Hiroshima

For our second long weekend in Japan, the 8 Aussies decided to take a holiday to Hiroshima. We rode the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) from Himeji station to Hiroshima 294.6km away. We arrived in 1 hour and 7 minutes. Not bad hey. The interesting thing is that we didn't feel like we were travelling at 300km/h. The seats were quite spacious and we could stand our suitcase in front of our legs. This thing even had a drink and food cart come up the aisle, just like a plane! On arrival we headed for our hotel which involved catching a street car (tram). We left for a self-guided tour of the Atomic Bomb site.


Our first significant site was Sadako's Memorial, you may have read about her in the book "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes". There was a tall dome-like structure which had a statue of Sadako on the top holding a crane. Many cabinets surrounded the statue which were full of paper cranes made by many people across the world.






Next we came across the Peace Flame. This flame will continue to burn until the world is rid of nuclear weapons. (So does that mean it'll be burning for a long time yet?)

The A-Bomb Dome was a significant site, which I (Jodi) found quite eerie to look at. It is the only structure to have been preserved in its original state post A-Bomb. It serves as a constant reminder of that horrific day when an "American B29 Bomber dropped the atomic bomb on August 6th, 1945 at 8:15am". All of its vertical walls are still standing (now with a bit of support from scaffolding) and the skeleton of the dome roof remains.

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum was interesting yet quite intense. It gave the history of Hiroshima 100 years prior to the bombing and 60 years on. Details via pictures, models, videos and audio were presented. There were gruesome pictures of survivors of the bomb and stories about children who, with burnt and bleeding bodies, made it home to their parents and died shortly after. There were many displays of items that survived the bomb including a lunch box with charcoaled food, bottles and bowls, clothes and even some one's fingernail and skin (eww). Whilst it was not an enjoyable experience it was one that we will never forget.

We also headed to Hiroshima castle, also known as Carp Castle. It's not in its original state, as obviously, it was flattened by a bomb. It was re-built shortly after and is now more of a museum about previous rulers and samurai warriors. There were some pretty impressive displays of armour, swords, clothing and footwear (even thongs!). The castle had 5 levels and you could climb all the way to the top and look out over Hiroshima city.




A short walk from the castle took us to Shukkeien garden, with many mini gardens and paths. It was a tranquil place right in the middle of the city. We could have stayed there, pulled out a good book and relaxed all day. There were ponds, bridges, a waterfall and an array of native plants, not to mention our first view of a plum blossom orchard beginning to bloom. It was simply stunning.