Hello All, We will be visiting Japan in March 2025. We currently have 2 nights in Miyajima. Our original plan was to spend the second day traveling to Hiroshima and back so that we could spend 2 nights in Miyajima. Our next stop will be Kyoto. I was wondering if it makes more sense to see Hiroshima ( Peace Museum) on the way to Kyoto, thereby avoiding traveling back and forth. We would then continue on to Kyoto. Is there someplace that we could leave our luggage while we visit the Museum? Are lockers easily available? Thank you in advance for your input.

Lockers are available at Hiroshima Station and in the event all those are full, there is a luggage storage service at the station where they will hold your bags for that day. Can’t recall what time pickup is, something like 5:00 or 8:00 pm.

https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2274.html
Scroll down to "luggage storage"

Thank you, that is very helpful.

Thank you for the useful information.

I highly recommend using th luggage delivery servce.
Takuhaibin (Takkyubin) - Delivery Services (japan-guide.com)
Send luggage the morning after the first night and it will be in Kyoto when you arrive.And/or ship that night or the morning when you check out for arrival next day. I wonder if you can get same day delivery from Hiroshima Station, but I think not.

You can then travel with no luggage or maybe just a backpack. There is a boat that goes from Miyajima to a port near the Peace Park.

There are 88 koin rokka at the museum: Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum | Visiting | Accessibility (hpmmuseum.jp)

Thank you mrwunrfl, I didn’t realize there was a boat, I will look into that. We travel light with just a carryon and backpack, so maneuvering on the trains shouldn’t be a problem, just need temporary storage. But thank you for the suggestion.

Taking the boat is not a great idea unless you ship luggage to Kyoto (would be $27 for a carryon). Don't really want to count on there being enough locker space at the museum for both backpacks and carryons Would be a bad idea to take it all on the streetcar you take to get to Hiroshima Station after the museum.

OR: go straight from Miyajima to the train station; leave your backpacks and carryons; visit museum & park; return to train station....

Agree with shippping your luggage and just keeping a backpack on you. Thats what we did and it was awesome. WE used a locker but they were filling up quickly.

Lucy, dunno whether the following homestay system would be of interest, but there used to be a program called 'PTP' (people to people). If memory serves, it was run by one of the Japanese banks and allowed travelers to hook up well in advance with local families. One could stay for free with those families and in return, they learned more English and broadened their children's horizons. SERVAS is another organization, a world-peace one, that also arranged such homestays.
Both provided unprecedented access to Japanese home life for those interested in that kind of thing.

I am done. the lockers

Thank you all for the great responses. I will look into shipping our small bags so as not to worry about renting a locker. Can’t wait for the trip to begin. So much planning!

good info, zebec, thx

>> luggage to Kyoto (would be $27 for a carryon)
That price (actually 4180 JPY) seemed a bit high so I checked it again.

The Yamato website shows a rollaboard carryon under the "140 size" for 4420, so I had used that.

My travelpro roller is H: 23 in. W: 14.5 in. D: 9 in.
That is 46.5 or 118.11 cm

They have a duffle bag image under the "120 size" for 3740 yen or $23.
That is less than 120 cm, so I wonder if the bag would get the "100 size" rate of 2860 (I would have guessed the price to be ~3000 but would be happy to pay the 4420)

Anyway, go here:
Check Rates and Delivery Times | YAMATO TRANSPORT (kuronekoyamato.co.jp)
choose Chugoku to Kansai
click on Send to Accomodation