After arriving into Hiroshima on the super fast bullet train, we failed to find our hostel as the booking.com map was incorrect. We sought some help from the post office and queried the crowds and crowds of people on the streets. We were told that it was the Japanese baseball final that night, in Hiroshima. The final was between Hiroshima and Nagoya, and there were a lot of people wearing 'Carp' t-shirts in support of Hiroshima. When we found the hostel, we checked in, settled in and headed out for dinner. Unfortunately, there were no vegetarian or vegan places in Hiroshima city according to Happy Cow, so we settled for veggie friendly and got a delicious curry from a place around the corner. The naan bread was twice the size of the plate, it was awesome.

We had a quiet night in the hostel . It was quite nice, much nicer than we were expecting from a 'hybrid' hostel. The downsides were making and stripping our own beds, and basically sleeping on the floor again as the mattresses were thin. Otherwise, it was more reasonably priced than other places, the room was clean, it was a part en-suite (toilet and sink but no shower), and it was located near Hiroshima main station, so it was easy to get around.

On Thursday 8th, we took a JR line train west for about half an hour, to reach a place called Miyajima. From there, we took a JR boat across to an island called Itsukushima. Our principle reason for visiting was to see a hanging gate, called a torii, which appears to float when the tide comes in. First built in 1168, and now in it's eighth iteration, it stands at more than 16 metres in height. Unfortunately for us, we arrived at low tide. On the plus side, we were able to walk down to the gate and take close up pictures, as well as watch the wildlife - herons, wading birds, crabs, sea snails, hermit crabs . We spent a while wandering the streets and admiring the many, many temples and shrines on the island. Then we sat and watched as the tide came in, and took lots of pretty pictures. The island was very scenic, and the fresh air of the sea was lovely. Like Nara, there were many tame deer around. They seemed to have a penchant for paper; we saw one eat a baby's book, and another steal and eat a man's ticket for something. They didn't seem to mind being petted and would noiselessly appear, much to our delight and occasional surprise.

Eventually, we took a ferry back to the mainland, and a train back towards Hiroshima. We jumped off a couple of stops early to get an early dinner. On the way, we walked past picturesque Hiroshima castle, and the Atomic Bomb Dome. This is the remains of a building, with the shell left standing because the A bomb, dropped in 1945, exploded directly above it. The Atomic Bomb Dome is now preserved as a memorial to peace. Accompanied by a couple of displays showing before and after pictures, it was a stark demonstration of the power and damage of such weapons .

We took a streetcar back to Hiroshima station (there are no metros in Hiroshima), stocked up on supplies, and headed back to the hostel.

On Friday 9th, we checked out of the hostel, stored our bags and headed back to the Atomic Bomb Dome streetcar station. We walked past the shell of the building again, across the river and on to the Hiroshima Peace Park. We had a look at the Children's Peace Monument, surrounded by thousands and thousands of folded paper cranes, in memory of a child, Sadako Sasaki, who died from leukemia years after the bomb was dropped. The cranes are now symbolic of innocent victims of war. Next we headed through the Peace Park, and saw the flame which will be alight until all nuclear bombs in the world are destroyed, followed by a monument containing the names of all those who died in the A bomb - an estimated 160,000 people.

We followed this by a trip to the excellent but harrowing Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. This had a range of displays, including: survivor stories; the clothes and possessions of those who died in the bomb; a watch which stopped at 08:15 (the time of the bomb blast); melted roof tiles we could touch; a set of steps from outside a bank, complete with the 'shadow' of a man who died whilst waiting for the bank to open; buckled metal window shutters; photographs of people with severe burns; stories of delayed radiation poisoning and the effects this had; people's hair, skin and fingernails, which peeled off after the blast; preserved body parts of those who developed cancers and keloid scarring; shards of glass removed from people's bodies 20 years after the blast; cranes folded by Sadako Sasaki; explanations of the radioactive black rain which fell after the blast; the blast radius and how it literally flattened and burned everything within a kilometre and a half of the epicentre; and the resulting fires and how this fused objects together, like roof tiles, sake cups and glass bottles . Some of the hardest bits were the numerous stories of children and young people who died in the days following the blast. They were far enough away to not have been killed instantly, yet suffered horrific burns and injuries which caused immense pain and suffering, with no medical support on hand. Many died in agony at home. Many didn't make it home. One sandal in the museum has the footprint of a child. The family never found their daughter, just the outline of her foot on her shoe.

We went for some lunch to recover from what we had seen and read, then walked back past the museum, Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Dome, to reach Hiroshima Castle. The original, dating from the 1590s, and like 91% of buildings in Hiroshima, was totally destroyed in the bomb. Now, a replica castle, built in 1958, also acts as a museum to house some ancient artefacts. We took a trip up into the castle but were a bit museum-ed out, so didn't take much of the displays, swords, armour or history in. We did have a nice view from the top, and as usual enjoyed the peaceful ambience.

We took a walk to a nearby JR station, went one stop along the line, collected our belongings from the hostel and headed to Hiroshima station for a bullet train to our next stop - Okayama!