Hiroshima and Miyajima in One Day from Tokyo, by Shinkansen

Hiroshima is 800 kilometres from Tokyo, and the only reason this works as a day trip is the Shinkansen. Round-trip tickets are included on the Tokyo option, which is the expensive part of the day and the part most people would rather not organise themselves. If you are already in western Japan there is a cheaper option that skips the train and starts at Hiroshima Station instead.

The day is built around two very different places. Miyajima comes first, reached by ferry across a short stretch of the Inland Sea. Itsukushima Shrine is built out over the water on stilts, and at high tide its vermilion torii appears to float clear of the shore — the image most people already have of Japan without knowing where it comes from. Admission to the shrine is included. The island is small enough to wander: deer move freely through the streets, the shopping lanes sell grilled oysters and momiji manju, the maple-leaf cakes made here since the early 1900s, and the pace is slower than anywhere you will have been in Tokyo.

Then the ferry back, and Hiroshima. The Peace Memorial Park occupies the ground that was directly beneath the 1945 detonation, and the A-Bomb Dome — left deliberately as it stood — is the one building in the city that was not rebuilt. A guide matters here more than at any other stop. The park reads as a pleasant riverside space if you do not know what each monument marks, and understanding the layout, the cenotaph and the children's memorial changes the visit entirely.

Be honest with yourself about the length. With the train at both ends this is a sixteen-hour day and you will get back to Tokyo late. Meals are not included, which is deliberate — Miyajima's oysters and Hiroshima's okonomiyaki are worth choosing for yourself. Groups run to a maximum of thirty and the guide works in English throughout.