Blogs from Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan, Asia
May 11th 2012
Hiroshiman historia lienee kaikille tuttu, ainakin silta osin, mita tapahtui 1945, jolloin atomipommi tuhosi kaupungin. Kavimme tanaan rauhanmuseossa ja -puistossa. Museossa kerrottiin tapahtumista ennen pommia, uhrien ja silminnakijoiden kertomuksia ja atomipommien kehityksesta. Museo keskittyi erityisesti rauhantyohon ja ydinaseiden vastaiseen tyohon. Tavoitteena on havittaa ydinaseet maailmasta. Museoissa on aina kiinnostavaa nahda, milla tavalla ja mita historiasta valitaan kerrottavaksi. Petraan teki suuren vaikutuksen se, etta museossa tarkasteltiin kriittisesti Japanin menneisyytta kolonisoijana ja sotien osapuolena myos vihollisen nakokulmasta. Museossa mm. tunnustettiin Nankingin veriloyly, jota Japani ei ole virallisesti tunnustanut saati sitten pyytanyt anteeksi... Mainintaa veriloylysta ei loydy koulun oppikirjoissa eli tapahtuma on pyyhitty pois virallisesta historiasta. ... read more
Hiroshima, Miyajima, Himeji and KIX. Japan
Published: April 28th 2012Asia » Japan » Hiroshima » Hiroshima
April 12th 2012
Hiroshima - distressing, Miyajima - majestic Himeji - I'd been Sakura-ed! KIX - the most amazing airport... read more
March 26th 2012
M – At 8am on August 5th 1945 the world’s first Atomic Bomb was detonated 600m over the center of Hiroshima. It destroyed virtually every building within a 3km radius. The blast and the illnesses causes by radiation have killed more than 300,000 people, effectively the whole of the city. Apart from the memorials and the museums, to visit Hiroshima today you would not believe these facts. The city is a modern bustling city and the people are as friendly to a visitor as anyone we have encountered on our travels. However the museum and the memorials are a pretty sobering reminder of how destructive man can be. Apparently our modern day weapons are more than 3,000 more powerful than the first Atomic Bomb. The genie is certainly out of the bottle on nuclear weapons but ... read more
March 15th 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012 I was up at 5:00 am this morning. Since everyone was still asleep, except Jenny, I went to the hotel lobby to work on my blog. When arriving in the lobby there was a man, in a suit with his briefcase, sleeping in a chair. Within 10 minutes he moved to the floor for sleeping. By 5:30 am, it looked hotel security woke him up and asked him to leave. This is pretty funny. Jenny was skyping a friend when I returned to the room around 6:45 am. We headed to breakfast around 8:00 am. Breakfast was as good as Wednesday. I had the yummy Miso Soup again. We made our way to the Osaka train station to get our seat reservation for our journey to Hiroshima. We arrived around ... read more
From peace parks to floating toriis and over friendly deer.
Published: January 28th 2012Asia » Japan » Hiroshima » Hiroshima
January 2nd 2012
We were sad to leave Kobe, one day didn't feel quite enough, but we had Hiroshima and Miyajima Island to look forward to. It took pretty much a whole day of travelling on local trains, with several transfers, to get to Hiroshima from Kobe, so it was early evening by the time we got to our hotel. Off the back of a Rough Guide recommendation, we tracked down an area in the city called "Okinomi-Mura" (okonomiyaki village), my idea of food heaven! Two floors of basic diner-style eateries that serve up Hiroshima's famous local dish. It was an excellent place to eat like locals, sat on swivel stools at an unpretentious counter, with our food cooked right in front of us. Hiroshima style is different to the Osaka style I was used to. It contains more ... read more
September 20th 2011
Yesterday we arrived at Hiroshima in the afternoon, after 4 hours and a half in the Shinkansen (bullet train). Despite having to change trains once, and despite the fact that we spent the last leg of the journey in the smokers’ car (irony, can’t smoke in the streets but more than half the trains in the Shinkansen are reserved for smokers!) I enjoyed the ride, listening to music whilst watching the Japanese green landscape pass by. As everything else in this country, the train was punctual, the inside clean and comfortable, staff efficient and ever-respectful (the ticket inspector bowed when coming in and out of each car!!) – what can I say... everything in Japan is tourist-friendly and works perfectly in general. Hiroshima is no different – we took a bus to where we’re staying and ... read more
September 16th 2011
Kobe is a smaller city compared to Osaka, built on a narrow strip of land between the mountains and sea. My time there was relaxing - I planned my time there to take it slow and see the few sights of interest. The hostel was in a bit of a strange neighborhood. There was a mix of residences, big commercial/industrial buildings and sake breweries. My hostel was on the second floor above an auto garage and right next door to what appeared to be a distribution warehouse for some kind of delivery company. The place itself was nice though. Very quiet, only a couple of other people were there. Kobe has a nice port area with some green space around a maritime museum and the Kobe tower. So I walked around there for a while. There ... read more
September 8th 2011
Before we went to Hiroshima neither of us really knew anything about it. Ang knew a bit more from watching old war films but all we knew was that an atomic bomb was dropped and this ended the war between japan and the allies. We took a shinkansen from Osaka to Hiroshima which took 1.5 hours and were greeted by a beautiful blue sky scattered with fluffy white clouds – Great weather compared to the typhoon conditions we had experienced in Kyoto! We took a short tram ride to Peace Memorial Park which has the atomic bomb dome, Peace memorial museum, the cenotaph and the flame (which will be extinguished when the last atomic weapon is dismantled). We read more about the bomb dome, which used was the Industrial Promotion hall in a thriving Hiroshima which ... read more
April 15th 2011
Vanuit Beppu zijn we vertrokken met de trein naar Hiroshima, één overstap en we zaten in de echte stop-shikansen, binnen een uur waren we op het station. Daar aangekomen heeft Patrick ons meegenomen met tram naar Dobasi, en van hieruit moesten we nog 3 blokken lopen eer we bij de ryokan (traditioneel hotel) aan kwamen. Dit bleek een business ryokan te zijn, erg klein en kaal. we hadden een eigen toilet, wastafel en tv. Een opvouw matras en een laag tafeltje. Voordeel hiervan we was dat alle bezienswaardigheden op loopafstand waren. Na het stallen van de koffers gingen we een rondje door het park lopen. door het park heen kwamen we in het zoveelste winkelcentrum met diverse eetgelegenheden - deze zitten op, onder en achterin winkels verstopt, alleen aangegeven door een half laag hangend gordijntje en ... read more
October 12th 2010
Supported by his wife, an elderly Japanese man broke into tears in front of the Memorial Cenotaph at Hiroshima's Peace Park. The monument's arched shape protects the souls of the victims of the world's first atomic bomb attack, whose names are etched into its stone structure. As he limped away, it became clear to me that August 6, 1945, is not part of Hiroshima's history, but its present. In the midst of the neighboring restaurants, office buildings and casual flow of city life, a gutted ruin bleeds like an open wound. The city has re-grown around it but the A-Bomb Dome, the shell of a destroyed building, is preserved as a memorial of the horrors of that day and its aftermath. After spending Hiroshima day number one sipping happily away at a sake festival, these sights ... read more
