A day in Hiroshima

We had two nights booked in the same hostel in Hiroshima, and decided it would be good to spend a day without travelling any great distance, and take in our surroundings.

We anticipated a reasonable amount of walking and being on our feet throughout the day, so started off with a bus ride to the other side of town to give us a head start. 

We got off the bus at the Peace Memorial Park, an area of the city dedicated to remembering the events of 1945, when the worlds first atomic bomb was dropped on the city, resulting in an estimated 140000 deaths (not including those who suffered later from radiation related illnesses).

There is a museum and memorial hall, which have images of before and after the bombing, artefacts that were damaged, and names and stories of the victims. It repeats throughout the museum how their reason for remembering and sharing these things, is in the hope of promoting peace across the world. It was a very moving experience, and hard to imagine that all that took place in the very city we were standing in.

The fountain outside the museum, remembering how water was scarce after the bombing, as the city was scorched with temperatures on the surface level reaching 3000-4000 degrees c.

Folded cranes traditionally bring luck in Japan. The museum tells a story of a young girl who was 2 at the time of the bombing, but who sadly developed cancer age 9 as a result of the bombing, and folded cranes as she lay ill in hospital. Tragically she died, but her classmates spread her story, and it started a movement that pushed to create a monument to remember all the child victims. People from across the world bring folded cranes to the monument to remember her and all the other children who died and suffered in the bombing.

In the park you are invited to ring the bell of peace. It makes a soft but very reasonant chime!

Just across the river from the park is a building, known as the A bomb dome, which is one of very few buildings remaining in the centre of town after the bombing. The park has a second building, which was restored and used, but the A bomb dome remains in the state it was left in by the bombing, with rubble inside, bent metal work and damaged walls. Almost everything around it was burned to the ground. Much of it just evaporated in the sheer heat.

Next we moved on to a tower overlooking the park, which you could go up for views of the city. We were offered the choice of elevator or slope- we chose slope, and it turned out to be a bit of an adventure. It was like going up a multi storey car park, but not wide enough for cars. There was art on the walls, and even an emergency escape slide running down the middle! We used the side to go back down, as it was permitted in non emergency circumstances also!

The slope wound its way to a viewing deck on level 12. As we levelled with this huge orange elephant I started to find it a little nerve wracking to look over the edge!

A little machine on the entrance to a visitor floor on the way up says 'we have wet towels for you. Please enjoy your day'. Thank you machine!

Having decided we should learn how to make paper cranes, we were pleased to have the opportunity to make them here! We had a video to teach us, and were given some paper to have a go.

                             

Tom's valiant attempt at crane making (his words, not mine!) ready to fly away! We were invited to walk along a very narrow, glass floored and walled corridor along the edge of the building, in order to drop the cranes down a channel which is slowly being filled by the cranes of thousands of visitors.

                             

The visitor experience also had some interactive displays to have a play with!

The A bomb dome could be seen from the tower viewing deck. Across the river is the memorial park.

And on the top we got to bask in the glorious sunshine, in a glamping dome! It was lovely and warm, and nice to relax and take in the views of the city. It was amazing to contemplate how everything around us had grown up since 1945. 

We stayed as the sun began to set.

                                      

      Then went to enjoy some lovely Okonomiyaki, which was made on a hot plate in front of us.

This is the tower we went up. You can see the slope we walked up at the left side of the building, and also the cranes that we contributed to. They are in the bluish stripe, and the cranes form the diagonal stripe about a third of the way up.

A wander back to our accommodation, and what should we see but a huge animatronic crab adorning a seafood restaurant! 

What a day.