Miyajima Is. & Hiroshima Peace Memorial

After an hour on the bus we arrived at the harbour where we boarded a ferry for the short trip to Miyajima, an island known for its forests and ancient temples.

We all sat on the starboard side to get a good picture of a 'floating' torii, which becomes partially submerged at high tide. It marks the entrance to the Itsukushima Shrine, which was first built in the 12th century.

We got our bearings and made our way up into the hillside to the Daishoin temple. It was well worth finding the Buddha statues with all their cute knitted caps. The gardens were amazing too.

To get back to the ferry you must transverse Omotesando Street which is brim full of local foods and souvenir shops. I tried the grilled oysters which are cultivated here. They are triple the size of our ones back home. The girls found a cocktail stand so they indulged in a $A7 drink only to find a refill opportunity 50 meters further on and they only charge $A2! All good fun.

Now we are back in Hiroshima where we will pay our respects to the Atomic Bomb Dome, otherwise in Japan known as the Genbaku Dome, or the Hiroshima Peace Memorial.

A shell of a building that was one of very few left standing after the USA
bombed Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945. The bomb detonated 600 metres off the ground and destroyed everything for over 5 kilometers. Unlike the other majors cities in Japan Hiroshima had not been bombed up until that day.

In Hiroshima today, locals have mixed feelings about the UNESCO World Heritage-listed structure. Some see it as a reminder of war, whilst others consider it a tribute to remind the rest of the world that this kind of carnage should never happen again.

The most daunting part of the day was walking through the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. As you would expect there are the images, artifacts and exhibits that are confronting and shocking.

There is a flame outside the museum in the cenotaph which is intended to burn until the last nuclear weapon on our planet has been destroyed.

Hiroshima should be very proud of what their city has become today.Leia mais