From Kyoto to Hiroshima and a visit to the Peace Memorial Park

5 June 2016

I included Hiroshima and Miyajima as places that I would like to visit, at least once. Since young, I knew Hiroshima as the city that was devastated by the first atomic bomb, dropped by a shiny B29 Superfortress during WW 2.  The iconic A-bomb dome that stood tall after the bomb had flatten all, if not most, of the city is a site that I wanted to visit, plus the memorial and the museum. When planning my itinerary, I did not know that US President Obama would be paying a visit too. Thank goodness, our dates did not clash as it would have totally messed up my travel plans. (Obama visited on May 27, 2016)

We came to Hiroshima on the previous night, having travelled 2 hours by train from Kyoto via Shin-Osaka using a combination of Rapid Express train from Kyoto to Shin-Osaka and bullet train (Shinkansen) from Shin-Osaka to Hiroshima. The fare for the journey is covered with the JR Kansai Hiroshima Area Pass. 

Note: When we departed from Kyoto, we had to take the Special Rapid Service to Shin-Osaka and then transfer to a Shinkansen train from there to Hiroshima. JR Kansai Hiroshima Area Pass does not cover Shinkansen from Shin-Osaka to the east.  Special Rapid train runs every 15 minutes and connects Kyoto and Shin-Osaka in less than 30 minutes.

Since we need to change trains at Shin-Osaka, we decided to have dinner there. We found out that there were not many sit-down restaurants at Shin-Osaka station. We managed to find one, Picolo, and had a dinner of curry rice with fried chicken cutlet. Kyoto Station would have been a better choice for dinner, with larger number of good restaurants.

Our hotel in Hiroshima is the Toyoko Inn Hiroshima-eki Minamiguchi-migi, located within walking distance from the Hiroshima Station. It was raining when we arrived, so it made sense to spend money for a 5 minutes taxi ride to the hotel. This was my first time staying in a hotel from the Toyoko chain. I found out a few things about the Toyoko hotels.

1. All Toyoko hotels provided free breakfast. I did not know about this when I booked the room. It was a simple breakfast, but good enough for something that was free.

2. We were to collect our yukatas from the reception. I was wondering why this Japanese hotel did not provide these. I only found this out when I was checking out the next day.

Overall, the stay at Toyoko Inn Hiroshima-eki Minamiguchi-migi was satisfactory and of good value. After checking out and leaving our day packs at the hotel, we walked to the nearest tram station along Aioi Dori and took a streetcar to the A-bomb site. We could have walked to the A-bomb site which was just down the Aioi Dori but I wanted to try taking the streetcar in Hiroshima.

The A-bomb Dome was the ruins of the former Hiroshima Prefecture Industrial Promotion Hall. The atomic bomb detonated in the air about 600 m almost directly above it. The material of the round dome vaporises in the intense heat and left the frame of the dome intact. The building was left standing because the building's vertical columns were able to resist the nearly vertical downward force of the blast, and parts of the concrete and brick outer walls remained. Almost everything within 1.6 km were instantly destroyed or vaporised, except this building. Amazing.

What was left of this building was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996 and has been representing people's prayers for a lasting peace.

I saw the reconstructed T-shaped Aioi Bridge that was on the cross-hair of the bombsights of the B29 during that fateful day. The bomber’s aim was pretty good, as the bridge was only a few hundred metres from the A-bomb dome.

Besides the A-bomb dome, there are other sites within the 120,000 square meters of the Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park to visit.

The Children Peace Monument is also called the "Tower of a Thousand Cranes", for many thousands of folded paper cranes are offered there all through the year.  The cranes were linked to a Japanese legend that if a person folded a thousand paper cranes within a year, the person’s wish would come true. The paper cranes were further linked to the life of Sadako Sasaki, who was 24 months old when she was exposed to radiation from the bombing. The terrible effects of nuclear radiation appeared later in her life and she started folding paper cranes, hoping to get well. She died in 1955. Her story and death triggered the building of the Children Peace Monument and many school children and visitors round the world contributed paper cranes in the wish for peace.

Children's Peace Monument.

Many local schoolchildren visit this monument and leave messages and hope of peace and origami paper cranes in boxes that circle the tower.

There is also a Memorial Tower to the Mobilized Students to remember students who were mobilised for the war effort and subsequently lost their lives.

At the centre of the park is the Cenotaph for the A-Bomb Victims. The Cenotaph is an arched tomb for those who died because of the bomb, either because of the initial blast or exposure to radiation.

The stone chest beneath the arch held a register with 220,000 names of those who died.

We queued to pay our respects to the dead and, more importantly, to pray for peace.

May they rest in peace and atomic weapons be never used again.

We went to the Peace Memorial Museum next. It documents and shows the events of August 6, 1945, the day of the bombing and its outcome in human suffering. The exhibition rooms of the Museum's East Building are closed for renovations until February 2017.

The main building of the museum had sections sharing many stories about the victims, their sufferings before they eventually succumbed to the effects of their burns and exposure to nuclear radiation. Other sections showed effects of the blast, effects of the heat generated, fire and damage by the radiation.

Model of the atomic bomb nicknamed Little Boy.

 

Model showing the blast (red ball) over the city of Hiroshima.

A pocket watch of one of the victims stopped at 8.15 AM, the time of the blast. The owner of the watch was 1,640 m from the centre of the blast. He suffered major burns on his shoulder, back and head and died on August 22.

One of the most impactful images was that of realistic life-size figurines depicting victims, staggering and in pain, with pieces of burnt flesh hanging loosely from their limbs and finger tips while buildings burnt around them. Photos of victims with their horribly burnt bodies could be quite disturbing for some to see. Many exhibits were clothing and daily items showing burnt marks and the effects of the tremendous amount of heat created by the splitting of atoms.

There was an exhibit showing something called the atomic bomb shadow. A shadow of a man seating on stone steps was cast on the stone, caused either by extreme heat or radiation effects.

Just before leaving the museum, we were given a chance to pen our thoughts.

Was it right for the US to drop the bomb on civilians population? Debatable.

What is important is that humankind learnt from this tragic event (and the event at Nagasaki) and to never repeat this ever again. All nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction should be abolished and banned.

I hope the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park achieves its aim of promoting peace and abolishment of weapons of mass destructions and continues to bring this lesson to future generations, especially world leaders.

We spent some time exploring the other sites within the park.

We saw a monument designed as a watch face showing 8.15, the time of the bombing. Around it were roof tiles and other objects recovered from the A-bombed buildings. This is outside the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims.

It was good to see many school groups visiting the Peace Park and memorial. We saw a group of children ringing the Bell of Peace.

“Let all nuclear arms and wars be gone and nations live in true peace!” , a plaque next to the bell proclaims.

This is my wish too.

Despite being totally flatten and in ashes in 1945, Hiroshima is now a modern and thriving city again. Hurrah for the human spirit.

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From Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park to Miyajima and stopping for Hiroshima’s okonomiyaki

5 June 2016

After visiting the Peace Memorial Park in the morning, our next destination is the nearby island of Miyajima. There are many ways to get to Miyajima from Hiroshima documented in the internet and travel guides. As we had the Kansai Hiroshima Area Pass, we would be taking the JR Sanyo Line train from Hiroshima Station to Miyajimaguchi Station. The train to Miyajimaguchi Station took 25 minutes, fare cost 410 yen one way but covered by our Rail Pass. From Miyajimaguchi Station, it was a short walk to the ferry pier, from where ferries depart frequently for Miyajima. There are two competing ferry companies operating from this port: JR and Matsudai. Both companies' ferry rides take 10 minutes and both cost 180 yen one way. Our pass covered the fares for the JR ferry.

But before leaving the city of Hiroshima, we made a lunch stop at an okonomiyaki restaurant located along Hon Dori. Hon Dori is a popular covered shopping street, located between the peace park and our hotel and train station.

Our meal was cooked for us at a central table and then brought to the pan at the centre of our table.

We ordered one oyster okonomiyaki with big fresh oysters on it and another one with squid. Hiroshima okonomiyaki is said to be different from similar dish sold in Kyoto or Osaka. Whatever the differences, they tasted extremely good and reasonably priced.

As 5 June 2016 was a Sunday, the locals were out in force. Many were dressed in their Sunday best.

By the time we arrived at our hotel, Toyoko Inn Hiroshima-eki Minamiguchi-migi, it was slightly after 3 PM. Our original plan was to get to Miyajima by 3 PM!  We picked up our bags from the hotel and walked to the Hiroshima Station.

By 4.30 PM, we were on the ferry to Miyajima! The ferry was not crowded at this time of day and we sat on the outside deck to enjoy the scenery and wind as the ferry sped towards the island.

Miyajima Island is officially known as Itsukushima and is famous for many things, including the floating torii gate, Itsukushima Shrine, Daisho-In Temple, friendly residents, shopping streets and food like its oysters and momiji manju (maple leaves shaped pastries). The view of the torii gate is supposed to be one of the top 3 best scenery of Japan. 

While my travel companions rested their legs, I was up and about, taking photos and enjoying the views. Floating oyster beds could be seen from the ferry. In less than 10 minutes, we got our first view of the iconic Floating Torii Gate but it was not floating. It was low tide. People were seen crawling like ants around it when viewed from a distance.

I was thrilled to find that our timing was just right and we could actually walk to the Torii gate when we arrive.

Once on the island, we were greeted by the friendly residents, who came to us hoping for some hand-outs.

I was referring to the deer!

The deer of Miyajima are quite tame. They roam the streets freely and will do anything for food. These Sika deer have long being considered sacred animals in Japan and since ancient times, the deer on Miyajima were worshipped as messengers of the Gods and locals offered food to them in small temples. Hence they have become tame.

 

Leaving the deer and the jetty area behind us, we walked through the Omotesando shopping streets. It was still crowded in the late afternoon.

Along this street, we came to the largest wooden rice scoop in the world. A wooden plaque on the wall explained that it is 7.7 meters long, 2.7 meters wide and weighs 2.5 tonnes. It is said to be made from a 270 year old Zelkova tree. The scoop took two years, 10 months to construct and went on display in 1996 to commemorate the designation of Itsukushima Shrine as a World Heritage Site.

I really like the beautiful grains of the Zelkova tree, creating very nice patterns on the handle.

There are many stores selling mini rice scoops as souvenirs. Ha ha. These are made with foreign timber and likely overpriced.

There are stores selling various foodstuffs, including the grilled and/or fresh oysters. We gave these a miss today as we have dinner included in our ryokan stay at Miyajima.

From the shopping street, we headed to the seaside where the shrine and its Torii gate were located. The shrine and of the Torii gate is painted in vermilion colour as it is believed that this bright colour keep evil spirits away. As for Itsukushima Shrine, the shrine buildings are coated with vermilion lacquer, which is also efficient as protection from corrosion.

As it was still low tide when we came to the Itsukushima Shrine and the torii gate, we were able to join others walking to the base of the gate and take a close look at its construction.

 

The main pillars are huge and of non-uniformed shape. They are trunks from naturally grown camphor tree, approximately 500 to 600 years old.

There are smaller torii supporting the main pillars with 4 smaller pillars. The base of the great Torii is not buried deep in the seabed, but stands by its own weight. 7 tons of fist-sized stones were actually added to the box shaped part at the top of the gate to increase its weight. Custom made wedges are driven into the intersections where the pillars and roof meet, absorbing slight movements and helping to balance the pillars and the roof. Overall, it is a stable design to withstand earthquakes and typhoons.

People had actually stuck small coins on the little barnacles surrounding the base.

By the time we finished with the Torii gate, it was nearly 6 PM. We made our way to Mizuha-so, located just opposite the Miyajima aquarium where our host was waiting.

Mizuha-so was our accommodation in Miyajima and our stay included dinner and breakfast which was important since most shops and restaurants shuts down after 6 PM on this island. We cannot be too late as our host and her chef were waiting to prepare a fantastic dinner for us.

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