SeekSustainableJapan.com | All Links: https://linktr.ee/jjwalsh