Blogs from Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan, Asia - page 7

Today we left Osaka for the day and took the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Hiroshima to visit the Hiroshima Peace Park at the site where the atomic bomb went off. First off, I am including a video of the shinkansen super express train as it blasts through a train station so you can get an idea of just how fast it moves, and also one of the Japanese countryside while on the Shinkansen. Inside it's very quiet, so it almost feels like your are floating at high speeds.Shinkansen passing through the rail station:Japanese countryside from Shinkansen:... read more

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 ... read more

Day 5 Our wake up call at 6.15am was not very welcome, but the guide was insistant. We went for breakfast on the top floor of the hotel, in the Sky Lounge, which had a 360deg view of Hiroshima bay. We watched the sun rise above the mountains, whilst enjoying a good breakfast of fruit, rolls and yogurt. We even had the option of an omlette if we wanted. We met in the lobby at 7.45 for an 8am departure. The temperature had certainly dropped, and although there was a clear sky and it was sunny, it was cold. We set off for the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and Museum. When we got off the bus, the first thing we saw was the ghostly image of the A Dome building. It was very close to the hypocentre ... read more

We arrived in Hiroshima around lunchtime and another beautiful, warm day greeted us. We dumped our stuff at the hostel (a little more hostelish than the place in Nara, although still fantastic) and headed out to Peace Park, where the Memorial Museum, Children's Peace Monument (1000 cranes story) and the A Bomb Dome is located. A tram took us right to the epicentre and we wandered around for a while, taking our time to look at the various monuments. Heading in to the museum was interesting and provided us with the Japanese interpretation of events before, during and after the second world war. Lots of artefacts, maps, photographs and information about what happened. Eleanor was great; asking relevant questions and taking in a lot all at once. I hope she doesn't have nightmares. After sampling the ... read more

How to describe feelings arriving in Hiroshima? As soon as you arrive you feel that you’re somewhere special and significant. Going round the Peace Park and the museum and looking at the Dome, the one building that has been left as a memorial, all fill you with questions and horror at what we are capable of doing to each other. The remarkable thing is how the city has become what it is today after such an enormous tragedy. The park is lush with trees and shrubs, covering a big area around the detonation site. The city has grown up around it and is vibrant and colourful. As well as the Peace sites we took a short ferry ride out to the pretty island of Miyajima, known for its big red tori and ‘floating’ temple. Climbed Mt ... read more