Marked by history

Everything is packed, and we have a last time breakfast in the hotel lobby.

Just like yesterday evening it’s still raining, so it’s a good thing that we don’t have anything else planned in Kyoto today. We drag our suitcases through the rain to the nearest underground access and continue to the subway through the tunnels. That’s the practical side of having huge underground networks.

Before we step on the train, we need to trade in our Kansai-Hiroshima-Area-Pass in the station of Kyoto. We have to search a bit for the correct office as there’s JR-Central and JR-West offices. At first, we’re in the wrong office and they redirect us upstairs to the JR-West office. There we successfully hand in our voucher and receive the area-pass that grants us unlimited access to JR-network trains and buses. Unfortunately, the pass is only valid as of the station of Shin-Osaka, which is one stop away from Kyoto station. First another train/subway stop to Shin-Osaka and then we hop on the shinkansen towards Hiroshima with our passes. Despite some stress when planning this trip up front: everything is going smoothly now as we’re getting used to the way things work here and the vending machines for tickets.
We board the shinkansen, settle into our reserved seats and 1h20 later, we arrive a fair distance further in the city of Hiroshima.

We disembark on a hot and sunny platform. It feels like a different world out here. We walk from the station to our hotel and have to switch our glasses for sunglasses and put our sweaters in the backpacks. Hiroshima is built around and over rivers leading towards the nearby ocean. Our hotel is situated in a tall skyscraper and the reception area is on the top floor. In the beginning, it would have been weird to enter a building and elevator to go to the reception. Now, it already feels like a normal choice as it provides a way nicer view and first impression than the ground floor. To our surprise we are granted immediate access to our room and there are free drinks and snacks in the breakfast area to enjoy.

By the way, it’s true that you can find a lot of commodities in Japanese hotels for free. In almost every hotel we stayed you can find toothbrushes, shampoo, skincare, slippers, etc. for free.

We leave our bags in the room. Change into shorts and after a refreshing drink in the lobby, we start exploring the new city of Hiroshima. New, because almost the entire city was destroyed by the atomic bomb in 1945. The city doesn’t feel extremely modern. Maybe because the bombing was already almost 80 years ago. There are skyscrapers and shopping areas, and some buildings even look a bit old by today’s standards.

Apart from a large pedestrian zone in the center which has a lot of shops and restaurants, the main point of interest is located in Peace Park. The green oasis was constructed where the atomic bomb hit and there are various monuments and memorial places in it.

The “new Hiroshima” breathes ‘Peace’ in all different aspects. They don’t want to forget the atrocities and terrible history, but they mainly want to convey the message that what happened in Hiroshima cannot happen again, nowhere. During the construction of the park, they lit the so-called peace-flame which is only to be extinguished when all nuclear weapons on earth have been destroyed/dismantled. Standing in front of the flame and appreciating the beauty of the architecture, it’s quite confronting to realize that this noble goal is today maybe the furthest from completion as ever.

Another beautiful place in the park is the memoriam for all children who died directly or indirectly from the bombing. There is a story mentioned of a girl who survived the original bombing but got cancer soon after. She got the advice that if she made 1000 crane birds in origami, she would live. According to some sources, she reached the amount but still passed away shortly after. Nevertheless, all schools from the area still gather in the park and fold origami crane birds contribute to the cry for peace and memorated all the diseased children. The stalls next to a statue of a young girl are filled with origami birds. Impressive to see!

Before exploring the rest of the park, we decide to first visit the Peace Memorial Museum in the beginning of the park. In general, I’m not that eager to visit museums, but this one stood out from the planning phase. The reviews and must-sees in this city all mention this one by a long shot.

On our way to the museum, we pass by the peace bell which you can ring.

In the museum we put everything away in a locker and get ourselves an audio guide.
We’re emerged in the storytelling of survivors for more than 2 hours without even realizing it. Looking at some of the found and worn and torn clothes, a metal toddler bike, etc. whilst listening to stories about what happened that day is deeply touching. We’re both muddled when we step back outside into the daylight of the present day. It feels extremely weird to stand on the same ground where all of those stories occurred. The entire park immediately carries even more value and sentiment as we continue to stroll through it. At the end of the park is the iconic A-Bomb-Dome. The only remnant of a factory that survived the blast of the atomic bomb. It aligns perfectly with the park central line and the peace flame.

It's already dusk when we slowly walk back to the city center and pedestrian area. Soon, we’re surrounded again by neon lights, bright and jolly shops and restaurants. To lift our spirits, we stop in one of the luna parks. After having seen so many of them, we have to try at least one of them! With our IC-cards we try our luck on the cute Munchlax Pokémon. Alas, without success.

Because Hiroshima has its own variant of a Japanese dish, we decide to try it! Okonomiyaki is a messy looking dish with rice and an omelet on top. You get a little spatula to eat and cut it. The same dish exists in Osaka as well, but the two are supposed to be different.

It’s tasty, but the combination is a bit weird. We’re curious to compare it to the other variant!

After our dinner we head back to the hotel. Tomorrow, we have a day trip planned to the island of Miyajima. It’s going to be another full day! Deeply impressed by today we fall asleep in our bed.もっと詳しく