After a late night with the couple from Belgium, it was still a shock when the alarm went off early the next morning. There are lines for everything in Japan and that includes our hotel for breakfast. So whilst we had timed our departure with Japanese precision - this was foiled by the breakfast waiting line. As it was raining, we got taxis to Kyoto train station for our Shinkansen to Hiroshima. As the trains do here, it left right on time, and because I may have had a little hangover, I slept most of the way (2 hours) to Hiroshima. This time, our hotel is basically in the train station so it was easy to get there. We stored our luggage with the concierge and went to explore.
For background, on 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict.
We hopped on the city loop bus which is free with our rail passes and hopped off at the Atomic Bomb Dome. The building was the only structure that remained standing in the area after the bombing. It used to be the Product Exhibition Hall, and only survived the blast due to the fact that detonation was more or less overhead. The building's vertical columns were able to resist the nearly vertical downward force of the blast, and parts of the concrete and brick outer walls remained intact. Of course, the people inside sadly died instantly.
Whilst originally controversial to preserve the remnants of this building, it now remains as a reminder of the devastating effects of nuclear war, and hence is now world heritage listed.
Nearby, we walked to the actual hypocenter which was in an ordinary street. There was a plaque, but otherwise no directional signage for tourists to go there. Despite the crowds elsewhere, there were only a few other couples at this location with us.
The Peace Memorial Park is dedicated to the legacy of Hiroshima as the first city in the world to suffer a nuclear attack in war, and to the memories of the bomb's direct and indirect victims. It’s a beautifully curated park with the added bonus of cherry blossoms in bloom. Hard to believe that the area we were standing on had been literally obliterated in seconds, due to action taken by other human beings. Every person and most structures, particularly timber, in the area had been reduced to ash in temperatures that reached 3000-4000 degrees Celsius.
We saw the Children’s Peace Monument.
This is a statue dedicated to the memory of the children who died as a result of the bombing. The statue is of a girl with outstretched arms with a folded paper cranerising above her. The statue is based on the true story of a young girl (Sadako Sasaki ) who died from leukemia (caused by radiation from the bomb which unfortunately was quite common in the years following the blast). She is known for folding over 1,000 paper cranes (legend has it that your wishes will come true if you fold 1,000 cranes). Whilst her wish for survival was not granted, to this day, people (mostly children) from around the world fold cranes and send them to Hiroshima where they are placed near the statue.
We saw the Memorial Cenotaph which frames the A Dome and the Eternal Flame (which will stay alight until the world has no nuclear weapons - we feel that it may stay alight sadly). And, we rang the Peace Bell.
And then we spent about an hour in the museum. This was beautifully done, but just so sad. The death of so many innocent civilians, not to mention the wider impacts of families being torn apart, children being orphaned, people with horrific burns and other injuries, radiation impacts on unborn babies and higher rates of cancers etc for years to come was all demonstrated. Many personal stories were shared. There was also a visual display which showed the size of the city, and the impact of the blast. Pure devastation. It was all very confronting, and hard to understand how this could ever have really been justified.
At any rate, today has really reinforced the devastation of war and nuclear weapons, and hopefully nothing like this ever happens again, anywhere on earth.
Jumping back on the loop bus, it was still mid afternoon, so Tim and I went to Hiroshima Castle. As this is located only 1.6 kms from the blast, everything here was destroyed then however the main castle has been subsequently rebuilt. A very impressive structure from outside. Inside was quite plain, but the views from the 5th story were impressive. We strolled around the grounds and could see the remnants of footings from the buildings that were once on the site prior to WW2 that were never replaced.
After some down time at the hotel, we took a taxi to Okonomimura. literally "Okonomiyaki Village") is a Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki food theme park and has over 25 okonomiyaki restaurants, each with a slightly different style and set of ingredients. Each restaurant sits only about 12 people and there were lines for each one! The standard is very high here, and we had been told it does not matter which one you choose - they are all great! It was a bit theatrical watching the preparation of our food and we enjoyed our meals and beer. I quite like okonomiyaki (Japanese Teppanyaki savory pancake where you can choose ingredients) although it is not Tim’s favourite thing at all.
We had a final drink at our hotel in a bar that was hideously decorated in red velvet everywhere and had a relatively early night.
After a restful nights sleep, we boarded a train (covered by our JR rail pass) to Miyajimaguchi Station.
We then boarded the ferry to Miyajima Island. The ferry was also included on our rail passes, but we had to pay roughly $1 each for the tourist tax (we actually paid this twice because you have to buy the correct tourist tax ticket for your ferry operating line - who knew?)!
The waterside views towards and from Miyajima Island were spectacular, and we were blessed with perfect blue skies. We were warned on disembarking the ferry that the deer were particularly friendly here and would try to eat your possessions and your food (or anything you have in your hands)!
Home to Itsukushima-jinja, which appears to float on the water when the tide is in, people flock to the island in their thousands every year. The shrine is one of the most photographed places in Japan. We timed our visit for high tide for those floating photos! We also paid to enter the Shrine which was first built in 593 and rebuilt in 1168. A corridor of some 280 meters spans more than twenty buildings. The shrine was designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1996.
Miyajima has been a divine island since ancient times hence the shrine was built on the seashore where the tide ebbs and flows.
Otherwise, we didn’t have time to hike to the top of the mountain - instead we wandered through the cute little shops - so many sell oysters and beer! We then reversed our trip - back on the ferry and the train to Hiroshima where we collected our bags and had a leisurely lunch at the food court at the station before heading to Osaka on the Shinkansen - our last Shinkansen on this trip. Wish we had Shinkansens in Australia - they are amazing!
It was worth a visit to this area, and what we saw and learned in Hiroshima …we will never forget.
2025-02-11