Everyone knows the name Hiroshima. The first place to be hit by an atomic bomb in aggression. It was an air burst, detonating 600m above the ground. Around 70,000 people were killed by the initial blast and fires caused in the mostly wooden built city, with injury and radiation poisoning raising the death toll rising to around 160,000 by the end of the year. It's a very sobering thought, and a truly historic event that humanity has hopefully learned from.
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial, or A-Bomb Dome, is perhaps the most well known of the remnants from that time. It was the closest structure to the hypocentre of the blast that survived in any way at all. The blast forces from the explosion were very nearly straight down, so the building was not knocked flat. It remains now as a memorial to those who died. Originally the building was used for arts and educational exhibitions.
This is the Aioi Bridge, unusual in that it is T shaped. It was used by the crew of the Enola Gay as the visual target for the bomb.
This a statue in memory of the first girl to be diagnosed with and die from leukemia resulting from the bomb. According to Japanese legend, if you fold 1000 paper cranes you will get a wish granted. This little girl folded her cranes, but unfortunately her wish did not come true.
Many people today, particularly schools from around the world, donate paper cranes to this art display near the statue, hoping for peace.
On a slightly lighter note, the next day we had a trip to Itsukushima Island, with it's shrine and 'Floating Gate'. A beautiful spot, though rather inundated with tourists.
The queue to visit the shrine itself was was about 500m long, all the way from the ferry terminal, so I opted to forego that and just take a few photos from outside. On to the beach for a good view of the floating gate, which is pretty massive.
The wild deer on the island are totally unafraid of humans and wander about the village seeing what they can eat. We did see some up on the mountain as well.
Next was up the cablecar to Mount Misen for a good view over the inland sea. I could have walked up, but a) the achievement of walking up a 500m mountain is rather lessened when you've done the Inca Trail, and b) I'm a lazy bugger. I did walk down the mountain and got to hear, but not see, some very talkative frogs.
I headed back to Hiroshima to visit the Castle, and on the way stopped to do a Pokemon raid and made some new friends. Oguricap (right) even traded me a Mewtoo with Shadowball! Incredibly kind of him.
The castle looked nice from the outside, but is a reconstruction. Inside there is a museum of samurai stuff, but no photos allowed.
I managed to get to Shukkeien Gardens for a quick look around before they closed. It was really lovely and I wish I had had more time there.
Dinner that night was okonomyaki, a cabbage/noodle/egg pancake thing that was really tasty, cooked on a hotplate in front of us.
This is the Aioi Bridge, unusual in that it is T shaped. It was used by the crew of the Enola Gay as the visual target for the bomb.
This a statue in memory of the first girl to be diagnosed with and die from leukemia resulting from the bomb. According to Japanese legend, if you fold 1000 paper cranes you will get a wish granted. This little girl folded her cranes, but unfortunately her wish did not come true.
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| Made of hundreds of paper cranes |
On a slightly lighter note, the next day we had a trip to Itsukushima Island, with it's shrine and 'Floating Gate'. A beautiful spot, though rather inundated with tourists.
The queue to visit the shrine itself was was about 500m long, all the way from the ferry terminal, so I opted to forego that and just take a few photos from outside. On to the beach for a good view of the floating gate, which is pretty massive.
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| Saw these up the mountain, but they were overly expensive ('too dear') |
I headed back to Hiroshima to visit the Castle, and on the way stopped to do a Pokemon raid and made some new friends. Oguricap (right) even traded me a Mewtoo with Shadowball! Incredibly kind of him.
The castle looked nice from the outside, but is a reconstruction. Inside there is a museum of samurai stuff, but no photos allowed.
I managed to get to Shukkeien Gardens for a quick look around before they closed. It was really lovely and I wish I had had more time there.
Dinner that night was okonomyaki, a cabbage/noodle/egg pancake thing that was really tasty, cooked on a hotplate in front of us.
