We spent an afternoon in Hiroshima on our way from Miyajima to Kyoto. We had been hoping to do more, but our last-minute planning limited us to things that could be done without signing up in advanced.
Reversing our previous route, we took the ferry to a train station and then a short train ride to Hiroshima. Having forwarded most of our luggage to Kyoto, we stashed our carry-on into a luggage locker in the station.
Freshly unburdened, we set out to speedrun the sites, starting with a special bus loop that starts and ends at the station. Our first stop was Hiroshima castle, which has a cute mascot.
Our next stop was the Peace Park, which memorializes atomic bombing of Hiroshima. To Americans, at least those of us of a certain vintage, this is probably the most immediate association of “things to do in Hiroshima”, and it’d be difficult to lack any understanding of what you’ll be in for, starting with the runs of an exhibition hall beneath the hypocenter of the explosion.
More than the physical remains, a short documentary in the memorial center describes the events of that day with the context of a girls school located on the grounds – and a co-ed descendant of that school on the grounds today. The narration includes firsthand accounts describing the last days of survivors. It’s quite moving.
We had some lunch and then walked back to the station. Along the way we saw what I think were the first cherry blossoms of the season. The first half of March is a bit early for it, but Hiroshima is a bit south and we were entering the second week of the month.
At the station, we got in line on the platform. For a moment we thought we’d be boarding the Hello Kitty themed train, but we weren’t totally sure of that and the train pulled away as we dithered. We took another, more conventional train.
