Happy birthday to Dylan! I know he absolutely loved waking up at 6am this morning!
The bullet train from Shin-Osaka to Hiroshima was due to leave at 7:20 so we had to walk to the subway, catch a train from Namba to Shin-Osaka, then get the bullet train to Hiroshima, catch another train to Miyajimaguchi, then catch a ferry to Miyajima! We arrived in Miyajima by about 10am which was pretty good!
Miyajima, also known as Itsukushima, is a small island most famous for the giant torii gate of Itsukushima Shrine, a World Heritage Site
. The gate is considered one of Japan's three best views as the gate appears to float in the water at high tide.
The shrine is about a ten minute walk from the ferry terminal and as we walked we saw wild deer (yes Kirst, deer, not goats) that approach people and like to eat their belongings! People are encouraged not to approach them or feed them as they are becoming a pest in the area and are being harmed from consuming rubbish left by tourists. In saying that, it's very hard not to approach them as they approach you very willingly! We saw a few deer doing a fantastic job of photo bombing. Perhaps they are distant relatives of the meerkat! ;)
The torii gate looked great in the water but I'm sure it has seen better days. A coat of paint wouldn't go astray! We were lucky to see it in high tide - I had meant to look up the tidal chart but forgot!
We walked around the island and the markets and had the best maple leaf shaped waffle things filled with chocolate (Dylan) and caramel (Lisa)! So good!
We saw the five storied pagoda originally built in 1407
. It was very impressive and was apparently constructed in Japanese style with Chinese influences.
Then we got back on the ferry back to Miyajimaguchi and on the train back to Hiroshima. With our JR passes, we were able to use the loop tourist bus in Hiroshima which took us to Hiroshima Peace Park where the A-dome is.
The A-dome, as it is now known, was once the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. It was one of the only buildings to have survived, even in part, the devastation of the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. The bomb was known as "Little Boy", a uranium gun-type bomb that exploded with about thirteen kilotons of force and reached between 3000-4000 degrees Celsius. Most buildings, trees, people and belongings turned immediately to ash. The people of Hiroshima are dedicated to keeping the A-dome as a symbol of what happened and a reminder of the absolute devastsation that nuclear weapons cause
.
We walked to where the hypocenter of the atomic bomb in a small side-street, originally the location of a hospital. This location is marked by a small plaque and is pretty non-descript and not frequented often by tourists as it's not in the main tourist strip. Here, at the hypocenter, was where the atomic bomb exploded, 600m in the air, at 8:15am on August 6, 1945.
We also saw the Childrens' Peace Memorial, dedicated to Sadako Sasaki who was 2 in 1945 and was 2kms away from he hypocenter. She was a healthy, happy child until she turned 10 when she was diagnosed with leukemia. According to Japanese legend, if you fold 1000 paper cranes you will be granted a wish. In her quest to get better, she decided to make 1000 paper cranes. There are conflicting stories as to whether she reached this target or not when she died at 12 years old. Since her death, millions of paper cranes have been made and sent as a tribute to her life.
Leukemia was the most common cancer to affect people who had been exposed to the radiation from the atomic bomb in Hiroshima
. There were also genetic mutations in utero and the effects of the radiation on the children of the survivors are still being investigated.
It is estimated that 237,000 people died in Hiroshima as a result of the first nuclear weapon used on humans. This includes not only the people who died immediately, but the people who lost their lives as a direct result of being exposed to radiation.
The peace flame is dedicated to staying lit until all nuclear weapons have been eradicated from the world. I get the feeling it will never be extinguished.
The museum, currently undergoing renovations so we could only see half of the exhibits, was sobering. There were photographs of the mushroom cloud and the aftermath, photographs of injuries and people who survived and didn't survive, stories of those who thought they had survived only to get cancer years later as a result of the radiation.
A very sobering day in Hiroshima. And a long day. We got back to our hotel at about 6pm and got ready for a night out for Dylan's birthday. It is exhausting finding decent places for dinner in Japan - reviews don't help much simply due to the number of restaurants in each area. We have been really lucky and tonight was no different. Once again we had our own booth and we ordered a range of dishes, including dumplings, ribs, chicken yakatori (kebabs), garlic rice, teriyaki chicken and a large beer and a whole bottle of wine! It was a very funny night!
Love Dylan and Lisa x
Miyajima and Hiroshima
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Hiroshima-shi, Hiroshima-ken, Japan
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2025-02-17
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Kirst
2017-04-14
You sure they weren't goat!!! We did the 1000 cranes at school for the little boy who was sick. We believe it too xx