The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park & Museum

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Tuesday, 21st May 2013

Against the backdrop of the cool evening breeze and the voices of a Japanese girl singing by the banks of Ota River, this was a particular sombre evening for me.

I took an early morning tram to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park to begin my fulfilling day of museum hopping while retracing the footsteps of the Second World War. Like Nagasaki, Hiroshima also suffered from the effects of atomic bombing during the war. In fact, the world's first atomic bomb was dropped over the skies of the city on the morning of 6th August 1945.

Coming from the tram station, it was the Atomic Bomb Dome (Hiroshima Peace Memorial) that greeted me. Formerly known as the Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, parts of the dome-shaped building managed to withstand from the bombing raids in 1945. A staunch reminder of the war, the building was gazetted as a UNESCO World Heritage in December 1996.

Moving on, I paid my respects at the Children's Peace Monument (1958). In fact, this monument appeared to be a favourite spot among visiting school groups. This was erected in memory of Sadako Sasaki and the thousands of children's victims from the atomic bombing.

The details of Sadako were penned out in the impressive Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. A centre piece of the Peace Park, this museum is a must visit for all who would like to learn about the details of that fateful day. A visit to the museum could be combined with a stopover at the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims.

In the evening, I was back again at the Peace Memorial Park to take my final look of the illuminated Atomic Bomb Dome. Against the backdrop of the cool evening breeze and the voices of a Japanese girl singing by the banks of Ota River, this was a particular sombre evening for me. Yet this moment was memorable as it brought a closure to my trip in Hiroshima as I moved on to continue with the rest of my journey.

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