Hiroshima

Forever engraved in peoples memories as the victim of the first Atomic Bomb to be dropped on a city; Hiroshima is once again a thriving, beautiful and interesting place. Many of its pre atomic attractions have been restored to thier former glory such as Hiroshima Castle and the Shukkeien Gardens which I visited on this trip. When I came here back in October 2016 I visited the Peace Park and the Atomic Bomb site and memorials and it is a very moving experience to ring the Peace Bell in the centre of the park and to experience the memorial Exhibition hall with its horrors and reminders of what man is capable of doing to man.

This visit I focused more on the beautiful places in the city and spent time at thefamous Shukkeien Gardens. Shukkeien translates as Shrunken Scenery and there are little landscape scenes everywhere you look and also the hallmarks of Japanese Gardens everywhere, the lakes and bridges and gnarly trees. The lakes are teaming with Carp which is the cities mascot - they also have a famous Baseball team called the Hiroshima Carp - and feeding them results in a frenzy of multi-coloured fish bodies.

Hioshima Castle, sometimes called Carp Castle or Rijo, was destroyed by the atomic bombing on August 6, 1945 but was rebuilt in 1958, a replica of the original. Unlike Osaka castle this one retains some atmosphere and authenticity and is set in beautiful grounds which also contain a Shrine and other buidings. Its been another glorious sunny day with temperatures in the high 20's and today there is also a cooling breeze which is nice.

I arrived here by Marine Liner and Shinkansen from Takamatsu; the Marine Liner is a particularly cool jouney as it traveserses the Seto Ohashi bridge across the Seto inland Sea.

Tomorrow I will head out into uncharted territory to the west of here and inland; a place I discovered while browsing Japan destinations and sites of interest online...Read more