Day 11 Bullet Train to Hiroshima

We are going on the bullet train!
Headed to the station early this morning and boarded the Shinkansen Bullet Train to Hiroshima - thank goodness we had Shizu with us to guide us through all the people and the maze of escalators and train platforms. A 1.5 hour trip on which we averaged 260km per hour.
On arrival in Hiroshima we boarded the ferry for a short trip to Miyajima Island (UNESCO) famous for its very large oysters and eels. Lots of deer roaming around but best not to feed them.
After a walking tour of the island and a quick stop for lunch we head back onto the ferry and to Hiroshima City, visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum which I found to be so very sad, so much emotion …. a truly remarkable museum. Then to the Peace Memorial Park and the ruined Atomic Done (UNESCO), the children's memorial statue and the peace tree - a Hibaku tree that survived the atomic explosion - seeds from these trees are distributed around Japan and grown as a symbol of peace, we walked to the Hypocenter of the explosion.
We heard the story of a young girl who battled leukaemia for 10 years and made 1000 paper cranes out of her medication wrappers wishing for a cure. People now leave paper cranes at her statue in her memory.
After a long, confronting and emotional day we headed back to Kyoto on the bullet train.Read more