Hiroshima, Bombs and Peace

---

Moving on from Hakone to Hiroshima was a huge travel day involving buses, bullet trains and tramway. Our accomodation was at Ikawa ryokan. It was a more modern style ryokan, rooms are more hotel like, but still sleeping on the floor Japanese style. It is in a great location with everything in easy walking distance.

Visiting the A-Bomb dome and Hiroshima Peace Park gave us a good understanding of what happened during the bombing and the devastation it caused. The Children's Peace Memorial with its paper cranes was particularly touching. We also visited the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Museum, which was quite confronting, especially for the children.

Carl, Jack and Maddy went to see a game of baseball, the local team (The Carps) were playing, and lost. By all accounts the entertainment was more in watching the crowd and the fanfare that goes along with it , rather than the baseball game itself.

We visited Miyajima Island, a short distance from Hiroshima ,to see the Itsukushima Shrine and the famous O-tori gate. The island is quaint and has a nice feel about it. We went on some good walks and there were wild deer everywhere, much to the childrens delight.

For tea we dined at a local curry restaurant that specialised in only a few dishes. but boy did it taste good!!

---