Hiroshima & Miyajima
There was an air of calm heading towards Hiroshima. I’m not sure if it was because Golden Week was finally over, or that the weather was beautiful, but either way it looked to be a glorious day in the city. Hiroshima isn’t connected via an extensive train or subway system like other cities, but instead uses trams as the main form of transportation for getting around. Hopping on the one that took me closest to my accommodation, I kicked back while the surprisingly modern carriage winded its way through the streets. After checking in at the hostel, I walked to the Peace Park that was only 5 minutes away to see the biggest drawcard to Hiroshima, the A-Dome Site.
Hiroshima will always be remembered after the tragic events that occured during World War II. On August 6, 1945, at 8.15am, the first atomic bomb known as Little Boy was dropped from the Enola Gay. Detonating at 600 metres above the city, the blast was the equivelant of 13 kilotons of TNT, obliterating nearly everything within a 1.6 kilometre radius. 140,000 were killed, and considering the choice of target was because of military reasons, the greatest casulaties were women, children, the elderly, and ironicly enough, Allied POW’s (Prisoners of War).
The bomb detonated almost exactly above the A-Dome, which was formerly known as Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. Due to the number of windows that the building had, it was able to withstand some of the blast, and remians standing today and a reminder of the danger and terror that nuclear war can bring. More so, it serves as a testement to peace and that mankind should always strive to make the world safer by peaceful means. Only when all of the nuclear weapons that exist in the world are disarmed will the A-Dome site be demolished. Sadly, I think they will have a long wait ahead of them.
What I wasn’t exactly expecting when walking through the park, towards the A-Dome Site, was to find such an overwhelming sense of peace. The weather certainly helped, but the entire place was both relaxing and calm. Kids playing with glee in the park, couples wandering romanticly through the small paved streets, even the tourists had a quiet respect for the place. Although the A-Dome Site itself was a somber reminder of our history, it was still oddly beautiful and incredibly photogenic.
After spending some time at the A-Dome Site, I walked a little further south to find the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims. Or HNPMHABV. Hmmm. Either way, this was by far the most affecting place in the city, as the memorial hall is both quiet and disturbing, not because there is a lot of graphic material, but because of the quiet intensity of the place. Winding your way down a circular corridor, you eventually end up in a large circular room with soft blue lighting and a small bubbling fountain in the middle. Surrounding the wall of the room is 140,000 small tiles that recreate the image of the city after the bombing, a complete 360 view of the city after its destruction.
By coincidence I found myself alone for the most part here, which made the place a little eerie, and very sombre. It was still somehow a nice place to reflect and think about humanity and they way we treat each other, but eventually I decided it was time to move on. Unfortunately the next room wasn’t much of an improvement on the overall feeling of the place. In a large concrete basement, TV screens show a list of those who died during the bombing, while interactive computers allow visitors to search up those victims and read a short biography of each, wherever information was available. I ‘played’ with the database only for a short while before feeling like I was browsing the dead. Upstairs there was another small exhibit of items that were from the bombing, plus a short movie from survivors journals about their experiences right after the bombings and their emotions. It was incredibly affecting, and was a very different look into the aftermath of the event that was far removed from anything I learnt in History during High-School and University. There was also a library that had various computers with even more extensive databases of first-hand accounts of the bombings, survivor stories, and other information. I looked into some of the stories before making my way out.
Back outside I decided to finish off the day at the Hiroshima Peace Museum, which was unsurprisingly a place that everyone had decided they needed to visit. It would be too much to explain everything that was inside the museum (besides a significantly large number of people), but I’ll run through the highlights of the place. Around a small reconstruction of the A-Dome Site was a large number of metal plates the showed a large number of letters. These were the letters that had been sent by the Hiroshima Mayor of the time to the leader of a country that had just conducted nuclear tests. One letter for every nuclear test made around the world. In case you didn’t know, that’s over 1000 nuclear tests and equally as many upset letters over the last 60+ years.
In another section of the museum was a large model display of the city centre before and after the bombings. Even to scale, it was a powerful reminder of the sheer devestation a nuclear weapon possessed.
At the end of a long display of items from the bombings, ranging from childrens clothes to twisted metal beams, was a final message about the war and the bombings. It had been said that after the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki “for 75 years nothing will grow.” After only a few more years, the cities themselves proved the saying wrong.
The city of Hiroshima has quiet literally risen from the ashes to become a symbol of peace and prosperity in not just Japan, but the world. It was nice the see the slightly uplifting tone of the Hiroshima Peace Museum, reminding everyone that anyone can learn from their mistakes.
Back outside in the Peace Park, I went up to the memorial shrine that gives a direct view of the A-Dome Site, with many people were making prayers to respect those affected by the atomic bombings. While standing there, I noticed a familiar face observing the site as well. Purely by chance, it was Paul, who I had met in Tokyo and later Takayama, with neither of us knowing that we would be in Hiroshima at the same time. We caught up on where we had been and our thoughts about the city before deciding to meet the next day in Miyajima, a nearby island that was a well known tourist site.
Early the next day we made our way to Miyajima, most famous for its ‘floating’ red torii gate that sits out off the shore of the island locale. It’s mainly refered to as ‘floating’ because it appears to be doing so during the high-tide in the early morning and afternoon, as opposed to during the day where the tide goes out and you can actually walk through it yourself. Getting off the train and on to the ferry across to the island, we disembarked and made our way straight to the popular sightseeing spot. Like Nara, there was also a plentiful amount of Deer wandering the island, which we had been warned about. Apparently they like to eat everything, including your rail pass, which is most definately not a good thing. However, we never had any trouble from the animals. The torii gate itself is often refered to as one of the ‘three best views’ in Japan, and is a defining feature of Japanese tourism and travel. It’s not hard to see why.
Walking further around the island, you eventually end up at a temple that sits on top of the shore. A bright red colour just like the torii gate, the temple is more like an open jetty that takes you across the water and out towards the other side.
After checking the map that we had aquired at the ferry terminal, we decided to hike some of the way up the mountain Inarii to see more of the island. For some reason we also thought the almost comical map was also to some sort scale, which we soon found out was a complete lie. The hike upwards was both steep and breathtaking, in all senses of the word. It was so far up that we often found ourselves stopping every 5-10 minutes to catch our breath, but it did offer some fantastic views of the mountain and the beautiful surroundings.
On the way we also passed an amazing little shrine. The circular bars could be rolled by your hand, which I assume was to be done with making a prayer of some sort. I’m sadly still very ignorant of the finer details of buddhism.
On the way up we also saw something I had missed seeing in Kyoto, a wild monkey. Unfortunately the primate was far too quick for me, and by the time I was armed with my camera it had already shot up a small cliff-side that was covered in branches and roots. Either way, it was enough, and I oddly felt a little more complete in life.
After finally making it to the summit, we caught our breath again before taking in the amazing view from the lookout. It was impressive to see just how large a spread out much of the area was, from the number of islands dotting the coast to the small towns that made up the mainland.
By the time we had made it back down the mountain (with the decent much more relaxing that asent), the tide had completely gone out, leaving the torii gate to fend for itself and the throng of tourists wandering around the beach.
Heading back to Hiroshima, we were exhausted from the day’s hiking and wandering around Miyajima, and were more than glad to be on the train, if only to let our feet rest a little more. Paul and I decided to meet up the next day if time allowed to go out for a few drinks, as he was staying at a different hostel, so the rest of my time in Hiroshima was spent relaxing around the park and catching up on emails. I was a great way to wind down after such a busy holiday in Japan, and it gave me some time to reflect on the amazing experiences I had so far.
Ron, who I had met in Osaka, also happened to be staying at the same hostel as I, so we ended up gathering a entourage before heading out. Both that night and the next was spent going to an Irish pub in Hiroshima city with a group of amazing people we had met at the hostel. Sure, it was a little odd to be drinking Guiness in Hiroshima of all places, but it’s those odd experiences that make travelling unique right?
The first night out…
…and the next.
As you can see, there were a few familiar faces in the two party’s, including Michel and Daniel from Switzerland, and Masa, who was working at the reception of the hostel we were staying at. Both nights were a lot of fun and like all travelling, it was great to meet such an awesome group of people.
A quick note for other otaku (geeks) like me. I ended up going to an amusement arcade to kill some time, and found this.
It was Half Life 2 the arcade game. Of all the games to choose, this would have to be one of the more obscure. And you thought playing FPS on a console were awkward enough.
Hiroshima had left a strong impression on me. Peaceful, beautiful, and relaxing, the city was nothing like I was expecting of a place that was so devestated by war only 64 years ago. Instead of finding somewhere that was still hurting from the after-effects and memories, I came to a city that was teeming with a life and vibrancy that was nothing less than positive. It was most certainly a highlight of my trip to Japan, and was somewhere I would have no problem with visiting again.
